28. The Cursed Mausoleum
The tomb is massive and it’s filled with amazing items such as the famous 8,000 terracotta warriors and a stunning amount of Chinese artifacts. However, archaeologists have not been able to dig much deeper than a couple of meters into the tomb because they are afraid of an ancient curse.
Here’s the entire story about this mysterious tomb.
Imagine a huge underground city, the replica of palaces and streets, filled with statues and completed with two rivers. All of this belonged to the Emperor Qin Shi Huang. And the most intriguing thing is that we cannot learn more about it. Why is it impossible for experts to learn what’s inside?
27. The Terrifying Tomb
As previously mentioned, Qin Shi Huang is the first man to unify China and this earned him the title of Emperor. Qin Shi Huang became a ruler at a young age, but he proved to be smart and ferocious which earned him the respect of all other leaders who decided to follow him.
26. The Emperor’s Tomb
In the beginning, like all young people, he didn’t have his mind on building a tomb for himself. And this is because he was looking for something greater. However, his quest took a turn for the worse, but it led to the creation of an amazing tomb, which now archaeologists are afraid to uncover. Here is why…
25. Important Historical Figure
Qin Shi Huang is one of the most important historical figures that ever existed and there’s no doubt about that. However, the interesting thing about this Emperor is that he was determined to find the secret to immortality. It was this obsession that led to the construction of this mysterious tomb!
24. Immortality
Qin Shi Huang wanted to become immortal and he already saw himself as a God. In fact, his name is loosely translated to “The Son of Heaven.” This is the weird things Qin Shi Huang did in his search for the secret to immortality, so that he could live and rule over China forever…
23. Finding The Secret
The Emperor asked all of his scholars to start traveling the world in search for the secret to immortality. Even though this seemed to be an impossible the task, the scholars couldn’t refuse China’s first Emperor.
22. Traveling The World
Although his scholars were not able to travel the entire world to find the secret to immortality, they did find out about a strange liquid called mercury. The emperor decided to drink it, but had no idea that it was slowly weakening and killing him. Later, he realized he won’t be immortal! So he chose a different path…
21. Drinking Mercury
The Emperor would take small doses of mercury throughout the day in hopes of becoming a God. Unfortunately, he had no idea that it would do the opposite! He was feeling weaker than before, so the Emperor wanted to become immortal through a different manner. He decided to rule over China after his death by having a huge mausoleum built for him.
20. Getting Sick
As soon as Qin Shi Huang realized that he will never become immortal, he thought that he will ensure his place in heaven and rule over China from a huge mausoleum. It was then when he decided that he was going to build the biggest and most incredible tomb ever made.
Check it out in the next photos, where we also found out how we can take a peek into the cursed tomb!
19. The Tomb
Qin Shi Huang imagined his tomb as an entire city filled with warriors and everything he would need to rule in the afterlife. Much like Egyptians, the Emperor used thousands of laborers to work on the structure. But this tomb is far more dangerous than what we’ve heard about the defense mechanisms in the pyramids!
18. The Emperor’s Wish
Historians are saying that the Emperor dreamed of a massive tomb where he could spend the afterlife. The tomb was going to be filled no just with guards, but also with concubines and all other things that Qin Shi Huang might need in the afterlife. Can you guess how many people worked on this necropolis?
17. Terracotta Warriors
More than 700,000 construction experts and convicts worked to create the tomb. Most of you might know the tomb for being the place where 8,000 terracotta warriors have been found. They are Qin Shi Huang’s guards. But there are many strange things you never knew about…
16. Sima Qian Revealing More Details About The Work
According to the Grand Historian Sima Qian’s records, the construction workers had to dig “through three layers of groundwater, and poured in bronze for the outer coffin.” But the defenses used for the tomb would keep away thieves and archaeologists alike for over 2000 years! How did the defenses remain secret? The records at #10 offer a tragic image…
15. Reproductions of His Servants
All of the terracotta statues were reproductions of his armies, concubines and servants that would accompany him in the afterlife. In 1974, farmers dug out wells near Xi’an and uncovered the statues. Then, archaeologists found there were 8,000 terracotta warriors. But that was just a fraction of it – check out this amazing relic at #8!
14. Terracotta Army
The amazing thing about this terracotta army is that it’s rich in detail. Every soldier has a different face and this leads historians to believe that they were based on real people. One armored general from the army can now be found displayed in the British Museum. Isn’t this amazing?
13. Digging Out The Soldiers
In recent years, archaeologists have been able to dig out 2,000 soldiers of the terracotta army, but they had to stop. According to the curatorial consultant for the Terracotta Warrior exhibition (New York City), Kristin Romey, “the big hill, where the emperor is buried — nobody’s been in there.” You won’t believe what’s keeping them away!
12. Incredible Discovery
Finding the tomb of Qin Shi Huang is one of the most incredible discoveries that has ever been made. Another fantastic thing about the tomb is that according to old books, the Emperor has placed two flowing rivers of mercury inside the tomb to resemble the rivers of Yangtze. Could this be true?
11. The Death of Servants
According to the Records of the Grand Historian, written by Sima Qian, who was a Han dynasty historian, the tomb contained ‘palaces and scenic towers for a hundred officials,’ treasures and artifacts, but also traps. And everyone who worked on the huge tomb had to die when the Emperor was buried!
10. The Secrets Would Die With Them
When Qin Shi Huang’s funeral began, his son ordered all concubines of the emperor that didn’t have sons to die so that they accompany him in the afterlife. All the craftsmen in the tomb were also trapped alive in the tomb so that all the traps and secrets would die with them. And that’s not everything about the tomb…
9. Mercury Rivers
Do you think the Emperor has asked his workers to somehow create two flowing mercury rivers inside the tomb? Sadly, archeologists have not yet been able to dig to the tomb of the Emperor in order to find the truth. Check out the next picture to see why.
8. Digging Deep
Unfortunately, we don’t have the necessary technology to dig deep enough into the tomb without damaging the surroundings. Not just that, but archeologists have also been able to find traces of mercury in the soil. Isn’t this crazy? The rivers might be really there.
7. Toxic Air
The technology is not the only problem that archeologists have to deal with. The toxic air filled with mercury and bacteria is what scares the archeologists the most. They might set free an ancient disease if they open the tomb.
6. Destroying Artifacts
Nonetheless, the architects are not willing to risk destroying artifacts in order to dig deeper. Not just that, but there is another strange reason why they are not ready to start digging…
5. The Curse
Chinese folklore says that Qin Shi Huang didn’t want anyone to loot his tomb and he set a curse on the tomb. Do you think this is real?
4. 3D Mapping
Even though we might never find out the truth behind the curse, we at least have this image that shows us how massive the tomb really is. Experts have used 3D mapping technology in order to scan the size of the tomb.
3. Functional Traps
We should also mention that the tomb is filled with traps and that the archeologists are not ready to find out if they are still functional or not.
2. Mercury Traces
The craziest thing about the tomb is that experts have found traces of mercury in the soil. This means that the Emperor has really brought large amounts of mercury into the tomb to create a river!
1. Mystery
Let’s hope that archeologists develop the necessary technology to figure out if there really is a curse behind the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. Nonetheless, do you think the curse is real?