The Mogao and Yungang Grottoes
Neville Agnew and Huang Kezhong
The GETTY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE's China projects,
Initiated formally in 1989, are a collaboration between the Getty Conservation Institute (gci) and the State Bureau of Cultural Relics (sbcr) of the People's Republic of China, based in Beijing. These multifaceted projects involve conservation activities, research, and training at two important ancient Buddhist sites: the Mogao grottoes, a World Heritage Site in Gansu Province; and the Yungang grottoes in Shanxi Province.
The Getty Conservation Institute and the State Bureau of Cultural Relics of the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Culture first began exploring the possibility of collaboration in 1986. In May 1988, at the invitation of the SBCR, Luis Monreal, then director of the gci; and Miguel Angel Corzo, then gci Special Projects director, made a preliminary visit to China, at which time the Mogao and Yungang grottoes were identified as possible sites for a joint conservation project. In September of that year, a joint team was formed to examine the sites and their problems and discuss the objectives and specifics of a conservation program. The team consisted of representatives from the gci—Monreal; Frank Preusser, then director of the Scientific Program; and Neville Agnew, then deputy director of the Scientific Program—joined by Huang Kezhong, then chief of grottoes in the SBCR, and site representatives Xie Tingfan of Yungang and Fan Jinshi,
Li Zuixiong, and Li Yunhe of Mogao.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco), within the scope of the World Heritage Convention and as the relevant international organization, supported the initial establishment of the collaboration through H. Leo Teller, Unesco's representative in China. The result of the 1988 discussions was an agreement, signed in January 1989, to begin a three-phase conservation project, the first phase to take place over a period of eighteen months and the others to follow for one year each. The project work began formally at the end of 1990.
Project Objectives
The essential elements of the collaboration and design of the project were discussed in 1988 during visits to Mogao and Yungang, then later refined and set forth in the formal agreement. These included:
1. assessing and studying causes and mechanisms of deterioration of the sites due to climate, environment and pollution, and geological and hydrological factors;
2. jointly undertaking site interventions based on studies, particularly those that would address generic problems in China;
3. providing technical and scientific assistance and advice to the State Bureau of Cultural Relics and staff at the two sites;
4. providing conservation-related technical training to staff in a number of areas of need; and
5. disseminating information on conservation through publications and an international conference, to be held in China, on grotto conservation and management.
The Getty Conservation Institute's decision to be involved in significant interventions at Mogao and Yungang was based on evidence that much of the deterioration at the sites was so severe as to degrade the quality of the historic art and, in some places, fundamentally threaten the sites. Emphasis on scientific studies and technical assistance was therefore focused on the most pressing needs of the sites.
That decision still stands today and is fully endorsed by the sbcr and staff at the two sites. Until now, interventions of several kinds and technical training have been the thrust of the effort. With the site management training course held at Yungang in October 1992, the fourth of the five elements listed here was addressed, and the 1993 conference at Mogao fulfilled the last objective.
The collaboration has been exemplary, both at the institutional level (the sbcr was the overall authority, with the Dunhuang Academy and the Yungang Custody Committee as site partners) and the personal level. The agreement with the sbcr secured support for gci travel and accommodations while in China. The labor, materials, skills, and staff contribution at the two sites have been no less impressive. The gci provided specialist skills and technical and scientific advice where needed, as well as instrumentation and materials unavailable in China.
The sbcr successfully tapped a number of state and provincial organizations for support: the Institute for Desert Research of the Academia Sinica, based in Lanzhou, undertook studies for sand control at Mogao; the Datong Environmental Protection Agency participated in pollution monitoring at Yungang; the Architectural Division of the China National Institute of Cultural Property designed temple facades for several grottoes at Yungang in connection with site presentation and pollution mitigation initiatives; and the Shanxi Province Geophysical Institute provided geological and hydrological information at Yungang.
Work Completed
The following summarizes activities at the two sites until the end of 1993. (Elsewhere in these proceedings, descriptions of certain component projects of the collaboration are presented in greater detail.)
World History
