Full-size Fresco in Tiankuang Hall Digitalized

Inspection Scene of God of Taishan Mountain is 62 meters long and 3.3 meters high.

The municipal museum of Tai’an city in Shandong province has completed shooting digital images of a gigantic fresco in the city’s Daimiao Temple to protect it from further deterioration.

The fresco measures 62 meters long and 3.3 meters high and covers three of four walls in the Tiankuang Hall in Daimiao Temple. The artwork draws the spectacular scene of the inspection of the God of Taishan Mountain, thus has the name Inspection Scene of God of Taishan Mountain.

As the only remaining fresco of its kind depicting the God of Taishan Mountain, the fresco bears a high artistic value. For over one thousand years, the fresco has been subject to damage, caused by the humidity in the air, particularly over the wet season. Digitalizing the fresco has been deemed the best way to protect it from further decline.

The Tai’an Museum invited the Digital Center of Dunhuang Caves Research Institute to assist with the digitalization project conducted on July 15.

"We need at least 10,000 photos to restore the real-size fresco. By then, tourists can appreciate the digitalized fresco and all its details after we finish the repair work," said Sun Hongcai, the director of the Institute’s photo studio.

Sun also added that after the digitalization, more fresco-protection work will begin, including on-site investigations, environmental tests and material analyses.

Tiankuang Hall, established in 1021, is dedicate

A digital camera is taking photos of the fresco Inspection Scene of God of Taishan Mountain.

A researcher at Dunhuang Caves Research Institute is processing the digital data of the fresco in Tiankuang Hall.