◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Wang Zhuhua and Du Ying
Dunhuang in early autumn is sunny and sunny, and the blue sky and white clouds make the desert extremely charming.
At Mogao Grottoes 231, which is undergoing restoration, Zhao Linyi, deputy director of the Conservation Research Institute of Dunhuang Research Institute and director of the Cultural Relics Conservation Technical Service Center, took a reporter from Science and Technology Daily to walk through the scaffolding and talk about the murals, colored sculptures and cliffs of Mogao Grottoes. Body disease and its protection.
Supported by the Gansu Provincial Science and Technology Department, the Dunhuang Cultural Relics Conservation and Research Center established by integrating the original provincial-level platform was recently unveiled at the Dunhuang Academy.
This is what General Secretary Jinping of Gansu Province put forward when he visited the Mogao Grottoes last year, "The protection of cultural relics mainly depends on science and technology", "Protect Mogao Grottoes well and pass on Dunhuang culture well", and strive to build the Institute into a world cultural heritage protection. "Model and the Highland of Dunhuang Studies" and other important measures of the spirit of instruction.
Here, the reporter felt the new atmosphere of the Dunhuang cultural heritage protection research and promotion career innovation and development.
From rescue protection to equal emphasis on preventive protection
The main problems with grotto murals are various diseases caused by natural and human factors, as well as problems caused by the material itself.
For example, the paint layer is nailed, chalked, and peeled off, hollowing and cracking caused by the cliff body and ground structure, dreffinine and herpes caused by the migration of water and salt, and picture pollution caused by microorganisms.
In addition to surface paintings that have similar problems with murals, the statue also has the deterioration and fracture of the wooden skeleton in the statue structure.
"With the frequent visits of tourists, the original relatively stable environment of the cave is broken, and it is bound to have a certain impact on the cultural relics of the cave." Zhao Linyi said.
The protection of the cultural relics of Mogao Grottoes ranges from rescue protection to preventive protection. The Dunhuang people have continued from generation to generation, persevering and paying, gathering sand into a tower, but they have never stopped the pace of "innovation".
Since the end of the 1970s, the protection of cultural relics of Mogao Grottoes has begun to use new technologies and new materials to strengthen the grottoes, study the disease mechanism, restoration materials and techniques of mural paintings, and repair them, and study the application of computer digital information technology to the precious mural materials. For high-fidelity, permanent preservation.
In the 21st century, Dunhuang Research Institute has carried out management work, including digital storage, with more advanced concepts and a broad international perspective.
Today, IoT sensing technology is becoming more mature.
The Dunhuang Research Institute combines big data, GIS geographic information, Internet of Things and many other emerging technologies to keep up with the times in protecting the grotto cultural relics.
When the reporter came to the Grotto Monitoring Center, he saw that four caves were lit up on the big screen of the monitoring and early warning platform.
According to Wang Xiaowei, director of the monitoring center, modern IoT technology monitoring equipment has been deployed inside and outside the Mogao Grottoes, which can monitor the weather, wind and sand, water environment, noise, etc. outside the cave in real time, as well as the temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide inside the cave.
That day coincided with the peak of summer vacation, the early warning of the flow of people and carbon dioxide in the four caves reached their peaks, and peak shaving was needed.
The monitoring and early warning system constructed by modern Internet of Things technology is an important means of preventive protection adopted by the Dunhuang Research Institute.
This whole set of intelligent early warning service system can detect the risk factors in time through real-time and long-term security monitoring of the cultural relics and construction sites of the grottoes, and prevent security issues before they occur.
Zhao Linyi said that in recent years, the Dunhuang Academy has included the daily maintenance and maintenance of caves into the scope of preventive protection.
All the work carried out highlights the concept of preventive protection that focuses on prevention and control, and applies scientific and technological means to contain the occurrence and development of various diseases to the greatest extent, and to extend the life of cultural heritage to the greatest extent.
Modern advanced technology and instruments are playing an increasingly important role
"In the past, we used the tip of a needle to pierce the sample lightly. The sample size of the tip of the needle is estimated to be only a few milligrams, but for us this is a lot." A researcher from the Institute of Conservation told reporters.
"This is an X-ray fluorescence analysis device. It can detect all the elements in the paint of the test block as fast as 10 seconds." "This differential thermal analyzer can analyze the material of the mural." The portable device makes the laboratory move. Many devices can The non-destructive test was performed directly before the mural.
