"Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor" is exhibited at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. (Photo/Video screenshot)
(ECNS) — The exhibit "Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor" continues at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia despite a surprising interruption -- a U.S. man broke the thumb off the left hand of a 2,000-year-old Terracotta Warrior.
The statue's stolen thumb has been retrieved and authorities from the two countries are settling the incident through agreements and legal procedures, reported the Chinese newspaper Science and Technology Daily, quoting sources from the Cultural Relics Bureau of Shaanxi Province, The Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum and Shaanxi Province Cultural Exchange Center.
The statue, called the Cavalryman,which temporarily lost its left thumb, dates back to 210-209 B.C. It is one of 10 elegant Terracotta Warrior statues currently on display at the Franklin Institute. The special exhibit will run through March 4.
China has strict laws over the exhibition of cultural relics abroad. An expert from the Shaanxi Province Cultural Exchange Center said about 2,000 terracotta statues have been restored among 8,000 buried in pits and no more than 10 can be displayed abroad in a single exhibition at one time.
An official from the Cultural Relics Bureau of Shaanxi Province blamed a security loophole for theft of the statue's digit. Efforts will be boosted to protect Chinese cultural relics during their shows abroad, according to the official.
Meanwhile, at the National Museums Liverpool, an exhibition titled 'China's First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors' features more than 180 spectacular artefacts from museums across Shaanxi Province, more than half of them never on show in the UK before. The exhibition runs from Feb. 9 to Oct. 28.
