King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on Friday formally declared open the exhibition of China’s terracotta army in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm. The exhibition is open through 16 January 2011.

“This year it will be 60 years since Sweden became one of the first countries to establish diplomatic contact with the People’s Republic of China. However, the cultural contact between Sweden and China dates back even further,” the King said at the opening ceremony.

The King and the Queen Silvia visited the terracotta site in 1981 and three years later, China’s terracotta soldiers visited Sweden for the first time in 1984.

“The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities has for many years had a vision, idea and wish to do a large exhibition from ancient China, an exhibition with both Qin’s warriors and the story of the first emperor, but also the consolidation and unification of China during the early Han Dynasty. The idea was to create this exhibition as a kind of celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Sweden and China,” said, Sanne Houby-Nielsen, Director General of Swedish National Museums of World Culture.

The Terracotta Army are the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang, an ancient Chinese emperor. These ancient Chinese sculptures are found in a vast mausouleum, which is still largely excavated, in the city of Xi’an in Shaanxi province of China and dates back to the 3rd century BC. These were sculpted in the image of Qin Shi Huang’s army.

www.smvk.se

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