The Cultural Heritage Restoration Laboratory (hereinafter referred to as the Cultural Heritage Restoration Laboratory) under the Macao World Heritage Conservation and Development Research Center of the Macau University of Science and Technology was commissioned by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government to conduct a 90-day inspection and study of the remains of the rammed earth wall in the historic city of Macao (a section of St. Francis Inclined Alley) and the rammed earth wall behind The Ruins of St. Paul's, and carried out field environmental research, status records, testing and analysis and the formulation of restoration plans. The project is led by Assistant Professor Yip Kin Hung, Director of the Heritage Restoration Laboratory, and the research team includes Kwong Ka-hsin, Cao Kai-yun, technicians of the School of Humanities and Arts, doctoral and master students in architecture.
▲ The research team of the rammed earth wall of St. Paul's
Ruins of St. Paul's is one of the 22 World Heritage Buildings in Macau, built in 1602, and is an important cultural landmark for cultural exchanges between China and the West in the past 500 years in Macao. In urban development and climate and environmental change, continuous detection and protection of the health status of heritage buildings is one of the important issues in the field of architectural heritage protection worldwide.
The research team of M.U.S.T. summarized the research process of health testing of cultural relics buildings into four stages: looking, smelling, asking and cutting. The first is "Wang", which uses the FARO 3D laser scanner to collect point cloud image information of the current state of the building without contact and without loss, and generates a VR 3D model with realistic colors. The second is the smell, which uses a Flir thermal imaging camera to detect the physical condition of each building part and component. The third is "ask", through interviews with management agencies and data collection, to understand the daily condition of the building and the details of daily maintenance measures. The fourth is "cutting", for the most important stage of the whole research, the team to collect information and samples to carry out laboratory scientific testing, analytical testing, from the material chemical composition, pH, compatibility and other aspects of accurate assessment, and finally get a complete test data and analysis conclusions.
▲ Three-dimensional scan of the old city wall of St. Paul's
The long-term localization inspection of cultural relics buildings is a very important basic work. M.U.S.T. attaches great importance to the teaching and research of Macao's World Heritage, gives full play to the internationalization and forward-looking nature of the University in the fields of scientific research and academics, and has set up a major in cultural heritage protection in both architecture and design courses. In May 2021, the "Macao World Heritage Conservation and Development Research Center" was established, with M.U.S.T. Distinguished Professor and Academician Meng Jianmin of the Chinese Academy of Engineering as the director of the center, and set up the Cultural Relics Restoration Laboratory as the core technology research platform of the Center, the research team has worked in the Architectural Heritage Restoration Laboratory of the University of Technology Sydney, the Cultural Relics Restoration Laboratory of the University of Melbourne, the Architectural Heritage Restoration Laboratory of the University of Hong Kong, the Scottish Historical Monuments and Environmental Public Administration Agency in the United Kingdom, the Ancient Construction Department of the Palace Museum in Beijing, Top institutions such as the UMG team at the University of Birmingham's School of Geo-Geo-Environmental Sciences work or are involved in heritage restoration and heritage conservation.
▲Three-dimensional scanning of rammed earth wall after St. Paul's Arch
At the same time, the Macao Centre for the Conservation and Development of World Heritage continued to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, and Assistant Professor Ip Kin Hung served as the representative of the 2021 International Symposium on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change (ICSM CHC) and the International Symposium of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), discussing the relationship between cultural heritage and climate change with experts from all over the world, and presenting the practical achievements of macao's architectural heritage protection. He is one of the 100 cultural, scientific, technical and socio-economic experts selected from 400 industry experts from all over the world, and the only representative of the Macao region. In July 2021, the Center was invited by the International Research Center for the Protection of Architectural Cultural Heritage of Shanghai Jiao Tong University to participate in the "Saving Traditional Villages" workshop on the protection and restoration of ancient buildings in Lianghu Village, Gaoping, Shanxi Province, hosted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and co-organized by the Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, which was the first time that a team from Macao participated in the restoration of architectural relics, which attracted widespread attention and reports from the local media. In terms of the protection and restoration of architectural heritage in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, in November 2021, the Center was invited by the Lingnan Regional Architectural History Research Team of South China University of Technology, and Assistant Professor Zheng Jianyi of the School of Humanities and Arts of M.U.S.T. participated in the 2021 National Social Science Foundation's Unpopular Research Special Academic Team Project "Research on the Interaction Of Eastern and Western Architectural Cultures in the Guangzhou One-Mouth Trade Period" as the co-leader of the sub-project. The research team of the center has also carried out professional and technical exchanges with relevant departments in the mainland such as the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, the Shaanxi History Museum, the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Research Institute, and the Zhuhai High-tech Zone Social Undertakings Bureau.
▲Three-dimensional scanning of rammed earth wall after St. Paul's Arch
The future research team will further strengthen exchanges and cooperation with international cultural relics restoration teams and experts, introduce advanced concepts and technologies of today's cultural relics restoration and reuse into Macao, and promote the sustainable development of Macao's architectural cultural heritage and the cultivation of relevant professional and technical personnel.
▲Thermal imaging camera detection of rammed earth walls in St. Paul's
▲Laser scanning detection
▲Sample testing in the Cultural Relics Restoration Laboratory of Macau University of Science and Technology
▲Chemical analysis in the Cultural Relics Restoration Laboratory of Macau University of Science and Technology
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