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Interpreting historic murals: a case study approach and best practices used in Fengguo Temple

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Interpreting historic murals: a case study approach and best practices used in Fengguo Temple

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Interpreting Historic Murals - A Case Study Approach and Best Practices Used in Fengguo
Temple

by

Peilin Wu

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirement for the Degree
MASTER OF HERITAGE CONSERVATION

May 2020

Copyright 2020 Peilin Wu

ii

Table of Contents

List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... iv
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vi
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1 Analysis of América Tropical...................................................................................... 3
1.1 History of América Tropical ..................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Threats and Conservation ......................................................................................................... 7
1.3 Interpretation Approach and Analysis .................................................................................... 15
Chapter 2 Analysis of Lascaux Cave Painting ......................................................................... 27
2.1 History of Lascaux Cave ......................................................................................................... 27
2.2 Threats and Conservation ....................................................................................................... 32
2.3 Interpretation Approach and Analysis .................................................................................... 33
Chapter 3 Analysis of the Mogao Grottoes............................................................................... 44
3.1 History of Mogao Grottoes ..................................................................................................... 44
3.2 Threats and Conservation ....................................................................................................... 48
3.3 Interpretation Approach and Analysis .................................................................................... 51
Chapter 4 Analysis of Recommendations at Fengguo Temple ............................................... 59
4.1 History of Fengguo Temple .................................................................................................... 59
4.2 Site Description ....................................................................................................................... 61
4.2.1 Statues .................................................................................................................................. 65
4.2.2 Mural and Architectural Painting......................................................................................... 67
4.3 Current Interpretation Approach at Fengguo Temple ............................................................. 73
4.4 Analysis Learned from Case Studies and Recommendations of Fengguo Temple ................ 74
4.4.1 Marketing ............................................................................................................................. 74
iii

4.4.2 The Prerequisite of Interpretation----Conservation ............................................................. 77
4.4.3 The Idea of an Interpretive Center and Several Issues to Promote Interpretation ............... 79
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 85
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 87

iv

List of Figures

Figure 1.1: An associate of Siqueiros, Roberto Berdecio, stands in front of the mural shortly
after the completion. ....................................................................................................................... 3
Figure 1.2: The most visible part of the mural from Olvera street was whitewashed. ................... 6
Figure 1.3: The condition of América Tropical in 1971. ................................................................ 8
Figure 1.4: Detail of the black tar covering the bottom of América Tropical. ............................... 9
Figure 1.5: Detail of the damaged upper right portion after the earthquake in 1971.................... 10
Figure 1.6: The unfinished América Tropical II by Siqueiros in 1974. ........................................ 11
Figure 1.7: The preliminary treatment in 1990. ............................................................................ 14
Figure 1.8 a-c: Detail of the army in the original state in 1932 (a), before the third phase
conservation (b), after the visual reintegration to increase the legibility in 2012 (c). .................. 15
Figure 1.9: The view of mural and canopy from the platform. ..................................................... 17
Figure 1.10: Street elevation of historic buildings involved in the project. .................................. 18
Figure 1.11: The entry wall with introduction of América Tropical. ........................................... 20
Figure 1.12: The theme of “stage for controversy” with layered content. .................................... 21
Figure 1.13: Opening Night, an imaginary work of who might be in the opening night in 1932. 22
Figure 1.14: The scaffolding with authentic tools from the 1920s-1930s that Siqueiros
described. ...................................................................................................................................... 23
Figure 1.15: A high-resolution black-and-white image that can be partly illuminated in
sequence with the control of touchscreen. .................................................................................... 24
Figure 2.1: Marcel Ravidat (seated right) took people to see Lascaux in 1940. ........................... 28
Figure 2.2: Lascaux Plan............................................................................................................... 29
Figure 2.3: The Great Black Bull in the Hall of Bulls. ................................................................. 30
Figure 2.4: Crossed Bison. Photograph © Philippe Psaila. Courtesy of the Field Museum. ....... 31
Figure 2.5: The International Centre for Cave Art. ...................................................................... 36
Figure 2.6: In the Atelier, the paintings are suspended on the ceiling. ......................................... 39
Figure 2.7: The Gallery of Imaginary. .......................................................................................... 40
Figure 2.8: The visiting route of Lascaux IV. ............................................................................... 40
Figure 3.1: The geology of Dunhuang. ......................................................................................... 44
Figure 3.2: Mogao Grottoes. ......................................................................................................... 45
v

Figure 3.3: The location of the murals removed by Warner. ........................................................ 47
Figure 3.4: Environmental Monitoring of the caves. .................................................................... 50
Figure 3.5: Wind fence at Mogao. ................................................................................................ 51
Figure 3.6: A full-scale hand-painted replica of cave 275 on display at Getty Center in 2016. ... 53
Figure 3.7: Cave 45 virtual immersive experience in the exhibition “Cave Temples of
Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road” at Getty center in 2016. ................................... 54
Figure 3.8: The new Visitor Center for the Mogao Grottoes. ....................................................... 55
Figure 3.9: The platform installed in cave 85. .............................................................................. 57
Figure 4.1: The location of Fengguo Temple. .............................................................................. 59
Figure 4.2: Reconstructed plan of Fengguo Temple. .................................................................... 64
Figure 4.3: The main hall of Fennguo Temple. ............................................................................ 65
Figure 4.4: Seven Past Buddhas in the main hall of Fengguo Temple. ........................................ 66
Figure 4.5: Statue of Bodhisattva Skanda, facing away. .............................................................. 67
Figure 4.6: (a) One of five Buddhas painted on the east wall. (b) One of five Buddhas painted
on the east wall. (c) What remains of one of eight Bodhisattvas on the north wall. (d) One of
two Bodhisattvas with eleven faces on the south wall. ................................................................. 70
Figure 4.7: One of eighteen Arhats taken down which preserved beside the Bodhisattva
Skanda. .......................................................................................................................................... 71
Figure 4.8: The Feitian figure on the beam................................................................................... 72
Figure 4.9: An example of creating a small portion of mural by Northwest University student. . 83

vi

Abstract

The main hall of the Fengguo Temple is the largest and the most intact single-story
wooden structure still standing from the Liao Dynasty, representing the highest level of Chinese
architecture in the eleventh century. There are total more than 500 square meters of murals
painted in the Yuan Dynasty in the main hall. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the best
practices of other international examples of important historic mural sites in order to make
recommendations about interpretation methods for Fengguo Temple and its murals.
The three case studies of mural interpretation were drawn from important sites across the
world: América Tropical in Los Angeles (United States), Lascaux Cave in rural France, and the
Mogao Grottoes in rural China. Innovative visitor centers and travelling exhibitions interpret the
sites based on the mural themes, environmental conditions, disease conditions, and the types of
visitors. Based on the three historical mural sites’ successful interpretation approaches, this thesis
explores opportunities to interpret the Fennguo Temple mural paintings more effectively.

1

Introduction

Freeman Tilden, the father of heritage interpretation, defines interpretation as “An
educational activity, which aims to reveal meanings and relationships through the use of original
objects, by first-hand experience, and by illustrative media, rather than simply to communicate
factual information.”1 He put the emphasis of interpretation in educational function. In order to
better serve the educational function efficiently, recreational approaches should be adopted to
attract non-expert visitors’ interest. In my view, interpretation is an art to put pieces of
information together to create an experience in an enjoyable and meaningful way. Light states
that “At the heart of Interpretation is informal education. Interpretation is designed to
communicate the significance of heritage places, in a manner appropriate to visitors engaged in
leisure activities during their leisure time.”2 Non-expert visitors are looking for an experience,
not hard facts of history, which can be provided from interpreters though guide, audio tour and
other interactive tools.
In China, since the economic reform in 1978, both domestic and international tourism has
expanded rapidly. Interpreters need to explore new ways to adapt the evolving visitors’
expectation from both domestic and overseas. However, the current relationship in China
between the visitor and the interpretation can be compared to a relationship between a passive
student and a strict teacher.3 The strict teacher decides what to interpret and students learn the
knowledge passively. However, contemporary visitors are not passive students, they are curious
explorers expecting interpreters to provide specific knowledge in a digestible and interesting
way.
Fengguo Temple was built by Liao Emperor Shengzong in A.D.1020 to commemorate
his mother and promote Buddhism. The main hall of the Fengguo Temple is the most intact and
largest single-story wooden structure still standing from the Liao Dynasty.4 Fengguo Temple
also showcases many accomplished sculptures, murals, and architectural paintings. However,

1 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, ed. R. Bruce Craig (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2007), 17.
2 D. Light, “Heritage as informal education,” in Heritage Tourism and Society, ed. D.T. Herbert, (London: Mansell,
1995), 139.
3 Yaniv Poria, Avital Biran and Arie Reichel, “Visitors' preferences for interpretation at heritage sites,” Journal of
Travel Research 48, no. 1, (2009): 103.
4 Bingbing Zhao and Peng Zhao, “Digital Protection Strategy of Architectural Cultural Heritage-Case Study of
Fengguo Temple,” 建筑与文化, no 5 (2018): 70.
2

Fengguo Temple has not been paid enough attention as it should be due to its remote location
and lack of management by the Yixian County Cultural Relics Management Office. In 2001,
Fengguo Temple invited the Chinese Cultural Relics Research Institute, the Dunhuang Research
Institute, the National Museum, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Rome University, and
the German Archaeological Research Institute to participate in scientific conservation research
and preliminary repair research. It is now more a religious place for nearby residents to worship
Buddhism rather than a historic scenic spot, so there is no interpretative program. For the
development of Fengguo Temple, an effective and attractive interpretation method should be
installed to attract visitors from domestic and overseas. The purpose of heritage conservation is
to preserve historic places and tell the story of these places so that people can understand and
remember. “Conservation is based on - and contributes to - knowledge, understanding, and
education.”5 Interpretation is a bridge to connect historic facts to multiple audiences. Versatile
interpretative methods should be adopted as an engaging educational tool. A successful
interpretation center should be able to attract visitors’ attention, reveal the hard fact of history to
visitors in a digestible and interesting way, and inspire visitors to figure out what does eventually
matter to them.
In this thesis, I explore mature interpretation approaches in three historic mural sites in
different places - América Tropical in downtown Los Angeles, Lascaux Cave in France, and the
Mogao Grottoes in China. After analyzing the best practices of these sites, I make
recommendations of an idea of an interpretation center that Fengguo Temple might adopt to
improve current interpretation methods at the site. An interpretation center is likely to play an
increasingly important role in connecting visitors to heritage sites.

