China News Agency, Phnom Penh, August 29th: How do Chinese experts "repair cultural relics" in Angkor?
——Interview with Xu Yan, Vice President of China Cultural Heritage Research Institute
China News Agency reporter Ouyang Kaiyu
In the 1990s, Angkor monuments were included in the World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee as an endangered heritage.
Subsequently, Cambodia and UNESCO launched the International Action for the Protection of Angkor Monuments.
Since then, in this ancient and mysterious land, a group of Chinese cultural conservation experts continued to write the Angkor story of the exchange of civilizations between China and Cambodia, and Xu Yan, vice president of the Chinese Cultural Heritage Research Institute, was one of them.
For more than 20 years, Xu Yan has gone overseas to participate in the restoration of a number of world heritage sites, such as the Angkor ruins in Cambodia, the nine-story temple in Nepal, and the ancient city of Khiva in Uzbekistan.
Among them, the restoration of the Angkor ruins in Cambodia impressed him particularly.
Recently, Xu Yan accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West Questions", telling the story of "repairing cultural relics" overseas.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Agency reporter: Some people think that the "national team" of China's cultural relics protection and restoration started from Angkor to the world. Please introduce the situation at that time.
Xu Yan:
With the development of China's cultural relics protection, China has gradually transformed from a former beneficiary of international cultural heritage cooperation to an active contributor to world cultural heritage protection and restoration cooperation.
Since the reform and opening up, China has successively carried out 11 cooperation projects in the protection and restoration of historical sites in Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and other countries.
From a "one-off" small project in China's foreign aid system, it has gradually become a "small but beautiful" basic project that promotes people-to-people bonds and is beneficial to mutual learning between civilizations.
In 1992, the monuments of Angkor were inscribed on the World Heritage List by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee as an endangered heritage.
The following year, the Cambodian government and UNESCO jointly launched the "Angkor Heritage Conservation International Action".
The continuous participation of more than 20 countries has made the "International Action on Angkor Heritage Conservation" a platform for exchanges between cultural relics protection workers from various countries.
Against this background, China sent a team of experts to investigate and select sites for Angkor historic sites, which started the process of China's protection of Angkor historic sites.
Angkor in the evening.
Photo by China News Agency Huang Lisheng
China News Service reporter: The protection and restoration of cultural relics in Angkor is an international project. What work did the Chinese cultural relics restoration team do in the whole operation?
Xu Yan:
As one of the earliest participants in the international action for the protection of Angkor monuments, in 1998, entrusted by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China, the China Cultural Heritage Research Institute officially established the "Cambodia Angkor Heritage Protection China Task Force", which began to work in Zhou Sashen. The temple began a ten-year conservation and restoration work.
From 2010 to 2018, the Chinese team continued to complete the eight-year conservation and restoration project of the Cha Kao Temple at the historic site of Angkor.
In 2019, the Cambodian government handed over the ruins of the royal palace in the core area of the heritage to China as the third-phase restoration project of Angkor Heritage Protection.
The construction period of the palace site restoration project is 11 years. The project content includes cultural relics building restoration, archaeological research, stone carving protection, laboratory construction, exhibition center construction, environmental improvement and site display.
From the beginning, we only repaired cultural relics buildings, and gradually developed a sustainable development path that combines heritage protection and display and utilization.
More importantly, China and India are also the presidency of the UNESCO (Cambodia) International Coordinating Committee for the Protection of the Preah Vihear Temple, and participate in the organization of the protection of the Preah Vihear Temple.
China's cultural relics protection work in Cambodia is changing from a participant to a leader.
The Queen's Palace is one of the three holy temples in Cambodia, and has the reputation of "Pearl of Angkor Heritage" and "Diamond of Angkor Art".
Photo by China News Agency Fazhuang Pu Ming
China News Service reporter: Compared with China, what difficulties must be overcome when restoring cultural relics overseas?
Xu Yan:
From the perspective of the goal of cultural relic restoration, both overseas projects and domestic projects are aimed at protecting the authenticity, integrity and outstanding universal value of heritage, so as to prolong the life of cultural relics.
Cultural relics are unique, and each cultural relic protection project is a unique comprehensive research project.
The cultural soil of overseas cultural relics is different, and it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on the history of cultural relics, religious symbolism, and cultural connotations of decorative components, and work with respect and communication.
These contents attached to the material carrier of cultural relics are the key to our restoration of the "soul" of the building.
The biggest difficulty in restoring cultural relics overseas is to implement the concept of "maintaining the authenticity and integrity of cultural relics to the greatest extent possible" on the premise of ensuring that the cultural relics are effectively repaired.
On the other hand, we hope to continue local traditional craftsmanship through restoration projects.
This requires learning and researching its craft practices, and discovering and finding traditional artisans.
