Shaanxi Province local authorities announced on Tuesday that an imperial mausoleum will be opened to the public at the end of the month.

The mausoleum of an emperor and his empress who lived more than 2,200 years ago will open to the public at the end of the month in the city of Hanyang, northwest China.

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 BC-AD24), 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 Shaanxi Province.

On display at the Hanyang Mausoleum Museum are tens of thousands of cultural relics, including colored terracotta warriors and a variety of animal statues that were excavated from the tomb.

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

"The most fascinating part of the museum is when visitors enter the exhibition hall, they walk into a 'time machine' that sends them back to a magnificent empire that existed more than two millennia ago."

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

(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2006)