5 Stefano Brusaporci, Digital Innovations in Architectural Heritage Conservation: Emerging Research and
Opportunities (Hershey: IGI Global, 2017):120.
3

Chapter 1 Analysis of América Tropical
1.1 History of América Tropical
In 1932, Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros unveiled one of the most important
murals in his life: América Tropical. The 80 x 18 foot mural was located on the second story
external wall of the Italian Hall on Olvera Street in El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical
Monument in downtown Los Angeles. The mural depicts an eagle trying to attack a Mexican
man who is crucified on a cross in a background of Maya pyramid with surrounding vegetation.
An armed Mexican farmer and a Peruvian peasant sit in the upper right of the mural, who are
ready to attack the eagle.6 (Figure 1.1)

Figure 1.1: An associate of Siqueiros, Roberto Berdecio, stands in front of the mural shortly after the completion.
Photo: © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SOMAAP, Mexico City. Photo: The Getty Research
Institute, Los Angeles. Permission pending.

The mural was painted during The Great Depression of the 1930s. Mexican Americans
suffered from food shortage and job crisis as the most Americans did. Moreover, they faced
another threat: deportation. Many Mexican immigrants were forced to leave America. Due to

6 “América Tropical: The Story of an L.A. Icon-Landmark mural by famed Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros”,
last modified March 14, 2019, https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/blog/america-tropical-story-la-icon.
4

tension between locals and Mexican immigrants competing for jobs, a lot of political rallies,
strikes and unrest happened on Olvera Street.7 Olvera Street was eventually filled with
abandoned housing and unemployed men. Christine Sterling was an Anglo socialite who cared
about local history in Los Angeles. When she visited Olvera Street, she said:
I visited the old Plaza, the birth place of the City and found it forsaken and forgotten. The
Old Plaza Church, Mother and Grandmother of every church in Los Angles was
suffocated in a cheap, sordid atmosphere……Down a dirty alley I discovered an old
adobe, dignified even in its decay. Across the front door was nailed a black and white
sign, “CONDEMNED”.8

From her passion of reading romanticized story of Southern California particularly in her
childhood, she started to petition government that Olvera street had to be preserved due to its
rich Mexican cultural history. The revitalized and reimagined Olvera Street opened to the public
on April 19, 1930. She wrote in her journal:
The street opened last night in a blaze of glory. Thousands of People came and everyone
seemed happy. Music was everywhere. It all seemed a thousand miles away from a poor
dirty alley of just a few months ago. Senora Consuelo true to her promise has given to the
Paseo a Mexican Café, and the spirit of hospitality and happiness lingers here as it did in
the old days. Consuelo herself is a picture torn from a page of early California romance.9

The Mexican-theme marketplace still prospers, which is one of the most visited tourist places
today. Although Christine Sterling was criticized by absence of authenticity in Olvera Street, she
still tried to save the city’s history. Pelanconi House, the oldest surviving brick house in Los
Angeles, was well restored by Sterling. The building was rented to serve as a Mexican restaurant
in Los Angeles after Sterling opened the marketplace.
David Alfaro Siqueiros came to Los Angeles for six months in 1932 when he was
expelled from Mexico by the Mexican government for his radical political activities. He painted
three murals during that time. The first one, “Street Meeting,” was painted at the Chouinard
School of Art where he taught fresco classes. The mural disappeared within one year of its
unveiling due to its sensitive political theme. It was found to be covered under several layers of
paint, not washed off as often reported.10 “Portrait of Present Day Mexico,” was the third one,

7 Antonie Boessenkool, "Mural has Highly Charged Theme," Orange County Register, Aug 21, 2014.
8 Christine Sterling, Olvera Street: Its History and Restoration (Los Angeles: Adobe Studios, 1933), 9.
9 Sterling, Olvera Street: 22.
10 Suzanne Muchnic, “They've barely scratched the surface-Under layers of paint and structural work, a 1932 mural
by David Alfaro Siqueiros is found. Will it ever see the light of day?” Los Angeles Times, January 09, 2005.
5

which was originally painted for a private home in Pacific Palisades, then moved to the Santa
Barbara Museum of Art.
His second mural, “América Tropical,” was his most important mural in Los Angeles.
During the formative years of Olvera Street, F.K. Ferenz, director of the Plaza Art Center
gallery, invited Siqueiros to paint an exterior mural for the Plaza Art Gallery. The ultimate
approval to paint the mural came from the “mother of Olvera Street”, Christine Sterling.1112 The
mural was supposed to be a tranquil, folkloric and picturesque image depicting Romanticized
Mexican culture in the same way as the Olvera Street marketplace did. Obviously, Sterling and
the official didn’t realize Siqueiros’ radical thinking. Starting in late August of 1932, Siqueiros
started painting the mural with the help of twenty artists. Until the day before the scheduled
unveiling, the central figure had not been painted. Siqueiros sent away all his assistants and labor
and started to finish the essential figure. The central figure was crucified on a double cross,
watched by an American eagle, representing America’s imperialism in Latin America.
Eventually, when the mural was unveiled, it shocked Los Angeles. In Siqueiros’ words,
instead of painting “a continent of happy men, surrounded by palms and parrots where the fruit
voluntarily detached itself to fall into the mouths of the happy mortals,” he said, “I painted a man
crucified on a double cross, which had proudly perched on the top, the eagle of North American
coins.”13
When the mural was unveiled on October 9, 1932, Arthur Miller wrote in the Los
Angeles Times, “When the scaffolding finally came down…onlookers gasped. No one but the
author had been able to visualize the close-knit powerful design so long shaded and concealed by
those scaffolds.”14 Jean Charlot said, “Until these murals were done, Indianism had been
synonymous with folklore or folk art…Siqueiros was the first to erect a naked Indian body as
removed from picturesqueness as a Greek naked athlete, a figure of universal meaning within its
racial universe.”15 The audience was impressed by his painting techniques and aesthetics taste,
but his radical thinking involved in the mural shocked Los Angeles. That was not a comfortable

11 Rubén Martínez, “Bringing América Tropical back to life-The re-unveiling of the Siqueiros mural will push Los
Angeles to engage its past,” Los Angeles Times, September 19, 2010.
12 Hadley Mears, “Looking Back at Christine Sterling, the Maternalistic, Problematic ‘Mother of Olvera Street’,” LA
WEEKLY, July 11, 2017.
13 David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mi Respuesta (Mexico: Ediciones de "Arte Público", 1960), 32.
14 Arthur Miller, “Power Unadorned Marks Olvera Street Mural," Los Angeles Times, Oct. 16, 1932.
15 Jean Charlot, The Mexican Mural Renaissance: 1920-1925, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963), 207.
6

topic for Los Angeles’ establishment, as well as for Christine Sterling because it was not in
accordance with her romanticized Mexican village.16
Shortly after the completion, the Plaza Art Center was forced to paint over the parts most
visible from Olvera Street. (Figure 1.2) Within a year, the entire mural was covered. It is said
that the mural was covered because the owner of the building thought the mural was ugly.17
Ironically, from Siqueiros’ documentary, he claimed his work was destroyed without doubt
because of its theme. Sterling would renew the lease on the upper floor of the building only with
the condition that the mural be completely painted over.18

Figure 1.2: The most visible part of the mural from Olvera street was whitewashed.
Photo: © Los Angeles Times, photo published June 22, 2004; mural: © 2012, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York/Sociedad Mexicana de Autores de las Artes Plasticas (SOMAAP), Mexico City. Permission pending.

16 “History Behind the Piece,” accessed August 18, 2018, http://www.olvera-street.com/-Siqueiros-Mural/-siqueiros-
mural.html.
17 Paul J. Karlstrom, On the edge of America: California modernist art, 1900-1950 (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1996), 132.
18 Susan Delson, Dudley Murphy, Hollywood wild card (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006), 118.
7

By the time the mural was unveiled in October, Siqueiros’ visa had expired and a renewal
was refused. He had no choice but to leave America. However, his achievement has only grown
in importance. América Tropical marked the beginning of mural arts in Los Angeles.19 His
reputation continued to grow and today he is known as a part of the triumvirate of Mexican
muralists, along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco.20 All of the three muralists
believed the purpose of art is to serve and educate people instead of just exploring unpractical
whims.21 The mural is also famous for Siqueiros’ pioneering painting techniques. Instead of
using traditional water-based pigment on fresh lime plaster, Siqueiros instead painted his work
on cement with automobile lacquer by spray gun while the cement was still wet. The final step
was adding a mineral wax once the surface had “crystalized.”22 However, traces of wax were not
found in the analysis, which leaves the production of the mural still in question.23

1.2 Threats and Conservation
The mural was neglected and forgotten until the 1960s. In the beginning of the 1960s,
many Mexican-American artists organized together to resist cultural stereotypes and establish a
unique artistic identity in America, which is called the Chicano art movement which also
included the Chicano mural movement.24 Chicano historians and artists, learning about América
Tropical’s controversial, oppressed, and hidden history, became interested in América Tropical.
One of these historians in particular, Shifra Goldman, became dedicated to preserving
América Tropical. She promoted saving the mural through public lectures and working with the
filmmaker Jesús Salvador Treviño to document it in the early 1970s.25 Treviño realized the

19 “Conservation of América Tropical by David Alfaro Siqueiros,” The Getty Conservation Institute, December 1.
1993.
20 Jeffrey Levin, “América Tropical,” Conservation Perspectives, The GCI Newsletter, summer 1994.
21 Rita Pomade, “Mexican muralists: the big three - Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros,” Mexconnect, last modified on May
5, 2007, http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1064-mexican-muralists-the-big-three-orozco-rivera-siqueiros.
22 David Alfaro Siqueiros, David Alfaro Siqueiros Papers, 1920–91, bulk 1930–36, 1932, boxes 3-16. Getty
Research Institute, Los Angeles.
23 Leslie Rainer, “Preserving América Tropical: From Original Technique to Conservation Treatment,” in The
Siqueiros Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning
(Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 55.
24 Rebecca Zamora, “Shifra Goldman and David Alfaro Siqueiros’ América Tropical,” Getty Research Journal, no.
6 (January 2014): 124.
25 Leslie Rainer, “Conserving and Presenting Siqueiros’s América Tropical,” American Art 26, no. 1 (Spring 2012):
14.
8

significant mural had been damaged. “The colors were barely visible,” he said, “a layer of
whitewashed was flaking away from the wall, doubtless the result of the rain, sun, and wind to
which the mural had been subjected for thirty-six years. The lower portion of the mural was
covered with the black tar that rainproofed the adjoining roof.”26 (Figures 1.3 and 1.4) In 1971,
the mural suffered severe damage from an earthquake. A large fragment of the mural fell off.
(Figure 1.5) Treviño decided to produce a documentary to help tell the story and save the mural.
After Siqueiros watched the documentary, he was very glad that his efforts were appreciated. He
decided to recreate América Tropical in its original theme. Sadly, the recreation was never
completed because he was diagnosed with cancer after the decision. (Figure 1.6)

Figure 1.3: The condition of América Tropical in 1971.
Photo: Jesús Salvador Treviño; mural: ©2012, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Sociedad Mexicana de
Autores de las Artes Plasticas (SOMAAP), Mexico City. Permission pending.

