China News Service, Lanzhou, September 8 (Reporter Yang Yanmin) Zhang Zhiyong, head of the Office of the Cultural Relics Protection Research Institute of Zhangye City, Gansu Province, introduced to a reporter from China News Network on the 8th that the three-dimensional digital survey of the Matisi grottoes, a key cultural relics protection unit in the country, has been launched. The reconstruction project uses modern photogrammetry and remote sensing technology to realize the "look outside the cave in the cultural relics" and make the cultural heritage shine in the digital protection and inheritance.
The Mati Temple Grottoes are located in Linsong Mountain in the Mati District of Sunan Yugu Autonomous County, Zhangye City.
Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it has a history of more than 1,600 years through the Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Song (Western Xia), Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic of China and modern times. It is one of the cultural relics and historic sites with a long history and high artistic value in Gansu. The unique thing is that the Thousand Buddha Cave has more than 500 cliff niches, which are huge in scale.
The picture shows the staff digitally collecting the Matisi Grottoes.
(Data Map) Photo courtesy of Ye City Cultural Relics Conservation Research Institute
"In recent years, the protection of the grotto cultural relics has been plugged into the wings of science and technology, and a new mode of cultural transmission and promotion has been realized. This protection project will enable more and more people to feel the cultural charm of the grotto through time and space." Zhang Zhiyong said, Horseshoe Temple The digital protection project of the grottoes is a key implementation project in the digital protection project of 13 cultural relics protection units approved by Gansu in 2020, and it has received a special subsidy of 3.89 million yuan from the central government.
The digital protection project (Phase I) of the Matisi Grottoes, planned to be completed in June 2022, includes the large-scale environmental data collection of Matisi Grottoes; Caves 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 of the Thousand Buddha Caves, North Temple The 3rd and 7th caves, the digital collection and processing of the murals in the east and west caves of Jinta Temple, three-dimensional scanning and reconstruction of statues, three-dimensional reconstruction of cave structures, panoramic roaming, data storage, etc.
At present, the professional team of Gansu Hengzhen Digital Culture Technology Co., Ltd., a company directly under the Dunhuang Research Institute, has completed the key golden pagoda east grottoes and west grottoes of the Matisi grottoes using digital close-up photography, 3D laser scanning, 3D reconstruction, and 360° panoramic roaming. The digital collection work of the company has formed 500GB of original data.
At this stage, three-dimensional reconstruction and panoramic roaming data acquisition are continuing.
Through the use of modern digital technology to shoot, scan, obtain, and store cultural relics information, and through the establishment of a diversified and integrated digital database, digital asset management system, and digital resource permanent preservation system, it is possible to achieve permanent high-fidelity preservation of cultural resources.
In September 2019, the Mati Temple Grottoes under aerial footage.
(Data map) Photo by Yang Yanmin
As one of the important means for the protection and inheritance of cultural relics, the digitization of cultural relics is of great significance to the effective preservation and utilization of the cave temple sites. Zhang Zhiyong said that after the implementation of the project, a digital archive of the Matisi grottoes will be established to form digital resource results presented in the form of massive data, providing new technical means for the protection, research and utilization of the Matisi grottoes, and more abundant online visits. The content and browsing format of the material. (over)