The shoes are part of the findings from the excavations at the Astana Tombs, an ancient cemetery site in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

A spokesperson from Academia Turfanica confirmed the shoes are made of goat skin, measuring 24 cm long, with the parts, such as the uppers and soles, sewed together using animal sinew.

Experts from Germany will supervise the restoration work, which is expected to take 20 days, removing dirt and mould, and reshaping and reinforcing the shoes to make them more sturdy.

Over 300 leather relics have been discovered in the tombs in present-day Turpan, and Academia Turfanica is heavily involved in the restoration of the items found.

The Astana Tombs used to be a public burial place for officials and ordinary people of different ethnic groups in the ancient city of Gaochang. Since the 1950s, the tombs have been officially excavated 14 times and roughly 460 tombs and 10 000 valuable relics have been discovered.