26 Jesús Salvador Treviño, “América Tropical through the Eyes of a Filmmaker” in The Siqueiros Legacy:
Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los Angeles:
The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 19-20.
9

Figure 1.4: Detail of the black tar covering the bottom of América Tropical.
Photo: Jesús Salvador Treviño; mural: ©2012, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Sociedad Mexicana de
Autores de las Artes Plasticas (SOMAAP), Mexico City. Permission pending.

10

Figure 1.5: Detail of the damaged upper right portion after the earthquake in 1971.
Photo: Jesús Salvador Treviño; mural: ©2012, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Sociedad Mexicana de
Autores de las Artes Plasticas (SOMAAP), Mexico City. Permission pending.

11

Figure 1.6: The unfinished América Tropical II by Siqueiros in 1974.
Photo: Shifra Goldman; used by permission of her estate; mural: © 2012, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York/Sociedad Mexicana de Autores de las Artes Plasticas (SOMAAP), Mexico City. Permission pending.

Ironically, being white washed for years actually saved the mural from complete
deterioration by heavy sun exposure in Southern California and occasional rainfalls. By the mid-
1960s, the whitewash began to fail and the surface of the mural was again visible. According to
Shifra Goldman, “By 1973 the years of rain and sun on the unprotected outdoor mural have
taken their toll, removing both the whitewash and finally most of the color beneath”.27 In 1971,
Treviño invited two restorers to come from Mexico. Jaime Mejía and Josefina Quezada
examined the mural and made the conclusion that the mural could not be restored to its original
appearance due to the large extent of paint loss and lack of color photographic documentation,
but could be preserved to prevent future deterioration.28 Shifra Goldman enlisted El Pueblo de

27 Shifra M. Goldman, “Siqueiros and Three Early Murals in Los Angeles,” Art Journal 33, No. 4 (Summer, 1974):
325.
28 Emily Macdonald-Korth and Leslie Rainer, “Preserving a legacy: The Getty Conservation Institute Project to
conserve David Alfaro Siqueiros’s mural ‘América Tropical’,” Getty Research Journal 6 (January 2014): 106.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1817847577/.
12

Los Angeles State Historic Park which administers historic buildings on Olvera Street to join in
the preservation of América Tropical. The senior curator of El Pueblo, Jean Bruce Poole
expressed great interest in saving the mural as a part of Mexican history. However, because of
the lack of funds, preservation efforts were minor. El Pueblo just erected a protective plywood
shed around the mural for temporary protection.29 In 1987, Ms. Poole reached out to the director
of Getty Conservation Institute, Miguel Angel Corzo. “I was really appalled that nothing had
been done to conserve it,” he said, “there seemed to be no sense of respect for the work of art,
which was very saddening.”30
The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) officially undertook the task to conserve,
interpret, and provide public access to the mural with the collaboration of the City of Los
Angeles in 1988.31 The GCI began by conducting materials assessments and studying techniques
used in the mural, as well as installing a weather station to monitor the adverse effects of air
pollutants and light which might cause further damage to the mural. These initial studies laid the
foundation to develop a full-scale plan to conserve, interpret, and present the mural. The GCI
carried out three-rounds of conservation since the 1990s. In 1990, a team from Mexico, guided
by Agustín Espinosa, conducted a preliminary treatment of América Tropical which includes
surface cleaning, reattachment of plaster, filling of cracks and losses, removal of whitewash and
tar from the base of the mural, and surface consolidation.32 (Figure 1.7) Detached plaster
detached due to the 1971 Sylmar earthquake was of great concern in the first phase of
conservation. Digital photography was also taken in sections which resulted in a high-resolution
picture used as the basis to document conditions. A second phase conservation was conducted in
2002, which was mainly plaster reattachment. Conservators reattached plasters by injecting
grouting. Surface cleaning was involved as well. A rigid protection was installed in front of the
mural to prepare the construction of the protective canopy by J. Paul Getty Museum. The final
phase was carried out in 2012 after the installation of the protective canopy, including plaster
reattachment, injection grouting, surface cleaning, removal of tar and surface consolidation by

29 Jeffrey Levin, “América Tropical,” Conservation Perspectives, The GCI Newsletter, summer 1994.
30 Jeffrey Levin, “América Tropical,” Conservation Perspectives, The GCI Newsletter, summer 1994.
31 Leslie Rainer, “The Conservation of América Tropical: Historical Context and Project Overview,” in The
Siqueiros Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning
(Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 12.
32 Leslie Rainer, “Preserving América Tropical: From Original Technique to Conservation Treatment,” in The
Siqueiros Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning
(Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 58.
13

Leslie Rainer, Emily MacDonald-Korth, and Aneta Zebala of Zebala and Partners. As Leslie
Rainer wrote in her paper:
Injection grouting was done to reattach delaminated plaster with a commercially
available injection grout, and losses to the plaster layer were filled with a cement-lime-
sand mixture with dry pigments. Paint was reattached by injection of a polyvinyl butyral
resin. Surface cleaning was carried out using an aqueous system, and areas of heavier
soiling were cleaned with an ammonium citrate solution. Localized areas of tar and
residual tar stains and other types of stains were reduced and removed where possible,
with solvents. Following surface cleaning and stain removal or reduction, and prior to
inpainting, the surface was consolidated and resaturated with an isolating layer consisting
of a dilute (less than 7%) solution of isobutyl and n-butyl methacrylate with ultraviolet
light stabilizers in solvent.33
Determining the area of visual reintegration might be the hardest task of the conservation project.
As the two restorers from Mexico, Jaime Mejía and Josefina Quezada stated in 1971, the mural
could not be restored to its original appearance due to the large extent of paint loss and lack of
color photography and the need to reconstruct large areas of loss, which would erase the traces
Siqueiros left behind. The story will never be told authentically to the public in this way. What
the conservators could do was use a high-resolution historic black-and-white image overlaid with
a current image to locate the forms and outlines to reintegrate the painting as much as they can.
The reintegration emphasized on mechanical loss and areas being treated in the past to match the
surrounding. Even though the original América Tropical is largely gone, the conservators have
revealed what remains of América Tropical, respecting Siqueiros’ hand and historic traces
through a continuous image in a legible condition. (Figure 1.8a-1.8c)

33 Leslie Rainer, “Preserving América Tropical: From Original Technique to Conservation Treatment,” in The
Siqueiros Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning
(Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 59.
14

Figure 1.7: The preliminary treatment in 1990.
Photo: Nancy Kaye, © J. Paul Getty Trust; mural: © 2012, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Sociedad
Mexicana de Autores de las Artes Plasticas (SOMAAP), Mexico City. Permission pending.

(a)

15

(b)

(c)

Figure 1.8 a-c: Detail of the army in the original state in 1932 (a), before the third phase conservation (b), after the
visual reintegration to increase the legibility in 2012 (c).
Photos: 2.8a: John Weiskall, courtesy of El Pueblo Historical Monument; 2.8b and 2.8c: J. Paul Getty Trust; 2.8a–
2.8c: mural: ©2012, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Sociedad Mexicana de Autores de las Artes Plasticas
(SOMAAP), Mexico City. Permission pending.

1.3 Interpretation Approach and Analysis
In July 2006, the J. Paul Getty Trust donated $3.5 million to the construction of the
protective canopy, viewing platform, and interpretive center with an additional $6 million from
the City of Los Angeles.34 The Bureau of Engineering (BOE) of the City of Los Angeles
oversaw the construction while the architectural firm Brooks +Scarpa designed a canopy with a

34 Sharon Bernstein and Kevin Ryan Nava, “Restored América Tropical Mural Unveiled on Olvera Street,” NBC Los
Angeles, Oct 9, 2012, https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Restored-America-Tropical-Mural-Restoration-
Unveiled-on-Olvera-Street-Siqueiros-LA-Downtown-Getty-173344391.html.
16

roll-down screen to protect the mural when the site is not being viewed by the public.35 The
canopy stretches the entire 80-foot length of the mural. The canopy is held up by two beams that
reach down to the ground.36 The platform which is 150 feet away from the mural is located on
the rooftop of the América Tropical Interpretive Center which is housed in the ground floor of
the Sepulveda House. (Figure 1.9) The platform can accommodate up to twenty people at one
time. When people go up to the platform, they can see an unobstructed view of the mural. The
design of the project was extremely tough because there were many stakeholders’ requirements
needed to be met. The designer needed to work with the Department of El Pueblo de Los
Angeles Historical Monument, the Getty, the artist community, the Cultural Heritage and
Cultural Affairs commissions, and the Building and Safety and Fire departments.37 The project
includes five historic buildings, thus protecting the historic appearance was crucial to the design.
The block of buildings is surrounded by N. Main Street to the west, Olvera Street to the east, and
Cesar Chavez Avenue to the north. The Pelanconi House and Warehouse and the Hammel
building are located between the viewing platform and the mural shelter (Figure 1.10). The BOE
tried their best to minimize the impacts of the historic appearance in the neighborhood. As Gary
Lee Moore, the city engineer for the city of Los Angeles wrote in his paper:
Some of the buildings impacted were the Sepulveda House built in 1887, the Gibbs
Building built in 1910, the Pelanconi House built in 1855, and the Hammel Building built
in 1909. The impact to the Sepulveda House included the relocation of the existing
Visitors Center to the Avila Adobe, built in 1818, to make room for the new Siqueiros
Interpretive Center, and to allow the addition of a secondary exit from the planned mural
viewing platform on the 2nd floor. The “Mr. Churro” deli was relocated from the Gibbs
Building in order to add a required 4th exit from Olvera Street, to construct the viewing
platform on the roof, and to add the main entrance to the Siqueiros Interpretive Center.
The “La Golondrina” restaurant in the Pelanconi House was to be kept in operation
during the relocation of the mechanical equipment on the roof; moving the mechanical
equipment was necessary in order to provide a clear view of the mural from the viewing
platform. The retail space in the Hammel Building was closed, and all the merchandise
removed, to allow the construction of the foundation system for the two large columns

35 Leslie Rainer, “The Return of América Tropical,” accessed Sep 2, 2018, http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publi-
cations_resources/newsletters/27_2/america_tropical.html.
36 Ed Fuentes, “Welcome back, ‘América Tropical’,” last modified October 9, 2012, http://www.kcet.org/history-so-
ciety/welcome-back-america-tropical.
37 Gary Lee Moore, “Sheltering Siqueiros: Complexities of Building in a Historic Site” in The Siqueiros Legacy:
Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los Angeles:
The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 44.
17

that support the protective shelter, and to allow for the protection of the “Zanja Madre”
(Mother Ditch) located in the basement of the building.38

The design of the project involves intervention in some of the surrounding historic buildings
which triggered some negative comments. Some argued that the appearance of the historic
buildings should not be altered. Without the canopy, the deterioration of the mural will be
accelerated. In order to better preserve the mural, the addition of the canopy is necessary. The
interpretation center residing in Sepulveda House is actually a good example of adaptive reuse of
the historic building without damage. In the context of Lascaux and the Mogao Caves, the
interpretive centers are built a few miles away the site to keep the cars and fumes away from the
original site. When building an interpretative center of Fengguo Temple, the intervention to the
original site should be considered.

