Museum completes digitization of temple frescos
The initial phase of a digitization project of precious frescos in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Northwest China has been recently completed, thanks to efforts by a research team from the Palace Museum in Beijing. The announcement was made by the museum on Thursday.
In Haidong, Qinghai province, more than 2,300 square meters of Buddhist frescos are well-preserved in the 700-year-old Qutan Temple, thus making it widely regarded as one of the most important cultural and artistic collections on the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
First built in 1392, the monastery was expanded and renovated several times during the early Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and a grand temple complex with a rich collection of cultural relics was formed. It was listed as a key national-level heritage site in 1982.
The temple’s architecture and layout were also deeply influenced by the Forbidden City in Beijing, now known as the Palace Museum.
“It is among the most important Tibetan Buddhist temples in Northwest China,” says Luo Wenhua, leading researcher of the project and head of the Tibetan Buddhism research institute of the Palace Museum.
A database of the frescos has been gradually established since 2017, collecting high-definition images and key information about the cultural relics.
This is the first time the frescos in
Qutan Temple have been recorded in a comprehensive and accurate way.
“Qutan Temple is located at the crossroads of cultural communication between the Han and Tibetan ethnic groups,” he says. “Frescos there are among the best preserved Tibetan paintings from the Ming Dynasty in Northwest China and a perfect example of the mixing of Han and Tibetan arts.”
Current digitized recordings have covered 14 halls in the temple. Detailed surveying, data mapping, and recording the current states of the frescos are also included in the database.
“The digitization project not only accurately records information about the relics, but it also fully displays the outstanding craftsmanship of the Ming Dynasty through vivid reflection of the lines, colors, and drawing techniques,” Luo says.
Other than paintings, the database has also expanded to record some stone relics housed in the temple, including the stele and cornerstones.
“The data will hugely benefit the supervision and management of the cultural relics in the future,” Luo says. “It will also facilitate the study and display of Qutan Temple’s heritage.”
Luo says the team will soon focus on creating digitized recordings of ceilings, beams, and other movable artifacts in the temple.