Xi'an is a paradox: It's best known as the gateway to an attraction with which it has no connection. Yet the city's own amazing history — and the artifacts that recall it — are often overlooked in the pell-mell rush to visit the Terra Cotta Warriors.

Millions of visitors come through Xi'an's international airport each year to see the world-famous clay army. The saga of the farmer who dug into them in 1974 while trying to improve drainage for his pomegranate crop further enhances the appeal.

But Xi'an itself, where the Silk Road started and which between the sixth and ninth centuries was one of the world's greatest cities, often gets just a cursory look. That's a shame because Xi'an boasts fabulous museums, one of China's best-preserved old cities, a mosque that resembles a traditional Chinese temple and is nearly as old as the faith it celebrates, and extraordinary food.

Home to some 8 million, Xi'an's main attractions are located in and near its dynamic, pulsating old city. Highlights include its vast and extraordinarily preserved city walls (among China's most impressive) and museums featuring fabulous Tang dynasty sculptures.

Street life pulsates in the area crisscrossed by Xi'an's oldest roads and alleyways. Nut-sellers grind walnuts into paste alongside spice merchants, fruit and vegetable purveyors, garment merchants, and all manner of food vendors selling fragrant meats that sorely temp hungry visitors to overlook the "no street food" warnings.

The best way to navigate the Old Town is to hunt for the Grand Mosque. Not easily found but worth every twist and turn en route, this circa 742 A.D. landmark, built during the height of the mighty Tang dynasty, looks like no other mosque. Instead of minarets, the temple is actually a series of arches, gardens and areas for prayer that exemplify serenity. No one is barred from entering, and everyone who respects the climate of the devout is welcome. In the midst of a nation where noise and crowding tend to dominate, Xi'an's Grand Mosque is a special place. Entry costs about $3.70.

The National Museum of Shaanxi History offers another look at the glories of the Tang era. While covering thousands of years, its collection of Tang dynasty sculpture is stunning. Zeroing in on the years between 600 and 900, this museum features art and artifacts of the city that became fabulously rich due to its position at the Silk Road's easternmost starting point, where trade with Europe often commenced. Before the Tang declined, Xi'an was one of the world's largest and most important cities. Its wealth paid for the artistry so richly presented here.

After visiting lovely displays of Han dynasty and earlier bronzes, ceramics and porcelains, visitors encounter amazingly lifelike and brilliantly colored sculptures of warriors, animals and family life scenes. Humanism and an absence of religious focus dominate this art theme. One quickly is drawn into the world of the artist, a bond of empathy that virtually erases the 1,500-year gap between artist and contemporary viewer.

Another fine collection of Tang art is the newish Xian Museum, located near the soaring Little Blue Goose Pagoda, also from the Tang dynasty. Also fascinating is the Belan Forest of Steles museum, a collection of huge, heavy stone tablets housed fairly close to the southern city walls. These multi-ton stones served as tablets upon which messages were carved and transported as though they were pieces of weighty mail. The stones also documented friendly cultural exchanges with other countries, municipal documents, historical records and practical guidance about how best to govern a city.

Of course the Terra Cotta Warriors must not be missed. A driver arranged by a hotel concierge transported my wife and me to the site (more than an hour's journey) and returned us to Xian at a cost of roughly $73, including tips and tolls. We paid about $13.30 for entry and $14.70 (plus tip) for a guide hired at the entrance.

For two people, hiring a driver and guide made reasonable economic sense. We avoided the crush of riding on a bus and had the luxury of time — at least three hours — to see the three accessible pits, plus the adjacent museum.

The soldiers were the product of Qin Shi Huangdi, who proved to be the last Qin dynasty emperor. During his reign, his achievements included essentially uniting China (the name China derives from his name, Qin) and building the nation's signature Great Wall. In 214 B.C., nearing the end of his reign, Qin decided he needed an army in the afterlife to protect him. Ultimately he gave orders for thousands of fighters — each about 8 feet tall and in a variety of attack and defensive positions — to be built.

When they were discovered, the soldiers were brightly colored, but they quickly faded with exposure the air. They wear a variety of facial expressions and include infantry, archers and charioteers, still standing on their wagons and actively whipping horses that have long since disintegrated.

After seeing the three separate open pits containing massive formations of these statues, a visit to the nearby museum in order. Displaying the best of the work that has been uncovered, highlights include a kneeling bowman, totally intact even down to his fingers, with bits of paint still visible on his armor.

Many other collections of these soldiers are thought to rest beneath nearby fields. The Chinese are in no hurry to dig them up, in part because they are still seeking a treatment that might better preserve the army's colors once they surface.

A special surprise awaits in the museum's bookstore. The pipe-smoking, somewhat grumpy farmer who discovered the warriors will, for a tip, autograph a photographic book detailing his discovery and the treasures it uncovered.

WHEN YOU GO

For general information: Xi'an Tourism, www.en1.xian-tourism.com.

Where to stay: Shangri-La Hotel Xian offers affordable luxury in modern splendor just a 15-minute taxi ride from the Old City. Excellent onsite food and a savvy concierge staff make this a great base for planning excursions to the Terra Cotta Warriors and other Xi'an must-sees: www.shangri-la.com/xian.

Where to eat: Jiasan Guantang Daozi restaurant. Bei Yuan Men 93, just north of the Drum Tower. Alcohol-free, this three-story Muslim establishment stuffs its customers with a wide variety of memorable goodies. Don't miss the plate of fried lamb chops, heavily doused with cumin, with 2 to 3 pounds of meat per platter. Also enticing are the soup dumplings. This is one of China's great dining experiences.

Photos courtesy of Barbara Selwitz.

Robert Selwitz is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.