Figure 1.9: The view of mural and canopy from the platform. Photo by author.

38 Gary Lee Moore, “Sheltering Siqueiros: Complexities of Building in a Historic Site” in The Siqueiros Legacy:
Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los Angeles:
The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 44.
18

Figure 1.10: Street elevation of historic buildings involved in the project.
Drawing: Brooks + Scarpa.

The majority of the interpretation of América Tropical occurs through the Visitor Center
displays. The mural and interpretive center opened to the public in October 2012, eighty years to
the day of the original unveiling.39 The América Tropical Interpretive Center (ATIC) is located
on the ground floor of the historic Sepulveda House. The interpretive center has two exhibition
galleries. One is used as a community center for arts and culture lectures. As we know, the story
behind América Tropical includes Siqueiros’ life and works, Olvera street and Los Angeles
history, modern mural arts movement, and so on, which is too broad to be told in an exhibition.
IQ Magic proposed to focus more exclusively on the content of América Tropical itself.40
“América Tropical: Created, Concealed and Revealed” is the permanent exhibition of the ATIC
installed by the GCI and IQ Magic in 1994. IQ Magic is a communication design, museum
planning, and exhibition design firm.

39 “América Tropical: The Story of an L.A. Icon-Landmark mural by famed Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros”,
last modified January 30, 2018, https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/blog/america-tropical-story-la-icon.
40 Thomas Hartman, Interpretive Design for América Tropical: Created, Concealed, and Revealed in The Siqueiros
Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los
Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 65.
19

Thomas Hartman, the president of IQ Magic said in the symposium of the Siqueiros’
Legacy, “We ask provoking questions in order to strike a dialogue and try to create an
educational tone in the exhibit.”41 The entry wall introduces América Tropical and asks the
audience what does it say to you. (Figure 1.11) In the exhibition, they follow the criteria that “let
the story tell itself and don’t take a side in the controversy.”42 The mural reveals Siqueiros’
views on imperialism, colonialism, and how the indigenous were treated, which caused a
political storm then and was completely whitewashed by 1938. We all agree this is a place full of
controversy, with a lot of different voices in it. The interpretive center chooses to provide a
number of historians’ views and a lot of it from critics of the time to tell the story. No matter the
history is glorious or gloomy, today we should reveal the true story and the interpretive center
did it successfully. It is time to let the new-generation visitors come up with their own thoughts
about why América Tropical matters, the life and work of Siqueiros, and the issues of social
justice and tolerance.

41 Thomas Hartman, “Interpretive Design for América Tropical: Created, Concealed, and Revealed,” YouTube
video, 16:16, February 13, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7kpXTwlRlA.
42 Thomas Hartman, Interpretive Design for América Tropical: Created, Concealed, and Revealed in The Siqueiros
Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los
Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 67.
20

Figure 1.11: The entry wall with introduction of América Tropical. Photo by author.

The interpretive center develops eight different themes that visitors can move through
within the exhibition, which includes a stage for controversy, the soldier artist, opening night, the
technical revolution, an experimental prototype, an inspiring presence, transcendent legacy, and
conserving América Tropical. Visitors don’t have to follow any specific sequence in the
exhibition.
They named the theme stage for controversy because in 1932 Los Angeles was really a
place of controversy. It was the Depression era and a time when Mexican workers were being
deported which contrasted with the history of Olvera Street and the Spanish fantasy past. The
exhibits set the stage in layers for the content. The general framework is delivered on theme
panels, the more detailed information is available on a reader rail, a more detailed interpretive
panel located in front of the theme panels. This is the hierarchy the exhibits developed in each
theme. For further discovery, visitors can explore interactive media. There are also images and
posters on the glass helping tell the story. (Figure 1.12)
21

Figure 1.12: The theme of “stage for controversy” with layered content.
Photo by author.

One of the items in the ATIC is the painting “Opening Night,” an imaginary artist’ view
of who might have been at the opening night event when the mural was first revealed, painted by
Barbara Carrasco and John Valadez. (Figure 1.13) They wanted to place the viewer with the key
players including the mayor of Los Angeles, F.K. Ferenz, the director of the Plaza Art Center,
Christine Sterling, a few painters (who helped Siqueiros paint the mural), and architects like
Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler.
22

Figure 1.13: Opening Night, an imaginary work of who might be in the opening night in 1932.
Photo by author.

Since they also wanted to provide a Spanish language tour, all of the films are translated
into Spanish. The handheld device allows visitors to read all the scripts in the narrative in
Spanish.
When you visit the other gallery, you have to go through a scaffolding transition. The
scaffolding has a lot of original tools and equipment that Siqueiros described in his writing.43
There are original airbrushes and compressors from the 1920s. It gives visitors an experiential
quality of moving through the scaffolding. (Figure 1.14)

43 Thomas Hartman, Interpretive Design for América Tropical: Created, Concealed, and Revealed in The Siqueiros
Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los
Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 70.
23

Figure 1.14: The scaffolding with authentic tools from the 1920s-1930s that Siqueiros described.
Photo by author.

The storytellers throughout the exhibit include artists, historians, eyewitnesses, and critics
to tell the story from different viewpoints. (Figure 1.15) Only authentic primary sources and
credibly published secondary sources were used.44 Of course, Siqueiros’ voice is the most
important among them. And the interpretive concept was to present Siqueiros in his own words.
Siqueiros talks about his idea about the mural, modern art, and technology in the exhibition
through the voice of actor Edward James Olmos. In the next gallery, there is an eight-by-thirty-

44 Thomas Hartman, Interpretive Design for América Tropical: Created, Concealed, and Revealed in The Siqueiros
Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los
Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 67.
24

three feet black and white mural of América Tropical. The mural is probably the only high-
resolution picture of América Tropical and the largest one. The researchers searched for four
months and found a number of images, them composited to create this original image. I think this
is the most interesting and effective part for visitors to explore. The visitors can control the
touchscreen to begin their exploring journey. Once it gets started, different parts of the image
begin to illuminate in sequence with Siqueiros’s words introducing the content to visitors. It feels
like Siqueiros himself is describing his work proudly to the audience, which is really a
compelling experience. The use of multimedia technologies engages visitors to experience the
mural in a different level, which is very powerful.

Figure 1.15: A high-resolution black-and-white image that can be partly illuminated in sequence with the control of
touchscreen.
Photo by author.

25

The materials, graphics, and design for the exhibition has a contemporary industrial style,
which supports Siqueiros’ dedication in promoting modern industrial techniques and materials.45
Color is restricted in the exhibition for echoing no original colored documentation existed.46 This
is an archaeological site and the important story is América Tropical itself. It is not a museum.
All the work should be reflecting back to the mural itself. So the ultimate experience should be
saved for the viewing platform. The function of interpretive center is to provide a permanent
reference of the mural. The exhibition reveals different aspects of América Tropical including
Siqueiros’s life and work, the stage when América Tropical was painted, modern techniques
Siqueiros, different voices toward América Tropical from the past to today, the conservation
work, and Siqueiros impact in American art and public expression.
The story behind América Tropical is too broad to be fully told. The interpretive center
does not simplify the full story América Tropical but focus on the central story of mural itself,
every element in the exhibition is tied to the theme. They are not afraid to reveal any part of
history of América Tropical even getting in touch with gray area. The multiple voices are
presented in the exhibition and there is no preferred side, which allow visitors come up with their
own thoughts about why the mural matters and determine the meaning by themselves. Until the
opening in 2012, there was no single book or exhibition that told a complete story of América
Tropical. “América Tropical: Created, Concealed and Revealed” serves as the only permanent
exhibition of América Tropical.
The reason why I choose the América Tropical Interpretive Center as one of the case
studies to help enhance the interpretation approach of Fengguo Temple is as follows. Fengguo
Temple and América Tropical are both in an urban area where it is hard to build a large scale of
interpretive center. The América Tropical Interpretive Center is located in an adjacent historic
building. In the context of Fengguo Temple, it is better to renovate some halls into interpretative
space. In the analysis of América Tropical, the interpretive center tells a complete story of the
Siqueiros, the history of Olvera Street, the art and history of the mural, and the controversy at a
time by using panels, images, posters and multimedia in a sequence. In the case of Fengguo

45 Thomas Hartman, Interpretive Design for América Tropical: Created, Concealed, and Revealed in The Siqueiros
Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los
Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 69.
46 Thomas Hartman, Interpretive Design for América Tropical: Created, Concealed, and Revealed in The Siqueiros
Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist’s Monumental Murals, ed. Leslie Rainer and Luann Manning (Los
Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2012), 72.
26

Temple, such a clear and easily digestible framework can be adopted. Using different ways to
tell Fengguo Temple’s history, the story of murals, the techniques of paintings, the art of the
wooden structure of main hall, and the artistic, religious and cultural values of Fengguo Temple
is necessary. In the América Tropical Interpretive Center, a mural was recreated and gets ray-
traced and electrified behind. A similar approach can be adopted that visitors can select different
figures like Bodhisattva or Arhats to be illuminated and emphasized and listen their history and
legend through headphones. The principle of “not instruction but provocation” in the América
Tropical Interpretive Center where visitors figure out what does it say to them and what is
significant to them by themselves is also a useful precedent to explore in the Fengguo Temple. 47
Therefore, the América Tropical Interpretive Center is an ideal example to be analyzed in order
to give recommendation of interpretation of Fengguo Temple.

