Maoling Mausoleum Museum
Location: In the northeast of Xingping County of Xianyang City, about 45 kilometers away from Xi’an City.
Ticket Price: About 25 yuan per person.
Opening Time: 8:00-18:00.
Introduction
“The Chinese Pyramid”
Maoling Mausoleum is called ‘the Chinese Pyramid' since it is not only the largest but it also held the richest burial contents of all the mausoleums of Emperors constructed during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD), and took the longest time, 53 years, to build.
It is the tomb of Emperor Wu of Han - Liu Che (157 BC - 87 BC), the 5 th emperor of West Han Dynasty. The Maoling Mausoleum Museum is in the northeast of the mausoleum, holding a large number of precious relics, such as Gilt Bronze Horse, portraits of Qin and Han Dynasty and eaves tiles.
Liu Che: the most successful emperor in Chinese feudal society
As the fifth Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han-Liu Che is the most successful emperor in Chinese feudal society: he’s the longest serving emperor with the most achievements. He was a great feudal Emperor who can parallel Emperor Qin Shihuang - the founder Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221BC - 206BC). During his 54-year reign he exerted himself to make the country prosperous by consolidating and strengthening the unification of many nationalities. With his great talent, he made the Western Han Dynasty's power reach the highest peak and also opened the famous Silk Road.
Structure of the Museum
Surrounded by the city wall, the cemetery is in its self quite square. The city wall is 431 meters (about 1,414 feet) long from east-to-west and 415 meters (about 1,362 feet) long from south-to-north. In the center of each wall there is a door. Now the ruins of east, west and north doors are still in well preserved condition. The whole mausoleum is lofty and majesty. It is like a great cone in shape and even resembles a pyramid without its top. It is 46.5 meters (about 153 feet) high and the side length at the bottom, the widest part of the tomb is about 240 meters (about 787 feet). According to historic records, the Emperor Wu used one-third of the taxes to build his tomb and it was filled with an abundant array of burial objects, many of which are now exhibited in Maoling Museum.
There are 2 walls in the Maoling Mausoleum area and a passage respectively in four directions, making up the highest rank of ancient tomb structure-“亞” form. There are many discoveries around the mausoleum: 400 outside pits were discovered, with various burial objects buried inside; 14 building sites including temples and halls were excavated; more than 120 subordinate tombs were found; the tombs of tomb-builders were also excavated, covering an area of about 40,000 square meters and with more than 20,000 skeletons buried inside.
A different mausoleum from the mausoleum of the former emperors
Firstly, the number of discovered outside pits with burial objects exceeded 400, far surpassing that of the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses.
Secondly, the arrangement of the subordinate tombs changed a lot. There was a system about the arrangement of the mausoleum in early Han Dynasty: the Emperor faces east, where the chancellors stand on both sides. However, the subordinate tombs of the Maoling Mausoleum are located not only in the east and north, but also in the south and west.
Thirdly, tombs of the mausoleum builders were discovered. The tombs of the mausoleum builders were located south of the Chenwang Village of Nanwei Town, 4 kilometers west of the mausoleum area. A large number of skeletons wearing iron instruments of torture were discovered in the 1970 th. According to the witness, the discovered skeletons were buried in disorder, facing different directions and some even in piles. Some of the instruments of torture are exhibited in the museum. The number of the buried people here was estimated to exceed 20,000.