For example, during the restoration project of Nepal's nine-story temple, we hired woodcarving artisans who had participated in the carving of the royal palace, and trained traditional artisans to understand conservation concepts and methods so that they could combine with local traditional craftsmanship.
At the same time, we also hope that the resilience of cultural heritage can be brought into play when carrying out foreign aid protection of cultural relics, and the role of cultural heritage protection projects in the sustainable economic, environmental and social development of various countries will be enhanced.
Share relevant knowledge and experience through training to improve the employability of local craftsmen and create more employment opportunities.
Xu Yan, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage at work.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee issued by China News Agency
China News Agency reporter: During the overseas "relic repair" operation, what exchanges have China and international teams made in terms of restoration concepts, civilization presentation, etc.?
Xu Yan:
As a participant in the "Angkor Conservation International Action", the Chinese team will introduce the latest progress of the work, as well as the applied technologies and concepts at the Technical Conference of the International Coordinating Committee for Angkor Conservation every year, and conduct on-site discussions with the ad hoc expert group. Technology Exchange.
Sometimes there are different ideas in concept. For example, the Chinese team has always adhered to the principles of "minimum intervention" and "reversible", protecting the historical information of cultural relics to the greatest extent, and applying this concept to the maintenance of the mountain flowers in the Chakao Temple in Cambodia.
Mountain flowers are stone components on the pagoda gates of temples. They are usually spliced together by several stones and engraved with exquisite patterns.
In many restoration cases, the maintenance of the Angkor temple building Shanhua is often done by bolting the components together.
Considering that the tropical monsoon climate in Siem Reap, which alternates between heavy rain and sun exposure, will accelerate the expansion and aging of the bolts, the Chinese team decided to use tie rods to reinforce the mountain flowers without causing damage to the stones.
This is a reversible protective measure that not only ensures the safety of Shanhua, but also leaves room for more advanced technology applications in the future.
On the other hand, we hope that the restoration project can better contribute to local sustainable development.
For example, the palace site restoration project not only repairs cultural relics, but also builds laboratories and exhibition centers to help recipient countries find a balance between the protection of palace sites, tourism needs and social development.
The goal of the project is to benefit the general public, enhance the happiness of the people in the heritage site, and promote people-to-people bonds.
Unrestored masonry in front of the Great Angkor Bayon Temple.
Photo by China News Service
China News Agency reporter: How to understand the "scale grasp" often mentioned in the restoration of cultural relics?
Xu Yan:
In the implementation of restoration, it is very important to grasp the scale of maintenance, which requires practitioners to have rich practical experience in cultural relics protection.
It can be said that "scale control" is the most important and the least difficult to achieve in the whole project implementation.
When we appreciate a cultural relic building, what we see is the historical information it contains. We should use as many old components as possible and reduce the replenishment of new components, but we cannot but exclude the dangers and safety hazards of the building.
For cultural relics protection workers, it is necessary to grasp the best scale.
The maintenance of cultural relics is a matter of consideration, and it is very important whether the protection measures are appropriate.
Such as the Cha Kao Temple, itself historically an unfinished building built between the late 10th and early 11th centuries.
The main part of Chajiao Temple has been completed, but the stone carving decoration on the facade is only halfway done, leaving the unfinished construction traces, which are fragile and precious.
When we repair, we must not only solve the hidden dangers to ensure the safety of cultural relics, but also retain and pass on these historical information to the greatest extent possible.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Xu Yan, vice president and researcher of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage.
He has been engaged in the restoration of cultural relics for more than 30 years.
As the project leader, he presided over the restoration project of China's aid to the Chakao Temple in Angkor, Cambodia, the restoration of the nine-story temple at Durbar Square in Kathmandu, Nepal, and the restoration of historical and cultural relics in Khwarizmo, Uzbekistan, and participated in many foreign world cultural heritage projects. Protection and restoration.
In 2018, he was awarded the Knights Medal by the Royal Government of Cambodia.
In China, he has hosted or participated in the Quanzhou Luoyang Bridge, Tianhou Palace, Putian Sanqing Palace, Zhangzhou Confucian Temple, Shifang, Jiangdong Bridge, Hua'an Eryi Building, General Shi Lang's Tomb, Qudou Palace Dehua Kiln, Tibet Potala Palace, Maintenance and protection projects of many national key cultural relics protection units such as Qinghai Nanchan Temple, Inner Mongolia Liaozhongjing Pagoda, Henan Longmen Grottoes protective eaves construction, Kizil Thousand Buddha Cave protection, etc.; participated in the organization and implementation of Sichuan Wenchuan earthquake cultural relics rescue maintenance , A number of large-scale cultural relics protection and maintenance projects such as early building maintenance and red tourism in Shanxi Jindongnan.