47 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, ed. R. Bruce Craig, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2007), 18.
27

Chapter 2 Analysis of Lascaux Cave Painting
2.1 History of Lascaux Cave
Lascaux, located in Montignac, which is in the Dordogne region of southwest France, is
famous for its Ice Age cave paintings. Montignac is a small town but home to many prehistoric
sites. Lascaux is the most famous one. The Vézère valley in Dordogne is famous because it
houses many extraordinary prehistoric caves. There are 147 prehistoric sites dating from the
Paleolithic period and twenty-five decorated caves. Since 1979, fourteen of them have been
registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.48 Lascaux was considered as the “Sistine Chapel of
Prehistory” since discovery, which has about 10% of France’s known Palaeolithic cave art.49
One of the archaeology’s most significant discoveries in the twentieth century, Lascaux
cave was discovered by four French teenagers and possibly a dog.50 The stories vary in detail. On
September 12, 1940, four teenagers, Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon
Coencas, found a foxhole which a dog named Robot fell into when chasing a rabbit. The hole
found by four teenagers by accident is the entrance of the world-famous prehistoric decorated
cave. After throwing stones into the hole to see how deep it was, the boys cautiously went into
the hole one by one. Another version is that Ravidat found the hole on September 8th and took
the other three back on 12th.51 The news spread quickly. The boys’ teacher, Leon Laval, was
alerted to the discovery soon after. When he saw the cave and paintings, he immediately felt it
could be a world-shaking archaeological discovery and thought no one should be allowed to
touch the painting. The youngest, 14-year-old Marsal, persuaded his parents to pitch a tent near
the entrance of the cave to inform people coming to visit not to vandalize the painting. It was the
start of his commitment of preserving the cave until he died. (Figure 2.1)

48 http://www.lascaux-dordogne.com/en/welcome-vezere-valley, accessed June 1, 2018.
49 James, N. "Our Fourth Lascaux." Antiquity 91, no. 359 (10, 2017): 1367.
50 Richard Cavendish, “The Paleolithic illustrations were found on September 12, 1940”, History Today, September
2015, accessed June 1, 2018. https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/lascaux-cave-paintings-discovered.
51 Ibid.
28

Figure 2.1: Marcel Ravidat (seated right) took people to see Lascaux in 1940.
Source: https://media.lascaux.fr/media/uploads/bonneraison/index_2_0.jpg.

The cave is 250 meters long and is divided into several spaces. The entrance of the cave
leads to the Hall of Bulls, which is a huge decorated chamber with thirty-six animal figures. It
includes seventeen horses, eleven bovines, six stags, one bear, and one unicorn.52 Then it is
followed by the Axial Gallery. Then on the right, there is a gallery called the Passageway,
followed by the Apse. To the left of the Apse is the Nave. The bottom of the Apse is the Shaft.53
(Figure 2.2) All of the chambers and main galleries are decorated with symbols and figures of
animals.54

52 Jean Clottes, Cave Art (London: New York, Phaidon Press, 2008), 106.
53 Muriel Mauriac, "Lascaux: The History of the Discovery of an Outstanding Decorated Cave," Adoranten,
(January 1, 2011): 6.
54 Brigitte Delluc and Gilles Delluc, “Lascaux II: A faithful copy.” Antiquity 58, no.224 (Nov 01, 1984): 194.
29

Figure 2.2: Lascaux Plan.
Source: http://donsmaps.com/lascaux.html.

There are more than 150 paintings and 1500 engravings well preserved in the cave.55
There are around 2,000 images including animals, symbols, and a human figure. The human
figure is very rare in prehistoric paintings. There is only one image of human in Lascaux. The
animals consist of some fierce animals that Magdalenian people would have feared like lions,
bears, and wolves. Animals that they would have hunted like deer, bison and horses are also
included. The most famous images are four huge large black bulls. One of the bulls is 177 feet
long, which is the largest single image found in prehistoric cave art.56 (Figure 2.3) Some

55 Ibid.
56 “The Cave Paintings of Lascaux Cave,” accessed June 7, 2018, http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/lascaux/.
30

creatures in the paintings have been long extinct in Europe. Those provide great information for
historians and archaeologists to do prehistoric research. The image referred as “The Crossed
Bison” in the Nave Chamber is an evidence of Paleolithic artists’ excellent skills. (Figure 2.4)
The artists overlapped the hinder legs showing they have the knowledge of perspective. The use
of the concave depression in the wall makes two bison look like running toward viewers in a
high speed.

Figure 2.3: The Great Black Bull in the Hall of Bulls.
Photograph N. Aujoulat (2003) © MCC-CNP. Source: http://www,bradshawfoundation.com/25_years/9.php.
Permission pending.

31

Figure 2.4: Crossed Bison. Photograph © Philippe Psaila. Courtesy of the Field Museum. Permission pending.

Since the initial discovery of Paleolithic art, people were wondering what was the motive
of humans to paint and engrave in the innermost depths of caves. Why would people go into such
deep caves in order to draw those paintings? Then we moved to more ethnologically-based
hypotheses.57 In the early twentieth century, the Totemism theory had been raised. “Totemism is
a belief system where humans are believed to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a
spirit-being such as an animal or plant.”58 However, not a decorated cave was just devoted to a
single figure, as might be considered as a totemic culture.59 Linking the image with Hunting
Magic prevailed during the first half twentieth century. People believed the painting or engraving
has magic effect on successful hunting.60 During the 1960s and 1970s, André Leroi-Gourhan
argued each image should be categorized according to animal type and geometry shape. The
result showed that animals and geometry signs were not randomly distributed.61 Actually animal
figures and signs were distributed based on themes and shapes.62 For example, horses and bison

57 http://archeologie.culture.fr/lascaux/en/interpretations, accessed June 7, 2018.
58 “Theories of the Totemism Belief System,” accessed 27 January 2019,
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/sociology/the-reality-of-totemism-sociology-essay.php?vref=1.
59 Jean Clottes, Cave Art (London; New York, Phaidon Press, 2008), 23.
60 Mary Beth Looney, “Hall of Bulls, Lascaux,” accessed January 28, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/hall-of-bulls-
lascaux/.
61 Jean Clottes, Cave Art (London; New York, Phaidon Press, 2008), 24.
62 http://archeologie.culture.fr/lascaux/en/interpretations, accessed June 7, 2018.
32

usually found together, and usually on central panel, which is not coincidental. In the late 1990s,
Jean Clottes and David Lewis-William believed Paleolithic arts was related to Shamanism.63
Such a deep cave, being cut from outside, is a space for humans to interact with spirits in
shamanism’s tradition. Recently, research shows that the arrangement of animals reveals the
regeneration of life.64 Horses always were drawn first, and aurochs next then stags, which
represents early springs, summer, and autumn. Some of the different theories of the interpretation
of Paleolithic painting are still valid today, some maybe not. The mystery of Ice Age paintings
may always elude us. Most experts believe Lascaux Cave was used more likely as a spiritual
sanctuary not just a shelter. The drawings were almost certainly painted by skilled painters, not
by some graffiti artists. Archaeologist Jean-Pierre Chadelle said, "We know the paintings were
done with natural colors found in the earth around here, but we cannot exactly date the pigment
so we cannot exactly date the paintings."65 Lascaux is still a mystery even today. The Paleolithic
scholar Andre Leroi-Gourhan considers that Lascaux was decorated between the end of
Solutrean art and the beginning of Magdalenian art (c.15,000-13,000 BCE) because some of its
characteristics were similar with other art discovered during this period. However, a radiocarbon
test of a fragment of a spearhead acquired from the Apse in 1998 showed Lascaux art was
created between the Solutrean era and the pre-Magdalenian Badegoulian era (around 17,000
BCE). Now experts generally consider Lascaux was decorated between 17,000-15,000 BCE.66

2.2 Threats and Conservation
The fame of Lascaux cave grew quickly after the discovery. People desired to see the
masterpiece of Paleolithic art. The visitor number was up to 1800 a day by the late 1950s. The
carbon dioxide brought by the visitors, and changes in air circulation produced severe
microbiological problems.67 The rising humidity and temperature gave microorganisms a perfect
environment to grow. Lascaux Cave has suffered three major microbial crises.68 The first one
happened with an outbreak of green algae on the walls, leading to closure of the caves in 1963.

63 https://archeologie.culture.fr//lascaux/en/interpretations, accessed June 7, 2018.
64 Ibid.
65 Kim Willsher, "Hi-Tech Replica to Bring Prehistoric Art of Lascaux within Reach," The Guardian, Dec 03, 2016.
66 “Lascaux Cave Paintings: Discovery, Layout, Meaning, Photographs of Prehistoric Animal Pictures,” accessed
June 14, 2018, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/lascaux-cave-paintings.htm#art.
67 http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/francelascaux.htm, accessed June 14, 2018.
68 Lefèvre Marcel. "La 'Maladie Verte' De Lascaux." Studies in Conservation 19, no. 3 (1974).
33

Since then, only few people can get into the cave every week Once a week only one person can
enter the cave for only 20 minutes to monitor climatic conditions.69 In order to control
microbiological growth, the Committee for the Study and Preservation of the Lascaux Cave
figured out a treatment with spray of antibiotics and formalin and installation of different
ventilations. Unfortunately, in the mid-1990s, some equipment installed during the first crisis
showed signs of aging.70 Besides, with some improvements being done like the entrance to the
cave was widened and the roof was demolished to install a larger ventilation system, water
entered the cave causing a massive invasion of Fusarium solani.71 The white fungus spread onto
floors and walls. The situation got controlled by spreading lime. In 2007, the cave faced a new
crisis-invasion of the black fungus. “Each time we tried to solve one problem, we create
another”, said Marie-Anne Sire, the cave administrator.72 . In 2008, it was closed for three
months even for scientists and preservationists. For decades, almost every attempt to eradicate
problems have created new dangers. For example, a formaldehyde foot wash used to disinfect
tourists was found out having bad effect on friendly organisms that might have restrained fungus
from growing.73 The scientists are still exploring appropriate methods to conserve the cave.

