The "happy ending" case of heritage preservation: the new museum of "horse & Chariot"

There are several elements of interest in this case study, of a particular relevance for understanding how cultural heritage works in China, particular in Luoyang: •it involves many aspects along the “archaeological chain”, from discovery, to preservation to museum running; •both curatorial and administrative elements are involved and can be reconstruct to understand from a methodological viewpoint how CH works; •in terms of preservation, it is a good example of what can be referred to as “salvage archaeology”, with a relatively happy ending story; and finally •it involves the design/opening and running of a museum which is financially self sufficient. The structure of this chapter is as follows: 1.a preliminary short reconstruction of the history of this institution is provided, from the discovery to the present situation of the museum; 2.an appreciation of the museum’s effectiveness will be provided, in terms of both back office issues and visitors’ orientation; 3.aspects related to museums efficiency will be addressed, investigating both procedural and substantial issues in managing human & financial resources; 4.some final conclusions and implications will be searched for.