A pair of replica terracotta warriors now grace the Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library in Montgomery.
The pair – a gift from Troy University to the City of Montgomery – will reside in the downtown library until permanent quarters are established in the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. An unveiling ceremony was conducted Thursday, March 14.
“This is an opportunity to bring something from a book to life and to see it in reality,” said Dr. Juanita Owes, library director. “Every opportunity we have to share these experiences with our young people and with adults, too, we take.”
The Morgan Library is one of 11 in the Montgomery City-County Public Library system, supported jointly by the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery County Commission.
Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, County Commission Chairman Elton Dean and TROY Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr. all offered their thoughts on the occasion, as did library board member Dr. Katie Bell. Library board member Rev. Gary Burton provided the ceremony’s invocation.
“As Alabama’s International University, we believe in sharing Troy University with the world, but also bringing the world home to Alabama,” he said, relaying the story of Xi’an, China artist Huo Bao Zhu, who created the replicas.
TROY installed nearly 200 of the warriors in an exhibit in the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park on the Troy Campus, and integrated their use in an interactive exhibit in the International Arts Center, both of which opened in November 2016.