2.3 Interpretation Approach and Analysis
The endangered condition and increasing tourism caused the original cave’s closure to
the public in 1963. The public may never have a chance to see it. In order to feed people’s
curiosity of the mysterious prehistoric cave, several strategies have been tried.
Lascaux II, a replica of the original cave was opened in 1983 to encourage local tourism.
It acted as a full replica, proving opportunities for visitors to appreciate the art and in the
meantime protecting the original cave. The replica is located 200 meters from the entrance of the
original Lascaux cave on the same hill. It attracts over 250,000 tourists a year.74 Lascaux II
represents two galleries: the Hall of the Bulls and the Axial Diverticule and contains the majority

69 Molly Moore, "Debate Over Moldy Cave Art is A Tale of Human Missteps,” The Washington Post, July 1, 2008.
70 Muriel Mauriac, "Lascaux: The History of the Discovery of an Outstanding Decorated Cave," Adoranten,
(January 1, 2011): 17.
71 Declan Butler, “French Bid to save Rock Art: Revamped Conservation Effort Aims to Correct Mistakes Made in
Preserving Cave Paintings,” Nature 467, no. 7314 (2010): 375.
72 Molly Moore, "Debate Over Moldy Cave Art is A Tale of Human Missteps,” The Washington Post, July 1, 2008.
73 Ibid.
74 Thomas Dowson, “Why Lascaux 4 is just not a bigger & better Lascaux 2?”, accessed June 20 2019,
https://archaeology-travel.com/reviews/is-lascaux-4-better-than-lascaux-2/.
34

of paintings. A small museum forms an antechamber to the replica. Tourists are prepared by
panel displays which introduce the archaeological and historical information, the microbiological
crisis, and the remedies that have been used. Although people are looking at a replica, the
accuracy of the painting is measured in millimeters. Even the experience of entering the cave is
replicated. For example, visitors need to go down a series of steps and pass through several
chambers before seeing the painting, just the same way as the real cave. And the temperature in
the replica cave imitates that in the real cave, which is 12°C throughout the year.75
In 2012, Lascaux III “Scenes from the Stone Age: The Cave Paintings of Lascaux” was
created. In this version, meant to travel the world, five life-size reproductions of the panels of the
Nave and the Shaft which are not included in Lascaux II are also reproduced.”.76 The exhibition
includes “Panel of the Black Cow,” “Frieze of the Stags,” “Panel of the Crossed Bison,” and
“Panel of the Imprint”. Through the use of a computer laser and micrometric scan, the precise
1:10 replica caves were displayed and made accessible to an international audience.77 Lascaux III
first traveled to Bordeaux, then to the Field Museum in Chicago and other places in the USA,
Europe, and Asia, sharing knowledge of Lascaux around the world. At the stop in the Field
Museum, some objects from the museum’s permanent collection were added to the exhibition.
For example, some small bone tools from 40,000 years ago were displayed with the exhibition to
augment the expressiveness. However, the director of exhibitions at the Field Museum, Jaap
Hoogstraten thought the replicas “probably made the real things less interesting. Those objects
might have been more powerful without the Lascaux replicas.”78 After visiting the facsimile,
visitors can see the authentic objects from actual caves such as manuscripts and drawings
presenting in the museum. There is also a concern that visitors will focus too much on the
replica, instead of the authentic objects. Especially in the Field’s exhibition, visitors might be
confused about the authenticity of the actual objects mixed in the exhibition when they are not
obviously labeled. However, when displaying replicas abroad, the purpose is to share the
knowledge of the site by a broader international audience and let more people who cannot make
the pilgrimage experience the same grandeur felt on the real site. The authentic objects displayed

75 Ibid.
76 Ibid.
77 Joseph Nechvatal, “What the Lascaux Caves Facsimiles Fail to Capture,” Hyperallergic, August 7, 2015,
https://hyperallergic.com/227969/what-the-lascaux-caves-facsimiles-fail-to-capture/.
78 Daniel Grant, “Nothing Like the Real Thing,” The New Criterion 34, no. 4 (12, 2015): 2.
35

in the exhibition is just for more vibrant expressiveness. Just as Lascaux’s touring exhibition, a
replica exhibition of the Mogao Caves called “Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on
China’s Silk Road” travelled to Getty Museum in 2016. Visitors can see the extraordinary walk-
in replica hand-painted by professional artists of Dunhuang Academy. A gallery featuring
authentic artifacts borrowed from many places caters to the need of people who seeks
authenticity. Certainly, it is acceptable that the audience would question its accuracy unless they
see the real site although the authority ensures the most advanced and high-level of accuracy.
They might not have the confidence to describe details of Lascaux or the Mogao Caves to others
just based on the museum displays. However, building the replica of Lascaux cave is necessary
because almost no one can see the real cave.
Unfortunately, Lascaux II gradually became a threat to the original cave. The cars’ fumes
brought by tourists caused damage to the paintings and engravings in the original cave.
Therefore, a new version of Lascaux II needed to be built. Lascaux IV was announced in 2010,
70 years after the discovery of Lascaux Cave. It was built at the foot of the hill to keep the cars
and fumes away from the original cave.
The Norway-based office of Snøhetta, cooperating with London-based exhibition
designers Casson Mann won the commission for the new International Centre for Cave Art in
2012.79 (Figure 2.5) Snøhetta maintains a trans-disciplinary approach to architecture and
landscape. Just as other works, the International Cave Center is a result integrating landscape
into architecture. Lascaux IV is located in a transitional zone between a forested hillside and an
agricultural land. The cut is misleading, concealing most structures in the hillside.80 The roof
echoes the undulating hills.81 The co-founder of Snøhetta, Thorsen said, “We design big
buildings to look slightly smaller [than they are] so you get a surprise with the internal space.”82
The effort was made to embed the building into the landscape as a rock formation. “The
materiality and geometry of the approach allows the visitor to understand that they are in the

79 Josephine Minutillo, “Cave dweller: The new Lascaux museum takes its cues from the famous prehistoric
vault.” Architectural Record 205, no.4 (2017): 142.
80 Robert Hewison, "True to life? (INQUIRY),” Apollo 184, no. 648 (12, 2016): 33.
81 "Snøhetta: Lascaux IV, International Centre for Cave Art, Montignac, France -- Design 2012, Construction -
2016." GA Document, no. 143 (08, 2017):106.
82 Dowdy Clare, “Rock Stars: Snøhetta's International Cave Art Centre Puts the Lascaux Cave Paintings in an
Exciting New Context,” Wallpaper, no. 216 (03, 2017): 91.
36

presence of a reproduction, without distracting from the power of its impact.”83 In this way, the
visitor knows they are in a reproduction even though they seem to experience the original cave.
It doesn’t confuse them. The purpose of building a replica is not to mislead people with the
original cave. In fact, the reproduction should differ from the original cave in some way because
the replica is just a substitute of the real Lascaux cave, which can never reach the historic
significance that the real cave conveys. Differentiation with the original heritage is the principle
broadly accepted among the conservation experts when a replica has to be made. I think Lascaux
IV reaches the requirement that trying as much effort for visitors to experience the cave as it was
discovered in September 1940, also giving visitors space to think about it in a contemporary
context.

Figure 2.5: The International Centre for Cave Art.
Photography © Boegly + Grazia photographers. Source: http://www,archdaily.com/868408/lascaux-iv-snohetta-
plus-casson-mann.

The decision to enter the replica from outside instead of from the museum is interesting.
“At some point, the client wanted to enclose everything, but the experience is stronger and more
powerful to separate the cave from the rest of the museum,” says architect Rune Veslegard. “We

83 “Lascaux IV / Snøhetta + Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture”, ArchDaily, last modified 3 April, 2017.
https://www.archdaily.com/868408/lascaux-iv-snohetta-plus-casson-mann.
37

wanted visitors to discover it as the boy did, and come into contact with the sights and smells of
the forest.”84 The visitors’ experience is carefully sequenced here. First, after passing the lobby,
visitors are escorted by a guide and taken in the elevator to the observation deck on the roof of
the building where they can enjoy a panoramic view of Montignac and the Vézère Valley. Then
they take a ramped route which follows the incline of the roof to the cave facsimile above the
main museum. Following the sloping path is just like walking in the forest in 1940 until reaching
the entrance of the cave. This approach is made to replicate the experience when four teenagers
discovered the cave in 1940. Then they are shown a video in the shelter about the ancient
wildlife and changing landscapes over the year. At the entrance of the replica, there is a panel
that shows the cave people are going to visit is a replica, in order to not let them mistakenly
regard it as the original one. However, inside the cave facsimile, the atmosphere is dark, damp
just as the original one. The temperature, humidity, lighting level and acoustics are as close as
those of the original cave. Visitors can fully experience the immersive atmosphere just like the
original Lascaux. The slight difference here is the slope is made not as steep as the original one
to meet the safety standard. And some passage in the real cave is just as narrow as 12 inches, the
replica had to be widened for the convenience of visitors. Lascaux IV painstakingly dedicated in
attempts to allow the visitor to experience the sanctuary just as it once was. The light flicker
illuminates the paintings and engravings just as the animal fat lamp did. The replica used the
most advanced 3D laser scanning and casting technologies to replicate the original cave to a
resolution of 1 millimeter.85 “It took 11 years to reproduce 40 percent of the cave for Lascaux II,
and only 30 months to do 90 percent of it here,” says the center’s managing director, Guillaume
Colombo.86 The cave artworks and environment were created by thirty artists specializing in
Palaeolithic techniques at Atelier des Fac-Similés du Périgord to ensure the high-level accuracy.
The artists even used the same pigment as in Prehistoric times to recreate 1900 paintings and
engravings.
After visiting the facsimile, there is an outdoor garden to provide a space for visitors to
relax and re-adapt the external environment. If the previous zone is experiential, the next zones

84 Josephine Minutillo, "Cave Dweller." Architectural Record 205, no. 4 (04, 2017): 144.
85 “Lascaux IV: The International Centre for Cave Art,” accessed June 21, 2018. https://snohetta.com/projects/322
lascaux-iv-the-international-centre-for-cave-art.
86 Josephine Minutillo. "Cave Dweller." Architectural Record 205, no. 4 (04, 2017): 145.
38

are interpretative.87 After the guides sum up the experience in the replica, visitors enter into a so-
called “Lascaux studio” unaccompanied where the main paintings are emphasized. There are
eight major works: “Two Crossed Bison”, “The Great Black Cow”, “The Panel of the Imprint”,
“The Apse”, “The Shaft Scene”, “The Axial Gallery”, “The Upside-Down Horse” and “The Hall
of the Bulls.” The paintings are suspended in separate sections from the ceiling.88 (Figure 2.6)
Visitors might have a better experience here exploring the details of the paintings because the
light is more conducive. The visitors are equipped with a “companion”- a high-tech tablet
computer with headphones containing all the information about the various displays in different
languages. The tablet is designed for two hands to operate, thus impeding visitors’ custom to use
their own devices. Visitors are able to look for more information about displays, take
photographs, and record information that interests them with the tablet. At the end of the visit,
they will be given a code that can be used to access the official website. They can download all
the information and images they have recorded during the visiting on their own device. There is
a model that visitors can scan with the “companion” to discover works located at different places
inside the cave. Visitors can also use the same tools used as by Paleolithic humans to create their
own works of art. It is a vivid way for them to experience and understand how ancient artists
make the drawings. Some objects are found in archaeological excavation are free for visitors to
explore. Different objects can be assembled on an animated table like archaeologists did. There
are two touch-screens on the edge of the table showing the chronology.89 Other interactives
illustrate how fragile of the site, why it was closed, and how we can continue to preserve the
cave.

