THE mausoleum of an emperor and his wife who lived more than 2,200 years ago will open to public at the end of this month in the city of Hanyang, Northwest China, the local government said Tuesday (Mar 21).

The Hanyang Mausoleum, part of which has been built into the country's first fully underground museum, is where the fourth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.), Liu Qi, and his empress are buried.

The tomb covers about 12 square kilometers and is about 20 kilometers north of Xi'an, capital of Shanxi Province.

The Hanyang Mausoleum Museum displays tens of thousands of cultural relics, such as colored terracotta warriors and a variety of animals statues from the tomb.

To protect the original look of the tomb's interior and minimize damage to the cultural relics from visitors, the museum designers have built tunnels which are made of special glass that separate visitors from the exhibits, said Wu Xiaocong, curator of the museum.

"The most fascinating part of the museum is when visitors enter the exhibition hall, they walk into a time tunnel, sending them him back to a magnificent empire more than two millennia ago," said Wu.

The underground museum provides a new way to protect the precious relics as they remain underground, said Li Ku, the director of the exhibition department of the museum.

The Hanyang Mausoleum is the one of the largest ancient tombs of the Western Han Dynasty ever discovered. To date, more than 260 subsidiary tombs of other imperial family members, nobles or officials have been unearthed around the mausoleum.

Editor: Wing