Wall Paintings Conservation at Mogao Grottoes

Excavated into a mile of cliff face outside Dunhuang, an oasis town at the edge of the Gobi Desert is the Mogao Grottoes, an ancient Buddhist site on the Silk Road containing 492 decorated caves temples. It's 45,000 square meters of wall paintings and over 2,400 polychrome sculptures are the largest body of Buddhist art in China. Wall Paintings Conservation at Mogao was focused on the deterioration of wall paintings in Cave 85 in order to design and implement conservation strategies adaptable to other cave temples at Mogao and other Silk Road sites.

• Preventive conservation measures that slowed deterioration of the wall paintings
• High-resolution photographic documentation of the cave’s conservation in 2005
• Implementation of a post-treatment condition monitoring plan that anticipates potential future deterioration
• Installation of low-voltage LED lighting for the walls and ceiling of the main chamber, a raised viewing platform that allows for unimpeded views from the doorway and corridor, and interpretive panels (in Chinese and English) focused on conservation issues
• Sustainable visitor policy for Cave 85 based on the results of a multiyear study by the Getty Conservation Institute and the Dunhuang Academy
• Dissemination of project methodology and results through conferences, publications, and public lectures, promoting good conservation practice at similar sites
• A Statement of Cultural Values and Significance documented the artistic, historical, social, and scientific values of the site, which guided the overall decision-making process.
• Management assessment for Cave 85, completed as a component of the separate master plan for the site as a whole
• Conservation of Ancient Sites along the Silk Road, an international conference at Mogao in 1993

Dunhuang Academy, under China's State Administration for Cultural Heritage