Western Xia Mausoleums
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How it came to be
The Western Xia mausoleums lie at the eastern foot of the Helan Mountains in Ningxia, China, about 40 km west of the Western Xia capital Xingqing, today's Yinchuan. UNESCO counts nine imperial mausoleums, 271 subordinate tombs, a northern architectural complex and 32 flood-control structures.
The Western Xia dynasty was founded by the Tangut in 1038 and destroyed by Genghis Khan's Mongol army in 1227. The mausoleums were built from south to north: the two largest, Nos. 1 and 2, are attributed to the grandfather and father of the first emperor, Li Yuanhao, and No. 3 to Li Yuanhao himself. The rammed-earth mounds reach 30 m across and 23 m high and are thought to be the cores of larger buildings once clad in bricks and tiles.
Mausoleum No. 6, excavated in the early 1970s, turned out to have been looted, but in 1977 the excavation of Tomb No. 101 found a gilded bronze ox 1.2 m long and weighing 188 kg. There are no mausoleums for the last three emperors, probably because the state fell before they could be built. In 2019 the site museum was moved outside the protected area, and the tombs were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2025.
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