Ancient murals in Aba Prefecture in urgent need of protection

People’s Daily Online
July 01, 2014

A photo of ancient murals in Xuankong Gumiao. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

Wall paintings discovered inside an ancient Buddhist temple were in need of comprehensive protection and restoration. The temple, Xuankong Gumiao, or “Suspended Ancient Temple”, is located 3,200 meters above sea level, on top of Gada Mountain of Jinchuan in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture.

The wall paintings are described as “delicately well-crafted”. However, after thousands of years of wind and rain, the temple is collapsing and some of murals have been seriously damaged. Historians then call for better protection and repairing of those murals.

For more photos, follow the [link].

Virtual Modeling to Help Save Mandalay’s Golden Palace Monastery

The Irrawady
ZARNI MANN
May 5, 2014

Experts from Florida University explain the process of laser scanning by which a three-dimensional virtual model of Mandalay’s Shwenandaw Kyaung monastery is being produced. (Photo: Teza Hlaing / The Irrawaddy)

MANDALAY — American and Burmese experts are set to produce a three-dimensional virtual model of a 19th-century teak monastery in Mandalay, as part of a project to preserve the ornate structure.

The Florida-based World Monuments Fund, which is implementing a project to conserve and renovate Mandalay’s Shwenandaw Kyaung monastery, said it had finished a high-tech laser scanning process at the site on Friday. The project to renovate the “Golden Palace” monastery will cost US$500,000, and is being conducted together with Burmese specialists and the government’s Department of Archeology.

Jeff Allen, program director for the World Monuments Fund, told The Irrawaddy that a major study should begin in September on how water is affecting the teak structure, but that it was important to conduct the scanning first.