Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum 秦始皇陵

About Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum

The main underground chamber remains unexcavated. A visit instead combines the mound’s setting with the Bronze Chariot Museum and excavated subsidiary pits. These introduce the court’s transport and ceremonial world, widening the picture beyond the army that guarded it.

Construction of the mausoleum began on 6 July 247 BCE, when Ying Zheng (嬴政) ascended the Qin throne, and grew into a large-scale project employing more than 700,000 laborers after he unified the six other states in 221 BCE. The work remained unfinished, short of its planned height of 122 meters, when laborers were redirected under Zhang Han (章邯) to suppress the uprisings that broke out at the end of the Qin dynasty.

The necropolis follows the layout of the Qin capital Xianyang, with an inner city wall 2.5 kilometers in circumference and an outer wall 6.3 kilometers around. The surviving mound measures 350 meters north-south, 345 meters east-west and 76 meters high, and geophysical surveys indicate the underground chamber lies roughly ten stories below ground, about 80 by 50 meters and five stories high, encased by a large clay dam that keeps the area dry.

The mausoleum was placed on the first group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 1961 and inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987 as the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, a listing covering both the burial mound and the Terracotta Army pits.

What to look for

• The burial mound and the landscape defining the mausoleum’s central area.
• The Bronze Chariot Museum, whose displays explain chariot construction and conservation.
• The K9901 subsidiary-pit display, associated with figures interpreted as court entertainers.

The surrounding area

An outlying city district containing the emperor's mausoleum and Terracotta Army; an excursion with its own transport and visiting plan.

Location & getting there

Getting to Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum

Use Lishanyuan’s east gate in Lintong as the arrival point for the mausoleum grounds.

• The museum identifies a connecting shuttle between the west side of the Terracotta Army’s north gate and Lishanyuan’s east gate; verify its operation when arranging your visit.