"In addition to the above-mentioned instruments, there are laser confocal microscopy Raman spectrometers, infrared spectrometers, and optical coherence tomography systems... With these instruments, researchers can quickly obtain the mural material, structure, disease characteristics and possible disease-inducing features. Factors and other information.
With the development of modern science and technology, the Dunhuang Research Institute continues to innovate the technology and methods of mural protection. The mobile laboratory will apply non-destructive or micro-destructive technology to the protection of cultural relics. There will be more advanced scientific instruments in the future. And equipment is active in the practice of mural protection.
As for how to evaluate the results of the reinforcement and repair of the mural, there was no clear quantitative indicator before, such as the viscosity, glass transition temperature, molecular weight, pH value of the repair material used, and the adhesion and permeability of the material. It relies entirely on the experience of a mural restoration engineer.
"The National Engineering Research Center for Ancient Murals and Earthen Sites Protection Engineering Technology Research Center for the scientific protection of murals focuses on the study of cultural heritage value excavation methods, the scientific study of traditional production materials and techniques, the study of multi-factor coupling disease mechanisms, and the research based on traditional materials. Continued work on protection and reinforcement technology and equipment research and development, while highlighting the application of the most effective scientific and technological means in the protection process guided by the basic principles of cultural relics protection, and constantly improving the scientific procedures for mural protection." Zhao Linyi said.
In addition, the Dunhuang Research Institute has also formed special instruments and equipment suitable for mural protection, and developed a complete set of key mural protection technologies such as nailing disease recovery, hollowing disease grouting, and succinyl disease desalination and reinforcement technology, as well as the process for mural protection. Quality control methods and effect evaluation system have been compiled with relevant standards.
In terms of wind and sand prevention, the Dunhuang Research Institute has also formed comprehensive prevention and control measures for sand prevention, sand fixation by plants, sand pressing with gravel, and sand control by grass squares. It has established integrated weather monitoring, microenvironment monitoring, body monitoring, and cliff monitoring. , The preventive protection system of visitor monitoring and security monitoring.
Promotion of protection technology to countries along the "Belt and Road"
As the world cultural heritage Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Tianshui Maijishan Grottoes, Yongjing Bingling Temple Grottoes, Guazhou Yulin Grottoes, Dunhuang West Thousand Buddha Caves, Qingyang North Grottoes, and Dunhuang Research Institute It is the largest cave temple protection scientific research institution in the country and even in the world. It should explore a complete scientific protection system for other cultural heritage sites to radiate and promote the development of important cultural relics protection and utilization.
Zhao Shengliang, Dean of the Dunhuang Research Institute, said that since 2019, the Dunhuang Research Institute has continued to increase investment, use advanced technology to strengthen cultural relic protection research, and carry out 25 provincial and ministerial-level and above topics, and 5 new projects, including "tomb murals in situ "Protection of key technology research" won the national key research and development plan project.
Authorized 3 cultural relic protection technology patents and completed 2 technical standards, covering the protection of tomb murals, research and development of risk monitoring technology for cave temples, and reinforcement technology for cave temples.
The successful application and implementation of these topics, patents and standards will break through some bottlenecks in the protection technology of my country's grottoes and ancient murals, and comprehensively improve the scientific and refined level of protection of grottoes and ancient murals.
In addition, the Dunhuang Research Institute continued to strengthen the construction of scientific research platforms. With the support of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of Science and Technology, at the end of 2018, the first large-scale multi-field coupling laboratory for the study of the degradation mechanism of cultural relics began to operate. Successfully introduced simulation and simulation test technology into the field of cultural heritage protection.
At present, the Dunhuang Research Institute has gradually formed a production-university-research-application development model integrating ancient murals and earthen ruins protection basic research, theoretical innovation, technology and equipment research and development, cooperation and exchanges, personnel training, achievement promotion and application. Innovative achievements, many technological achievements have won national, provincial and ministerial awards.
These achievements have been applied to more than 100 national key cultural relics protection projects in more than 10 provinces (regions) including Gansu, Tibet, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shanxi, Hebei, etc., and have achieved good social benefits. Promotion in countries along the route.
"In August last year, General Secretary Xi proposed to us new historical requirements for the protection, research and promotion of the cave temple." Fan Jinshi, the honorary dean of the Dunhuang Academy and "Daughter of Dunhuang", said that the cultural heritage of the cave temple carries and continues the country. The spiritual blood of the nation needs to be passed down and guarded from generation to generation, and it also needs to advance with the times and bring forth the new.