Xinhua News Agency, Xi'an (Reporters Yang Yimiao, Han Xiao) The tide of mildew came over, and the scene before him shocked and saddened Yang Wenzong, a research librarian at the Shaanxi History Museum.

  Although the murals from more than 1200 years ago have been eroded by time, their colors and lines are still clearly distinguishable.

However, some of the murals that were originally grouped have been damaged by tomb robbers years ago.

  Here is the tomb of Han Xiu, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, which is 12 meters deep.

The four walls of the tomb are painted with vermilion bird, basalt, landscape, music and dance, the style is handsome and the subject is rare.

  This is a rescue excavation protection for stolen tombs.

  After making the preliminary preparations, Yang Wenzong held his breath, held a brush in his hand, and lightly tapped evenly to reinforce the hollow part, repair the incomplete picture, and return the warped paint.

  In 1984, after graduating from Northwest University with a major in arts and sciences, Yang Wenzong has been working on the front line of cultural relics protection.

In his eyes, the cultural relics with disease are like weather-beaten "old people", and he is the "doctor" who treats these "old people".

  "The protection and restoration of the tomb murals starts with'moving house'. These murals are like elderly patients. Most of them have'symptoms' such as cracking, hollowing, peeling, and mildew. They must be given'tonics' first. ', by strengthening and stabilizing them to gradually recover their'physical strength' before they can start'moving' and'surgery'." Yang Wenzong said.

  In the tomb, a breeze and a strong light may cause damage to the murals.

Yang Wenzong said that some ancient tomb murals seem to be well preserved. In fact, the cement in the paintings has been decomposed after thousands of years. The paint adheres to the surface of the murals in powder form. A heavy breath may cause the paint to fall off.

  In order to improve and standardize the technical process of removing the murals, Yang Wenzong and his colleagues have repeatedly experimented many times in the production of splints, drying, strengthening, and gluing.

He also carried out a number of technological innovations on the traditional techniques, equipment and tools used in the restoration of cultural relics in the past, and gradually formed the industry standard for the protection and restoration of tomb murals.

  The rescue excavation of Han Xiu's tomb began in 2014. The protection and restoration of its murals is a new attempt by Chinese cultural relics protection experts: systematically implement the protection and restoration of the tomb murals in a comprehensive scientific and complete way.

  It only took nearly two years to "move" the murals, and repairing each mural is a long process. Among them, the restoration of the "landscape pictures" and "music and dance pictures" continues to this day.

  Yang Wenzong said: "This is a profession that requires a lot of patience and endurance. For example, in order to remove the soil and rust on the mural without damaging the paint layer, a removal action has to be repeated thousands of times."

  "We are the'doctors' of cultural relics. When you realize that what you are rescuing is a group of priceless treasures, a sense of accomplishment arises spontaneously. That can't be replaced by anything else." Recalling his more than 30 years of cultural relic restoration, Yang Wenzong felt full of emotions. Intersection.

  He used his skill and diligence to restore thousands of precious cultural relics, including not only ancient murals, but also bronzes, ceramics, gold and silver, and masonry relics.

Among them, many cultural relics are famous: the large-scale bronze dragon of the Qin Dynasty, the gilt iron core bronze dragon of the Tang Dynasty, the murals "Picture of the Palace Lady", "Picture of Quelou", "Picture of the Guest Envoy", etc., and participated in the production of the extremely difficult Qinling No. Copy of horse.

  In 1996, Yang Wenzong participated in the cultural relics protection and restoration training course jointly organized by China and Italy for the first time. In 2001, he went to Rome, Italy to study ancient mural restoration techniques.

Yang Wenzong has not only grown into a leader in the industry in practice, but has also continuously cultivated young people to pass on cultural relic protection and restoration techniques since then.

  Now, Yang Wenzong often visits the Tang Dynasty Mural Treasures Gallery of the Shaanxi History Museum.

This underground exhibition hall exhibits treasures of murals such as Prince Zhanghuai’s Tomb "Guest Envoy Picture", "Polo Picture", Prince Yide’s Tomb "Quielou Picture", "Honorary Picture", Yongtai Princess Tomb "Palatial Lady Picture" and other mural treasures Nearly a hundred.

  Many of the murals here have been protected and restored by Yang Wenzong.

He said: "In the past 30 years, I have personally experienced the rapid advancement of Chinese cultural relics protection and restoration technology and the continuous updating of concepts. I have also witnessed the inheritance and revitalization of Chinese excellent traditional cultural protection techniques."