Terracotta army set to shatter records

The autumn terracotta army exhibition is breaking box office records at the British Museum only a week after it was announced.

More than 6,500 bookings have been made since The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army was announced last week.

The show, which opens in September and runs until April next year, is poised to be one of the museum's most popular attractions since its 1972 Tutankhamun exhibition attracted 1.7 million visitors.

The museum will stage the largest terracotta army display outside China after negotiating a ground-breaking deal.

In total, 120 objects including 20 complete life-sized figures from the tomb of the First Emperor will come from Xi'an, central China.

Museum chiefs were already anticipating that, even with tickets costing £12, demand would be immense.

Lacking a large gallery space, the exhibition will be staged in the Reading Room - the first time this area has been used for a temporary show - but it can hold only 400 people.

Comprising warriors, musicians, acrobats and bureaucrats from the Museum of the Terracotta Army and the Shaanxi Cultural Relics Bureau, the figures are taken from the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi.

He was the first emperor of the Qin dynasty and is credited with unifying China 2,000 years ago by defeating rival warring states. He was buried with his clay army in 210-209 BC.

The tomb, containing 8,000 figures, was uncovered by chance by three peasants in 1974. American investment bank Morgan Stanley is understood to have sponsored the show for more than £1 million, a record for a private exhibition.

A show devoted to Hadrian and the Roman empire will follow in summer next year.