Behind a mottled dustpan is a seemingly ordinary mound of earth, and behind it, a "cultural relics doctor" in blue overalls is holding tweezers, carefully pulling and picking out something from the mound......
On the afternoon of 22 April, upstream news reporters learned from the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing that from 23 April, the general public and tourists will be able to directly hit the rejuvenation of such a "cultural relics doctor" at almost zero distance as long as they walk into the temporary exhibition hall on the first floor of the museum.
近900件/套珍宝齐聚一堂
The exhibition "Wonderful Ingenuity Recreates Huaguang - Protection and Utilization of Cultural Relics Unearthed in the Three Gorges" is jointly sponsored by the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing and the Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
On the afternoon of the 22nd, when the upstream news reporter walked into the exhibition hall to inquire in advance, he found that the whole exhibition was based on the Three Gorges Cultural Relics Protection Project, mainly through the three major parts of "Three Gorges Cultural Relics Archaeology", "Skilled Craftsmen Repair Cultural Relics" and "Effective Use and Revitalization", and a total of 895 pieces / sets of cultural relics unearthed in various districts and counties in the Three Gorges area (198 pieces / sets of precious cultural relics, including 15 pieces / sets of first-class cultural relics) were exhibited. This is also the largest number of cultural relics and precious cultural relics in Chongqing in recent years.
Entering the exhibition hall, the reporter's eyes were first attracted by a jade sword. According to reports, it was unearthed in the No. 12 tomb of the Xiaotianxi site in Fuling. A closer look reveals that it is special in that in addition to the bronze sword body, its jade sword head, back (hoop), lattice and other sword ornaments are also quite exquisite. "'Jade sword' is a grand and luxurious form of sword, judging from the body and stem ratio of this sword, it belongs to the 'sword of the sergeant', which is only seen in the tombs of the princes and kings of the Han Dynasty. Zhao Xiongwei, the curator of this exhibition and deputy director of the Department of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology of the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing, told reporters that the owner of Tomb No. 12 at the Xiaotianxi site in Fuling should be a descendant of the Ba royal family and one of the rulers of the Ba people.
In addition, the red pottery pieces unearthed at the Yubeipu site in Fengjie, which have been called the "first pottery shard of the Three Gorges", the bronze seal of the Han Dynasty "Barbarian Yi Chang", the bronze lantern of the Han Dynasty to ward off evil spirits, the money tree seat of the Eastern Han Dynasty pottery, and the copper water-bearing plate in the first year of the founding of the People's Republic of China, can also be seen in this exhibition.
The cultural relics doctor moved the "operating room" into the exhibition hall
"We hope that the general public and tourists will walk into the scene, not only to pay attention to the display of cultural relics that have been restored, but also to see the process ......of cultural relics restoration," Mou Fengjing, secretary of the Party Committee and director of the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing, told reporters that the excavation and restoration of cultural relics has long been an interdisciplinary and high-tech system engineering, which is rich in the efforts of a large number of cultural relics protection workers.
Another important point of this exhibition is to use a considerable space and space to show the protection and restoration process of the cultural relics of the Three Gorges. There are two restoration laboratories in the exhibition hall: metal and ceramic. The article begins with a scene in progress in a metal restoration laboratory.
Back in the "operation" of the cultural relics that the audience could get closer to, the on-site staff was actually restoring a lacquer box from the Han Dynasty. "What I'm peeling off little by little is actually silver ......sheets," he told reporters, adding that they were originally inlaid in wooden lacquer boxes. "These stripped fragments will later be reassembled according to their size, shape, and whether the fracture lines can be connected, etc., and then restored to the paint box body that has been restored separately. ”
The lacquer plate, which has been soaked in water for more than 2,000 years, still shines
At the same time, a number of exhibitions in the exhibition hall aimed at educating the audience about the restoration and preventive protection of cultural relics are also worth exploring for the audience.
For example, in the "Dynamic Demonstration of Mildew in Cultural Relics", you can manually adjust the temperature, relative humidity and total number of fungi by yourself, and intuitively see the number and coverage area of mold on a painting through projection.
Of course, in the part that shows the restoration and preventive protection of cultural relics, there is another treasure that cannot be left unmentioned, that is, the lacquer plate unearthed from the No. 1 tomb of Wulong Pass, which has been selected as the final evaluation of the top ten archaeological discoveries in the country in 2024, and this exhibition is also the first time that the lacquer plate has been exhibited to the public. When you get closer, you will notice that the lacquer plate is still on display in a display case filled with water. Its pattern and color can still be described as dazzling.
This is because the No. 1 tomb at Wulong Pass was originally a "clear water tomb" filled with water, and it was buried in water for more than 2,000 years before it was unearthed. "The loss of wood components and the destruction of the cell wall structure have made it impossible to maintain the original strength of the wood to resist the curling and cracking caused by drying, and it is necessary to maintain the original state of the excavated artifacts and suppress the occurrence of deterioration, so we have adopted the current state of saturated water preservation. Zhao Xiongwei, curator and deputy director of the Department of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology of the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing, said.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the opening of the exhibition "Wonderful Craftsmanship and Rejuvenation of Glory - Exhibition of the Protection and Utilization of Cultural Relics Unearthed in the Three Gorges" is only one of the results of the first phase of the comprehensive renovation work launched by the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing at the end of 2023. On May 1, another part of the renovated "Magnificent Three Gorges" exhibition hall will also be officially opened to the public.
Upstream news reporter Qiu Jinyi photography Zhang Jinqi