Effort to repair artifact after broken thumb
It’s time to attend to an injured Terracotta Warrior.
Experts from the cultural relics authority of Northwest China’s Shaanxi province met with the staff of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last week to discuss compensation for and restoration of a 2,200-year-old Terracotta Warrior, whose thumb was broken off by a visitor at the museum last year.
Wu Haiyun, project manager at the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center, told China Central Television, or CCTV, that the Shaanxi cultural relics authority dispatched two experts to the United States to restore the statue.
Wu went to Philadelphia with two experts from the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Museum and returned to China with the relic to continue the restoration work, according to the authority.
Experts from the Franklin Institute also flew to China to help with repairs, Wu said.
“We will mainly focus on the evaluation of the damage of the relic and the negotiation of the compensation methods, as well as how to work together to repair the relic with the Franklin Institute,” Guo Xiangdong, assistant commissioner of the Mausoleum Museum, told CCTV.
The statue dates to 209 BC and according to the FBI, who are investigating the incident, is worth $4.5 million. Wu said that the purpose of setting a price for the cultural relic is to protect it when it’s shipped and displayed in other countries.
“The cultural relics are priceless, and we loan them to other countries because we want to promote art and culture exchange as well as understanding of Chinese culture and history,” said Wu.
The Franklin Institute said in a statement to China Daily that it has the utmost respect for the Terracotta Warriors and the rich Chinese cultural heritage they embody.
“This was a deplorable act, and we share in the condemnation of this crime as expressed by our partners at the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center,” the statement said.
“The institute has been working with the FBI and the United States attorney’s office to ensure that justice for the individual responsible is served; we will continue to cooperate fully with our partners in China to maintain and protect the warriors with the utmost care and reverence.”
The exhibition closed on March 4. The museum did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the restoration and compensation process.
The Shaanxi center has organized more than 260 overseas exhibitions in the past 40 years and said it had never before experienced such a situation.
According to the FBI, the 24-year-old suspect has been charged with theft of an object of cultural heritage from a museum, concealment of that object and interstate transportation of stolen goods.