Terracotta Army, British Museum
A temporary platform was installed above the existing fixed furniture within the Grade 1 listed Circular Reading Room at the British Museum to provide a special exhibition space. The structure had to be designed to limit any movement and also be constructed from small elements carried into the Reading Room through the relatively small door during hours of closure. The space was created for the First Emperor exhibition featuring many loaned pieces from China’s Terracotta Army and followed by the Hadrian exhibition and many more.
Cover Image Courtesy of Sutton Vane Associates
Exhibition Designer: Metaphor, Client: British Museum, Completed: 2007
Photograph of circular reading room, British Museum
The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army explores one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century, giving an insight into China’s First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, and his legacy.
The exhibition included a number of the world-famous terracotta warriors from Xi'an, China, which were buried alongside the First Emperor in readiness for the afterlife.
The exhibition is presented in a temporary conversion of the famous round reading room in the centre of the museum. This enormous space has a 5 metre high cyclorama running around the whole space, which is articulated with eleven video projections (displaying a seamless 180 degrees), and some gobo lighting.
The video is intended to deliver historic context and portray a sense of the real scale that can be experienced at the Terracotta Army Museum in Xi'an.Exhibition