Top news reporter Zhang Yi
"The grottoes and shrines in the Longmen area show the largest and most outstanding plastic arts in China from the late Northern Wei Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, and these Buddhist works of art represent the highest peak of Chinese stone carving art." In 2000, when UNESCO inscribed the Longmen Grottoes on the World Heritage List, it gave the "three most" high praise.
The Longmen Grottoes, excavated during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty and finally at the end of the Qing Dynasty, after more than 10 dynasties. 1500 years later, the Longmen Grottoes, which have experienced countless storms and wars, still stand on both sides of the Yi River, silently watching the changes in the world.
Shi Jiazhen, president of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute
But we all know that nothing is immortal, even stone statues can not escape the baptism of time, no matter what kind of protection means are applied, it can only delay the damage of cultural relics and continue the life of cultural relics. Where will the Longmen Grottoes go in the future? What else can we do besides protect? Shi Jiazhen, president of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, gave the answer.
The grand scale + royal style has created the uniqueness of the Longmen Grottoes
As we all know, the Longmen Grottoes are the treasure house of ancient Chinese Buddhist grotto art, and one of the greatest treasure houses of classical art in the world from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD. In 1961, it was recognized by the State Council as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units, and in 2000, it was included in the World Heritage List.
In Shi Jiazhen's view, the grand scale of the Longmen Grottoes is the main reason why she is unique.
He introduced that the Longmen Grottoes have 2345 cave statue niches, more than 110,000 statues of various kinds, 80 pagodas and more than 2840 inscriptions. In addition, there are 10 monasteries around the Longmen Grottoes, and the great poet Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty once sang: "The Ten Temples of Longmen, the victory of the tour, the first yan of the fragrant mountain." ”
"This can be called the Dragon Gate culture, which is not available in other places." Shi Jiazhen said.
The Northern Wei And Tang Dynasties are the two peaks of the Longmen Grottoes, of which the statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty account for 30% of the total number of statues in the Longmen Grottoes, the Tang Dynasty accounts for 60%, most of which are built by the royal family and nobles, so another reason why the Longmen Grottoes are unique is its "royal style".
Shi Jiazhen said that the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty would use religion as a tool to consolidate political power, the so-called "human lord is also a Buddha", so the Yungang Grottoes excavated by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei in Datong, Shanxi Province, have a strong religious color. But the Longmen Grottoes he excavated after moving the capital to Luoyang made artistry his primary goal.
"Tuoba Hong promoted the progress of civilization and the integration of nationalities, he moved the capital to Luoyang, first of all, to integrate into the Central Plains, so he weakened the leading idea of human masters and Buddhas, and began to pursue the level of art." He said, "The most powerful thing about the Tang Empire is not military and economic, but culture, and the cultural accomplishment of the whole society has reached a very high level." In order to become emperor, Wu Zetian implemented the Northern Wei way of controlling Buddhism, and the Great Buddha of Lushena, which she carved according to her appearance, is the best example. ”
He concluded that the Longmen Grottoes, as a royal project, political needs, top design, top team and the most suitable for finely carved calcareous rock, this series of factors have created the highest peak of Chinese stone carving art.
Scientific protection + digital construction, the millennium grottoes have been reborn
At the end of last year, the longmen grottoes Fengxian Temple large-scale leakage control and dangerous rock mass reinforcement and protection project was launched, which is the second large-scale protection project carried out after 50 years since the protection and restoration project of Fengxian Temple in the 1970s. At present, the overall workload is 70% complete and is expected to be completed in June.
Shi Jiazhen believes that if you want to protect the Longmen Grottoes scientifically, you must carry out it in the spirit of reversibility, integration and practicality.
The so-called reversibility means that reversible measures must be taken in the process of cultural relics protection and restoration, so that it returns to the original state and does not use materials that cannot be removed; integration refers to repairing the old as old, protecting and restoring cultural relics without destroying the overall style and beauty; practicality is to save money, reduce damage to cultural relics, and achieve benign control.
As mentioned above, no matter what kind of protection means, it is only to delay the damage of cultural relics and prolong the life of cultural relics, and cultural relics cannot live forever. Therefore, Shi Jiazhen, who has been engaged in archaeological work for many years, believes that the archaeology of the Grotto Temple is the best means of protection for the Longmen Grottoes.
Virtual reset of 3D data of the tall tree niches in Guyang Cave
Guyangdong High Tree Niche Virtual Reset 3D High Precision Replica Image
"The Longmen Grottoes have many temple sites, and there are a large number of monks and laymen's tombs around, which is also a major feature of our Longmen Grottoes, so the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute has also done a lot of field archaeology work in recent years." Shi Jiazhen believes that it is necessary to do field archaeology in the Longmen Grottoes.
He introduced that the archaeology of the grotto temple is actually to maximize the data information of the cultural relics, after data analysis, the use of digital technology to restore the authenticity of the cultural relics, so as to reproduce its original appearance, which is the ultimate purpose of the archaeology of the grotto temple.
The key to doing a good job in the archaeology of the cave temple is not only to achieve interdisciplinary cross-border crossing, but also to achieve multi-departmental cooperation, multi-disciplinary participation and the use of a variety of high-tech means. In recent years, the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute has worked closely with dozens of universities and technology companies to extract the remaining information of cultural relics by high-tech means and conduct collation and research, so as to restore the original and reproduce the former glory of cultural relics.
The three-dimensional data of the Buddha statue on the north wall of Bongsan Temple is virtually reset
The Buddha statue on the north wall of BongseonJi Temple virtually resets the 3D high-precision replica image
"Research results need to be disseminated and promoted, otherwise it is a night walk in brocade"
In recent years, the Longmen Grotto research institute has made fruitful achievements in the digital construction of cultural relics protection, not only using 3D printing technology to restore the four niches of Guyang Cave and some missing Buddha heads, so that they can achieve the unity of heads, but also jointly carried out the three-dimensional data collection and physical restoration project of discrete cultural relics including "Emperor Li FoTu" in conjunction with the Plastic Arts Center of Xi'an Jiaotong University and the East Asian Art Center of the University of Chicago.
Shi Jiazhen believes that civilization needs to be exchanged and learned, culture needs to be disseminated and carried forward, and no matter how good things are, if they are not publicized, they are equivalent to night travel. Therefore, the publicity and display of the Longmen Grottoes, the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute has also done a lot of work.
The most beautiful Guanyin statue of Longmen Grottoes "Resurrection"
"We plan to let the expert team go to the primary and secondary schools to publicize the Dragon Gate, and then invite the children to visit the Longmen Grottoes, so that the children can spontaneously like the Dragon Gate." He said, "Let the children personally feel the Longmen Grottoes, appreciate the beauty here, and pass on the excellent traditional culture to thousands of households." ”
Shi Jiazhen said that the digital achievements of the Longmen Grottoes must be transformed, and the archaeological results must be combined with history, culture and religion for in-depth research, and only through in-depth research can we fully explore the information and value of cultural relics, and can we fully release the excellent traditional cultural heritage left by our ancestors.
"How to make cultural relics come alive and let cultural relics benefit the people, I think we should let everyone feel the brilliant artistic charm of the Longmen Grottoes, draw the highest level of artistic literacy from ancient times, and then enhance people's cultural accomplishment, which is called the real benefit of the people." Shi Jiazhen said.