On December 7, the reporter learned from the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute that the reinforcement of the dangerous rock mass of the Fengxian Temple in the Longmen Grottoes and the protection and protection of water leakage have been launched.
This is the first major protection project in Fengxian Temple of Longmen Grottoes in 50 years since the 1970s.
As a world cultural heritage and a national key cultural relic unit, any protective project of the Longmen Grottoes must be submitted to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for approval and carried out in strict accordance with the procedures of project initiation, survey, design, plan approval, project implementation, and completion acceptance.
Fengxian Temple is located in the southern section of the West Mountain of Longmen Grottoes. It is about 38.70 meters deep from east to west, and about 33.50 meters wide from north to south. It is the largest cliff sculpture niche excavated in Longmen Grottoes.
Among them, the nine large-scale statues have different expressions, representing the highest achievement of Chinese stone carving art in the Tang Dynasty and a model of Eastern Buddhist art in the world.
According to reports, as the largest and most exquisite cliff sculpture in the Longmen Grottoes, the slopes surrounding Fengxian Temple have been subject to geological structural weathering and erosion for a long time, resulting in rock cracks, increased water leakage, and microbial development. This protection project will carry out treatment of related diseases, so that the exquisite stone carving art can be preserved for a long time.
In order not to affect the visit of tourists, the construction adopted a semi-open method, and the construction period was originally planned to be 270 days.
In order to strive to complete the main project before the 2022 Peony Cultural Festival, cultural relics protection technicians and workers will make every effort to overcome the disadvantages of winter construction and work overtime and continuous work to achieve an early completion.
(Reporter Li Chaoqing)
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]