No. 0483
China, US and Australia cooperate in Mogao Grottoes conservation
People's Daily Online, August 19, 2005
Dunhuang, Gansu (China) ── The general plan of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes conservation and management is now available. The "Overall Planning of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Conservation" has passed experts' demonstration recently. The plan is the common achievements made by the History Research Institute under the China Architectural Design Academy, the Getty Conservation Institute from the US, the Australian Heritage Commission and the Dunhuang Academy. It is the first heritage preservation plan worked out in China, based on international cooperation, according to the overseas edition of People's Daily on August 19.
The Dunhuang grottoes in Gansu Province are the best-preserved Buddhist art treasures with the longest history in the world. There are 735 caves with more than 2,000 colored clay sculptures and more than 40,000 square meters of murals as well as more than 50,000 Dunhuang relics scattered across the globe.
The Mogao grottoes were put on the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Cultural Heritage list in 1987. However, the dry weather and severe wind-blown sand in the northwestern China put the grottoes under a long-term bad environment. The ancient murals suffer damages of time repeatedly. There are serious damages inside some caves, such as crisping and peeling.
Tourism pressure lets experts and scholars have more worries. The caves cover generally 20 to 30 square meters with the smallest one having only several square meters. Damage also threatens from the modern perils of mass tourism, where moisture from the breath of visiting crowds can impair murals with faded colors and other damages. In addition, the atmosphere and water pollution caused by more vehicles around them, or even vehicle vibration, will have inestimable impact on the caves.
"If there will be no limit for the increasing number of tourists, the murals will be finally destroyed in a thousand years by the visitors", said Fan Jinshi, director of the Dunhuang Academy with exclamation.
Early in 1997 the Dunhuang Academy, the US Getty Conservation Institute, the Australian Heritage Commission and the China National Commission of the International Council on Monuments and Sites started the compilation of "Chinese Relics Preservation Rules". In 1999, the compilation work on the "Overall Planning of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Conservation", one of the important projects for testing the rules' authority and feasibility was formally kicked off. The History Research Institute under the China Architectural Design Academy, the US-based Getty Conservation Institute, the Australian Heritage Commission and Dunhuang Academy, also known as the four parties from three countries, took part in the compiling process. In the past six years, through hard work, the four parties have discussed and revised the plan for many times. They have developed new techniques for the planned relics preservation, and in the end completed the general planning this year.
According to Wang Xudong, deputy director of the academy, by adhering to the plan's principle of "preserving the relics and their environmental veracity, completion and continuation", the planning proposed to preserve and continue the historical message and the values of the grottoes in an all-round way. A world-class relics site museum and an international first-class preservation unit will be built in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. The targets are that a Dunhuang grottoes research and data center with international influence and a grottoes murals preservation and research center with international standards will be established.
The main contents of the planning are consisted of 15 components, including relics formation, value evaluation, preservation and assessment on the present conditions, utilization and management assessment, planning principle and goals, preservation plan, utilization scheme, management work, academic research, and detailed preservation measures. The planning contains large qualities of basic data with applying foreign advanced ideas to relics preservation so that a blueprint has been drawn for the work of preservation, management, utilization and research in the next 20 years.
source: http://english.people.com.cn/200508/19/eng20050819_203521.html
China, US and Australia cooperate in Mogao Grottoes conservation
People's Daily Online, August 19, 2005
Dunhuang, Gansu (China) ── The general plan of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes conservation and management is now available. The "Overall Planning of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Conservation" has passed experts' demonstration recently. The plan is the common achievements made by the History Research Institute under the China Architectural Design Academy, the Getty Conservation Institute from the US, the Australian Heritage Commission and the Dunhuang Academy. It is the first heritage preservation plan worked out in China, based on international cooperation, according to the overseas edition of People's Daily on August 19.
The Dunhuang grottoes in Gansu Province are the best-preserved Buddhist art treasures with the longest history in the world. There are 735 caves with more than 2,000 colored clay sculptures and more than 40,000 square meters of murals as well as more than 50,000 Dunhuang relics scattered across the globe.
The Mogao grottoes were put on the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Cultural Heritage list in 1987. However, the dry weather and severe wind-blown sand in the northwestern China put the grottoes under a long-term bad environment. The ancient murals suffer damages of time repeatedly. There are serious damages inside some caves, such as crisping and peeling.
Tourism pressure lets experts and scholars have more worries. The caves cover generally 20 to 30 square meters with the smallest one having only several square meters. Damage also threatens from the modern perils of mass tourism, where moisture from the breath of visiting crowds can impair murals with faded colors and other damages. In addition, the atmosphere and water pollution caused by more vehicles around them, or even vehicle vibration, will have inestimable impact on the caves.
"If there will be no limit for the increasing number of tourists, the murals will be finally destroyed in a thousand years by the visitors", said Fan Jinshi, director of the Dunhuang Academy with exclamation.
Early in 1997 the Dunhuang Academy, the US Getty Conservation Institute, the Australian Heritage Commission and the China National Commission of the International Council on Monuments and Sites started the compilation of "Chinese Relics Preservation Rules". In 1999, the compilation work on the "Overall Planning of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Conservation", one of the important projects for testing the rules' authority and feasibility was formally kicked off. The History Research Institute under the China Architectural Design Academy, the US-based Getty Conservation Institute, the Australian Heritage Commission and Dunhuang Academy, also known as the four parties from three countries, took part in the compiling process. In the past six years, through hard work, the four parties have discussed and revised the plan for many times. They have developed new techniques for the planned relics preservation, and in the end completed the general planning this year.
According to Wang Xudong, deputy director of the academy, by adhering to the plan's principle of "preserving the relics and their environmental veracity, completion and continuation", the planning proposed to preserve and continue the historical message and the values of the grottoes in an all-round way. A world-class relics site museum and an international first-class preservation unit will be built in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. The targets are that a Dunhuang grottoes research and data center with international influence and a grottoes murals preservation and research center with international standards will be established.
The main contents of the planning are consisted of 15 components, including relics formation, value evaluation, preservation and assessment on the present conditions, utilization and management assessment, planning principle and goals, preservation plan, utilization scheme, management work, academic research, and detailed preservation measures. The planning contains large qualities of basic data with applying foreign advanced ideas to relics preservation so that a blueprint has been drawn for the work of preservation, management, utilization and research in the next 20 years.
source: http://english.people.com.cn/200508/19/eng20050819_203521.html
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