87 Thomas Dowson, “Lascaux 4 Opens 15 December 2016,” accessed June 22, 2018. https://archaeology-
travel.com/news/lascaux-4-to-open-15-december-2016/.
88 Robert Hewison, "True to Life? " Apollo 184, no. 648 (12, 2016): 34.
89 “International Center for Cave Art”, accessed June 22, https://www.lascaux.fr/en/prepare-your-visit/visit-
lascaux/international-centre-for-cave-art.
39

Figure 2.6: In the Atelier, the paintings are suspended on the ceiling.
Source: http://www.lascaux-dordogne.com/en/patrimoine-culturel/historic-site-and-monument-caves-and-shelters-
containing-rock-art/lascaux-iv.

Next, visitors enter into the cave art theatre to watch the presentation in three acts. The
first one takes visitors back to the time of the Universal Exposition of 1878 when the first
decorated prehistoric cave was discovered. People were curious about its authenticity. The
second act illustrates the discovery of Lascaux cave by four teenagers in 1940. The last one
shows today’s research on how to preserve the site. There is also a 3D cinema. The movie
entitled “Lascaux and the World” takes visitors revisiting the Halls of the Bulls, the Axial
Galley, the Passage, the Nave, the Apse and the Shaft and introducing other decorated caves
around the world as well. The Gallery of Imaginary compares ancient cave art with
contemporary art. There is a surrounding all with 90 screens composed of images of works by
well-known artists such as Picasso or Miró, Tapies. (Figure 2.7) Another gallery displays
temporary exhibitions which will be mounted. (Figure 2.8)
40

Figure 2.7: The Gallery of Imaginary.
Source: https://www.lascaux.fr/fr/preparez-votre-visite/visitez-lascaux/centre-international-art-parietal.

Figure 2.8: The visiting route of Lascaux IV.
Source: Data adapted from “Lascaux IV,” accessed January 17, 2019, https://www.lascaux.fr/en/prepare-your-
visit/visit-lascaux/international-centre-for-cave.

The
observation
deck and
the shelter

The replica
caves

The lascaux
studio

The cave art
theater

3D cinema

The
imaginary
gallery

The
temporary
exhibition
41

All in all, it is a museum that combines digital display, a replica cave, and experiencing
interactions with the theme of Lascaux. As the interpretation center of prehistoric culture,
Lascaux IV is rich in expression, both emotional and interactive, where art and technology are
combined. In terms of use and function, Lascaux IV serves as an “interpretation center”. Unlike
other traditional museums, it does not display a collection of works, but aims to highlight and
explain the extremely rich resources contained in Lascaux. The way the project was conceived
was to think of landscapes, architecture, and scenes as a whole. During the visit, visitors can
fully experience the ancient culture and modern technology brought by the new Lascaux IV.
There are many reasons to build a replica. To prevent the damage from tourism is one of
the most important reasons. The development of technology today makes the appearance of
authentic easier to achieve. Adam Lowe, director of the Factum Foundation, which created a
facsimile of the burial chamber of Tutankhamun in Luxor in 2014, said digital restoration “is one
of the most important emergent subjects-separating the task of preservation from that of
restoration.”90 Building replicas is a new trend in museums, satisfying people’s curiosity of
disappearing or remote heritages and adding a shocking element when high-tech is involved.
Reconstructions for non-accessible heritage sites are becoming a trend in the modern
world, but the design can be controversial. The problem is, authenticity can be never achieved by
replicas. The experience is fabricated. Building replicas is just a temporary way to feed visitors’
thirst of not being able to see the original one, not a fundamental way to preserve the sites. No
matter how accurate the replica is, visitors are not viewing the authentic art. As Michael Skanks
and Christopher Tilley write:
Relieving the past without copying would be an entirely different experience. History
doesn’t repeat itself because it has already happened before. Recreating the past
necessarily involves the present-the conditions and context of the act of creation.
Recreating the past is a practice which reveals the author, the subject in the present. To
copy the past ‘as it was’, as exactly as possible, is to reflect the past; it is an illusion, a
tautology. To reproduce the past ‘as it was’, to relieve the past as a reflection is to
produce an image which hides the observing present.91

It is impossible to completely replicate the past, because people always understand the history
and art with a modern understanding. With Lascaux II gradually becoming a threat to the original

90 Robert Hewison, "True to Life?" Apollo 184, no. 648 (12, 2016): 34.
91 Michael Shanks and Christopher Tilley, Re-Constructing Archaeology: Theory and Practice (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1987), 16.
42

cave, the design of Lascaux IV is very smart. The modern materiality and geometry of the
approach allows visitors to understand they are in a reproduction. It is broadly accepted that the
differentiation with authentic heritage should be emphasized when a replica has to be made.
Lascaux IV not only allows visitors to experience the cave as it was discovered in 1940, but also
gives people space to appreciate history and art in a contemporary context.
Lascaux cave has been closed for more than 50 years. However, credit to the creation of
Lascaux II, Lascaux III and Lascaux IV, the world-class prehistoric art has not been forgotten by
the public and even gained more reputation, which is the value of the exhibition, facsimile, and
interpretation center. Interestingly, among the conservation experts the other question is raised:
“Might absence be more powerful than a spurious presence?”92 The absence might be a
representation of loyalty in respecting the authenticity. But I believe providing the replica caves
is still meaningful, which provides opportunities for more people to appreciate Lascaux art
without harming the actual cave.
The reason why I choose Lascaux as one of the ideal examples to give recommendations
to the interpretation methods of Fengguo Temple is as follows. Lascaux is famous for residing
over 600 wall paintings dating from Paleolithic period covering the ceilings and the interior walls
of the cave. The mural dating back to Yuan Dynasty in Fengguo Temple also has great
significance of religion and art. Therefore, in the approach of interpreting murals, some methods
can be adopted in Fengguo Temple. For example, visitors can use the same tools used by
Paleolithic humans to create their own works of art in Lascaux IV. The similar approach of such
hands-on experience can be used in Fengguo Temple to better understand the production process
of the mural made by ancient artists. Lascaux IV is an extraordinary interpretation center
contains the replicas, the experience studio, the 3D cinema and the gallery, which provides both
educational and recreational experience to visitors. Some well-designed interpretation
approaches are worthy of learning. For instance, with the use of the companion, visitors can get
comprehensive knowledge of Lascaux, take photographs and record information which interests
them. They will be given a code which can access all the information and images recorded
during the visit. Such a high-tech tablet used in Fengguo Temple not only provides visitors’ all
the information they want to know, but also free people’s hand to use their phones or cameras,
making them more concentrated on experiencing and learning. Building a 3D cinema is also a

92 Robert Hewison, "True to Life?" Apollo 184, no. 648 (12, 2016): 34.
43

good idea to give visitors an immersive experience of the cave paintings. Therefore, Lascaux is
an impressive example for Fengguo Temple in terms of successful interpretation approaches.

44

Chapter 3 Analysis of the Mogao Grottoes
3.1 History of Mogao Grottoes
Ji Xianlin, one of the most renowned Chinese historians once said, there are only four
self-contained cultural systems in the world with glorious history in far-reaching influence,
which are in China, India, Greece, and Islam. And there is only one place where these four
cultural systems converge, that is, Dunhuang and Xinjiang, China. The geology of Dunhuang
reflects its important status on the Silk Road. As the map (Figure 3.1) shows, it connects the
Central Plains in the east and Middle Asia in the west. Since 111 B.C.E., Dunhuang was a
strategic point, its location near the westernmost limit of the Han Dynasty Great Wall.93 It also
served as a trade center connecting the West and China along the Silk Road. The Silk Road
exchanged not only wool, silver, gold, dyestuffs, but also religious, cultural, and intellectual
ideas from Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) to Rome.94

Figure 3.1: The geology of Dunhuang.
Source: Strategies for Sustainable Tourism at the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang, Chin, eds. Douglas Comer, Helaine
Silverman and Willem Willems (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2015), 2. Permission pending.

The Mogao Grottoes, located near Dunhuang at the end of the Heixi Corridor, along the
Silk Road in far northwestern China, reflect the fusion of multi-ethnic Chinese culture, South

93 Lori Wong and Neville Agnew, The Conservation of Cave 85 at the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang: A Collaborative
Project of the Getty Conservation Institute and the Dunhuang Academy (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute,
2013), 35.
94 http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/440, accessed March 10. 2018;
Neville Agnew, Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road: Proceedings of an International Conference on the
Conservation of Grotto Sites. (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 1997), 1.
45

Asian culture, Islamic culture, and Greek and Roman culture. (Figure 3.2) This place tells a rich
story of art, history, economics, religion, and the development of technology in medieval
China.95 The site contains a total of 735 caves. The 248 caves in the northern section were
mainly used as living spaces for meditation, burial, or storage. Only five of them are decorated.
The 487 caves on the southern cliff served as meditation niches for religious purposes and are
decorated with wall paintings and sculptures.96 The decorated caves contain some 45,000 m2 of
wall paintings and more than 2000 polychrome statues.

Figure 3.2: Mogao Grottoes.
Photo by author.

