The Xianyang City Site is located in the Xianyang Plain on the northern banks of the Wei River, 15 kilometers east of Xianyang City in Shaanxi Province.
Xianyang City was the capital of the Qin State during the Warring States period (475-221BC) and remained the capital of the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) after it conquered the six states. In the 350BC, King Xiaogong of the Qin State moved the capital to Xianyang, where kings of subsequent generations erected many palaces. During the unification of the whole country by the First Emperor of the Qin, the architectural styles of the six states were adopted to build similar palaces in the Xianyang Plain. The emperor also expanded his own imperial palace, making Xianyang the most prosperous city of its time. The Xianyang City Site was discovered between 1974 and 1975.
Near the central axis in the north of the city is a group of palace ruins located on a high base. The ruins sit on the east and west sides of Shangyuangu Road of the Qin period, where the one on the west is named Pit 1 and the other, Pit 2. The construction ruins in Pit 1 are well preserved. This group of ruins was symmetrically distributed hathpace palaces after restoration. The site is 60 meters long from east to west and 45 meters wide from south to north. The ground floor is about 6 meters high and takes an L shape which can be divided into several small sections.
In the west section of the south part are five rooms arranged in a line, four of which on the west were bedrooms of imperial concubines where a number of murals and pottery spinning wheels were unearthed. The room on the east end has a fireplace and big pottery drainpipes inside and is presumably a bathroom. The main palace buildings were constructed on a high base 13.4 meters long from east to west and 12 meters wide from south to north, with the floor painted red.
To the southwest of Pit 1 is a palace built with complicated structure. The unearthed path inside the palace is 32.4 meters long and 5 meters wide, with colorful frescos on both sides of walls. The frescos describe the grand scene of Emperor Qin’s tour on the street with a line of vehicles driven by horses. Since most palace frescos have been destroyed, so these well-preserved ones are of great value and hold an important position in Chinese architectural history and art history as well.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
