China News Agency, Lanzhou, June 9 (Reporter Feng Zhijun) A reporter learned from the Dunhuang Research Institute on the 9th that the "digitalization" road that has lasted for more than 30 years has now completed the digital collection of more than 230 caves in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, a world cultural heritage. This means that more than 30% of its caves have achieved the original intention of "permanent preservation and sustainable use".

  As the largest and richest Buddhist art holy site in the world, Mogao Grottoes with a history of more than 1650 years now has 735 caves, including 492 well-preserved caves with murals and colorful sculptures, 45,000 square meters of murals, Painted more than 2,000 body.

  Because the colored sculptures and murals in the cave are made of clay, wood, wheat straw and other materials, with the passage of time and the increase of tourists, the protection of the cultural relics of Mogao Grottoes is under great pressure.

  In response to the irreversible decline of the Mogao Grottoes, as early as the late 1980s, the Dunhuang Academy began to propose the concept of "Digital Dunhuang", using computer technology and digital image technology, in order to achieve the permanent preservation and sustainable use of the cultural relics of Dunhuang Grottoes .

  Compared with ordinary cultural relics, the digitization of Dunhuang grottoes and colorful sculptures faces many problems. To completely move the mural to the computer, a large amount of information needs to be collected in the early stage, and a series of tasks such as data stitching, integration, and storage in the later stage need to be completed by manual means.

  It is understood that it usually takes 50 to 60 images to collect one square meter of murals, thousands of images to be collected on one wall, and more than 40,000 large-scale caves. It takes three months to complete the digital collection work for a medium-sized cave.

  Yu Tianxiu, deputy director of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Digitization of the Dunhuang Academy, said that the results of digitization are now widely used, not only in archaeological surveying and mapping, art copying, protection, exhibitions, but also in various activities such as the promotion of network culture.

  Based on the use of digital technology to establish archives and protect the cultural relics of the cave, in order to allow Dunhuang culture to "fly into the homes of ordinary people", in recent years, the Dunhuang Research Institute has accelerated the pace of cooperation with technology companies, so that digital resources and Dunhuang studies continue to be in line with the latest technology Through a series of innovative means to promote Dunhuang culture and show the confidence of Chinese culture.

  "Digitalization is not only the meaning of preservation, it is clearer from the cave on the computer screen than in the cave, and the cave is affected by light, many things can not be seen, through digitization can be seen more clearly." Dean of the Dunhuang Academy Zhao Shengliang said that there are many small programs in addition to "Yunyou Dunhuang", and you can see the rich and divided Dunhuang mural content through mobile phones and web pages. (Finish)