A Chinese tourist damaged the 2000-year-old Terracotta Army in a museum by climbing over the barrier.
In a strange and possibly unprecedented act, a Chinese tourist jumped over the fence at the Terracotta Army Museum in Xi’an and broke two clay soldier statues that are over 2000 years old.
According to The Guardian, this 30-year-old man, who security officials say suffers from a mental illness, crossed the museum’s protective railings on Friday and caused severe damage to the collection by jumping and exerting physical pressure on the statues.
Immediately after this act, security forces restrained him.
The area he entered is a pit more than five meters deep and is part of the global exhibition of the Terracotta Army, an ancient collection of 8,000 clay warriors built in 209 BC to protect the tomb of China’s first emperor.
The Chinese Terracotta Army has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 and is considered one of the most important tourist attractions and cultural symbols of this country. Museum officials have announced that despite this incident, the exhibition remains open to the public.