WA Museum is in talks with Chinese officials to secure the historic Terracotta Warriors for an exhibition in Perth.
Negotiations around the potential exhibit of the 2000-year-old statues were revealed inadvertently in recently tabled travel reports for public servants in State Parliament.
WA Museum chief executive Alec Coles and engagement director Jason Fair both travelled to China for discussions across seven days in November last year, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $12,000.
Mr Coles refused to be drawn on the negotiations.
“The WA Museum works with many partners around the world and is in regular discussions over possible cultural exchange and exhibitions,” he said.
“China is just one of the countries where we are liaising with museum colleagues to explore opportunities.
“Exhibition development can take many years of negotiation and planning, particularly when working internationally.”
First discovered by farmers in 1974, the 8000-strong army of Terracotta Warriors were buried alongside Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China in the year 221 BC.
Since their discovery, the warriors have been shown at museums across the world, including the British Museum, the National Geographic Society Museum in Washington and New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 2018, the National Gallery of Victoria showed the statues, giving audiences a snapshot of a period of “incredible cultural innovation” in China, as well as the country’s history, politics, and philosophy
.WA Museum has won a series of high-profile exhibits in recent years, following the opening of the new Boola Bardip in Northbridge, including the To The Moon series, and James Cameron’s Challenging The Deep at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle.