Xian Regency Holiday Qianling mausoleum

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Qianling mausoleum

SIGHT & ATTRACTIONS

Sights outside Xi’an

THE HUA QING POOL

EMPEROR QIN SHIHUANG’S MAUSOLEUM

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS AND HORSES MUSEUM

POTTERY FIGURES UNEARTHED IN YANGLING MAUSOLEUM

QIANLING MAUSOLEUM

-- Sole Husband and Wife MausoleumOf the Tang Dynasty --	Starting with the second Tang Emperor, mausoleums were built in hills instead of on flat land, making them much easier to construct. The next 17 Tang emperors were buried in hills, and with each emperor occupying one hill, the group of mausoleums stretched about 100 kilometers. Of all the Tang mausoleums,
Qianling,on top of Liangshan Hill, is the best preserved. Emperor Gaozong (r. 650-683), the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and his wife Empress Wu Zetian were buried together here. Wu Zetian ruled the country after her husband’s death and in 690 she actually took the throne, calling herself Emperor Shengshen. She was the only woman "emperor" in the history of China. She died in 705.
The construction of the Qianling Mausoleum began in 683 at the order of Wu Zetian, when, despite protests, she moved the remains of her husband Gaozong from Luoyang, where he died, to Chang’an. It took 23 years to complete and was finished in 706, the year after her death. According to Changan Tuzhi (Maps of Changan), the mausoleum, with two 2.4-metre-thick perimeter walls, occupied an area of 240 hectares. Unfortunately the walls no longer exist.
The Qianling Mausoleum had several "firsts". It was the first imperial mausoleum in which husband and wife were buried together. Sixty-one foreign envoys attended Emperor Gaozong’s funeral and, for the first time, the envoys were sculpted and the statues laid in front of the tomb. Unfortunately, all we can see today are the statues without heads, which have been stolen. It was also the first mausoleum with stone tablets standing in front of it. One was engraved with the inscription Shu Sheng Ji Bei, a eulogy of Emperor Gaozong’s attainments. Another is blank and it is said that the empress Wu Zetian intended posterity to make their own judgment about her merits and errors. It is also the only imperial mausoleum untouched by grave robbers. It is believed that the passage leading to the vault is blocked by several thousand cubic meters of refined sand. While no robber could get in either can archaeologists and so far, specialists have not yet worked out a way to enter without damaging the grave.


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