The Xian Army Soldier Returns to His Form

The opportunities for contact and connection with the territory by the Archaeological Park of Herculaneum, which on this occasion allowed the recovery of the terracotta copy of the soldier of the Xian army.

The return of sculpture in Herculaneum Town Hall will be celebrated with a scheduled ceremony Friday October 29 pv at 11.00, in the presence of the mayor Ciro Buonajuto, the director of the Archaeological Park Francesco Sirano; and a representation of students from the city schools.

The statue, donated by the government of the People's Republic of China to the City of Ercolano, was very seriously damaged. The Park, having consulted the Municipality of Ercolano, immediately agreed to evaluate an intervention and, after some inspections, the fragments were transported to the headquarters of the Park in collaboration with the municipal administration.

A gesture of solidarity with the territory, which thanks to a complex intervention of restoration and radical strengthening of the sculpture's assemblies, managed with skill by the technical assistants, has allowed the sculpture to be reassembled and reconstructed.

"The Xian Army Soldier Copy Recovery Initiative – declares Director Sirano – responds to a participatory process in which the Park collaborates strongly with the local community by making its know-how available, as it had already done in 2018 with a tabernacle in via Mare placed in front of the eighteenth-century entrance to the Ancient Theater. Not only symbolic but concrete and real are the dialogue between past and present, the synergy and understanding put in place for years now in the mutual intervention between the Park, the local community and the Administration of Ercolano".

"Whoever destroys beauty should know that we rebuild it and that we do not surrender to vandals. The recovery of the statue, thanks to the support of the Ercolano Archaeological Park, is the most effective response we could give to those who thought that their reckless gesture would stop us. It is not so! – declares Mayor Buonajuto. I strongly wanted the ceremony to be held in the presence of a representation of students from Ercolano schools so that the new generations can increasingly be witnesses of moments of cultural growth. Let's continue to look to the future without forgetting our past".