95 Neville Agnew, Martha Demas and Xundong Wang, “The Enduring Collaboration of the Getty Conservation
Institute and the Dunhuang Academy in Conservation and Management at the Buddhist Cave Temples of Dunhuang,
China,” The Public Historian 34, no. 3 (Summer 2012): 19.
96 Wong and Agnew, The Conservation of Cave 85 at the Mogao Grottoes, 35.
46

In 366 C.E., a monk called Yue Zun chiseled out the first cave after seeing thousands of
Buddhas appearing in golden light. Soon afterwards, another monk, Fang Liang built the second
one.97 Since then, the art creation of Dunhuang grottoes for nearly a thousand year had begun.
During the Northern Wei, Western Wei, and Northern Zhou Dynasty, the construction of the
Mogao Grottoes was supported by the aristocracies in a rapid development because of the
prevalence of Buddhism in the royal family. In that period, new caves were opened to fulfill
other goals beside the caves which served as meditation cells built by early monks. Travelers
would visit the caves to pray for getting protection on the way west. The caves also had secular
functions. Local merchants built caves, hoping to ensure their trading missions. The grandest
temples at that period were founded by the governors of Dunhuang and important clergy. Donors
included foreign dignitaries, local prominent families, and even rulers of neighboring
kingdoms.98 The development of the Mogao Grottoes reached its peak during the Sui and Tang
dynasties with the prosperity of the silk road. Many famous portraits and sculptures were built or
restored during the period. Afterwards, the Mogao Grottoes gradually declined. Restoring
previous built caves were the main projects. After the Yuan Dynasty, with the abandonment of
the silk road, the Mogao Grottoes lost its fame in the public until China once again expanded its
territory in the mid-Qing Dynasty.99 In 1900, cave 17 which is known as the Library Cave today
was discovered by a Daoist monk Wang Yuanlu, who tried to notify Qing government of the
discovery but was ignored because the political situation was chaotic at that time. However, the
discovery attracted many western archaeologists and explorers. Wang Yuanlu sold many
treasures including silk paintings, ancient manuscripts, sculptures, and mural paintings removed
from the caves to the westerners.100 Stein once wrote, “but without any order, there appeared in
the dim light of the priest’s little lamp a solid mass of manuscript bundles rising to a height of
nearly ten feet, and filling, as subsequent measurement showed, close on 500 cubic feet…Not in
the driest solid could relics of a ruined site have so completely escaped injury as they had here in
a carefully selected rock chamber where, hidden behind a brick wall,… these masses of

97 Ibid, 35.
98 Roderick Whitfield, Susan Agnew, Susan Whitfield, and Neville Agnew, Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang:
Art and History on the Silk Road / Roderick Whitfield, Susan Whitfield, Neville Agnew ; Photography of the Mogao
Caves by Lois Conner and Wu Jian. Second ed. Conservation and Cultural Heritage; (Los Angeles, Getty
Publications, 2015), 20.
99 Wong and Agnew, The Conservation of Cave 85 at the Mogao Grottoes, 36.
100 Ibid.
47

manuscripts had lain undisturbed for centuries.”101 This would indeed be Stein’s greatest
accomplishment, as well as one of the greatest finds in the history of archaeology. Stein’s
discovery was followed by a French expedition in 1908, a Japanese expedition in 1911, and a
Russian expedition in 1914. In the early 1920s, some of the caves were damaged by housing
Russian soldiers following the Russian Revolution. In 1924, American explorer Langdon Warner
took off some murals as well as a statue. (Figure 3.3)

Figure 3.3: The location of the murals removed by Warner.
Source: http://img.mp.itc.cn/upload/20160413/2e3f23e8bbaf4d3598091e5b13e369c0.jpg.

In the 1940s, the famous painter Zhang Daqian peeled off the outer layer of the mural in
order to see the inner layer when he was copying the mural painting. During nearly three years,
he led his disciples in completing more than two hundred replicas. A painting attributed to the
tenth century master Dong Yuan in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which some
recent scholars have considered is a modern fake by Zhang.102 However, when Zhang Daqian
exhibited his copies of Mogao murals in Chongqing and Chengdu, the public and government

101 Aurel Stein: A British archaeologist. One of the earliest treasure hunters and explorers of the Mogao grottoes;
Aurel Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal Narrative of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost
China (New York, Dover Publication, 1987), 172-76.
102 The authenticity of the painting was the subject of a one-day symposium titled “Issues of Authenticity in Chinese
Painting” held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in December 1999.
48

leaders were impressed.103 The art of Dunhuang started to attract the world’s attention. In 1944,
the Chinese Nationalist Party established the Research Institute of Dunhuang Art to study and
safeguard the site. It focuses on preservation of the site, conservation of the wall paintings,
sculptures, and manuscripts, and interpreting the sites.104 In 1961, the Mogao Grottoes was listed
as a national historic monument by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. In 1979,
the Mogao Grottoes were opened to the public. In 1987, China had its first six sites listed on the
UNESCO World Heritage List including the Mogao Grottoes. The other five originally listed
sites were the First Emperor’s tomb at Xi’an, the Great Wall, Mount Tai, the Forbidden City, and
the Peking Man site.105 In 1988, the Getty Conservation Institute began collaborating with the
Dunhuang Academy.

3.2 Threats and Conservation
Today, Dunhuang is a flourishing, tourism-driven city due to the expanding tourism of
the Mogao Grottoes. Tourism grew rapidly after Chinese economic reform and is overwhelming
domestic. The conflict between the tourism and fragile cultural relics is particularly prominent in
the Mogao Grottoes. On the one hand, fragile wall paintings, sculptures, and cave temples need
to be conserved carefully. On the other hand, tourism is a critical issue at many heritage sites,
especially those of World Heritage. The Mogao Grottoes is considered as an accelerator of local
economic development. We need to satisfy the contemporary people’s desire to appreciate
cultural relics, in the meantime, we have the duty to safeguard our future generation’s rights to
continue to experience Mogao’s historic values.
The Mogao Grottoes were well preserved for thousand years because of the remote
location, dry climate, and no major wars destroying this area. The limited number of people
entering the caves in history has allowed the caves to maintain a relatively constant
microenvironment for a long period. Current research has proven that such microenvironment
provides excellent condition for the preservation of murals and polychrome sculpture. However,
since the formal opening of the Mogao Grottoes to the public in 1979, more and more tourists

103 Jie Lou, translated from Chinese by Michelle McCOY, “Wall Painting Replication at Dunhuang: A Personal
Account of its History and Technique,” in Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road, ed.
Neville Agnew, Marcia Reed and Tevvy Ball (Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2016), 112.
104 Whitfield and Agnew, Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang: 7.
105 Wong and Agnew, The Conservation of Cave 85 at the Mogao Grottoes, ix.
49

have poured in and undermined the balance of the original microenvironment. The effect of
seasonality is prominent in the tourism of the Mogao Grottoes. During the peak tourism seasons,
which are from May to October, the number of tourists accounts for 90 percent of the total
number of tourists for the year. This situation results in a serious overload of tourists during the
peak seasons.106 The main issue that overcrowding brings in the peak summer is the bad air
quality, which is a mixture of high content of carbon dioxide, heat, and body odors.
One of the largest threats to the wall paintings in the Mogao Grottoes is humidity. The
hygroscopic salts contained in the bedrock will constantly deliquesce and re-crystalize in large
humidity variations resulting in damage to the plaster and paint. Environmental monitoring has
been conducted since 1989 in the Dunhuang Academy to provide reliable data incorporated in
preservation research. The monitoring system shows real-time cave humidity, carbon dioxide,
temperature, air quality, and visitor numbers in each cave. (Figure 3.4) They also established an
image monitoring system.107 The monitoring sensor deployed in cave 413 can monitor the
painting condition and crack movement. Based on the current research, the highest humidity was
set to 62% RH, in order to protect the wall paintings. The main source of moisture is from the
outside air. Therefore, caves which contain high salt should keep closed during humid weather,
which means no visitation at these times.108 Controlling carbon dioxide concentration is also
essential since it affects visitors’ experience and safety. 1500 parts per million carbon dioxide
was set for caves to provide a margin of safety based on the assessment of 112 priority caves.
Humidity and carbon dioxide inside caves come from both visitors and outside air. Thus,
controlling visitor numbers is necessary for reducing the visitor-generated CO2 and humidity.
The Dunhuang Academy is developing a microenvironment automatic adjustment system.109 The
system is designed for automatically regulating the air exchange rate by adjusting the fan speed
and vent opening. The optimal air exchange rate used is based on the environmental monitoring
data. They used the CO2 limitation as a determining factor in enacting visitor capacity. It is

106 Dunhuang Research Institute, Yearbook of Dunhuang Research Institute (2005-2006) (Shanghai: Shanghai
Lexicographical Press, 2007): 305-306.
107 Bomin Su and Yabo Dong, “IOT*-based Risk Monitoring and Control System” in Extended Abstracts of the
International Colloquium Visitor Management and Carrying Capacity at World Heritage Sites in China 17-19 May
2013 Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, ed. Neville Agnew and Martha Demas (Los Angeles, The Getty Conservation
Institute, 2014), 78.
108 Shin Maekawa, Ping Xue, Guobin Zhang, Wenfang Hou, Zhengmo Zhang, “Modeling Impacts of Visitation on
the Cave Environments for the Visitor Study” in Colloquium, 54.
109 Su and Dong, “IOT,” 79.
50

determined that the size of group is fixed to twenty-five persons and the visitation duration is
five minutes per cave. The Dunhuang Academy and the Getty Conservation Institute did an
assessment of cave condition and visitation potential of the total 112 open caves to the public in
order to determine which caves could be open with little risk of deterioration. At Mogao, salt-
induced mechanism of deterioration caused by vapor is mainly focused in determining the risk.
A risk level between 1 to 4 was assigned to each cave.110 A cave placed in a Risk Level 3 means
it should be closed in high humidity conditions. Risk Level 4 means the cave is facing impending
loss and is recommended to be closed to visitors all the time.

Figure 3.4: Environmental Monitoring of the caves.
Photo by author.

Sandstorms and windblown sand from the Gobi are also one of the serious threats to wall
paintings and cliffs. In the past, some caves were completely filled with drift sand. Sand piled
high in the entrance of some ground-level caves. When rainy days came, sand became wet and
moisture came into caves resulting in damage to the wall paintings. It has always been a tough
problem at Mogao. Various attempts to resolve the problems have failed until the GCI was

110 Lori Wong, Xiaowei Wang, Kiernan Graves and Gangquan Chen, “Assessment of Cave Condition and Visitation
Potential for the Visitor Study” in Colloquium, 61.
51

involved in the conservation work of Mogao. The GCI, working with the Dunhuang Academy
and specialists from Chinese Desert Research Institute in Lanzhou designed a four-meter long
synthetic textile wind fence. (Figure 3.5) The wind fence reduces wind speed by half, resulting in
more than a sixty percent decrease of windblown sand. Filters on the modern aluminum louver in
the entrance help reduce the finest sand and dust.111 Other attempts include installing a living
fence - desert-adapted plants help lock the sand on the ground and the use of gravel gives the
pressure to windblown sand.

Figure 3.5: Wind fence at Mogao.
Source: http://www.gs.xinhuanet.com/gsstatics/dunhuang/content/art02.htm.

3.3 Interpretation Approach and Analysis
Since 2001, the Dunhuang Academy and the Getty Conservation Institute collaborated to
conduct research on the visitor carrying capacity. They set the maximum daily visitor carrying
capacity to 3000. However, the days when the number of visitors go beyond 3000 in the peak
seasons has increased year by year.112 During peak seasons, for example, during the so-called
October Golden Week vacation, the Dunhuang Academy implements two routes separating the
visitor flow. Visitors entering from the north entrance visit the caves along the upper tier route

111 Whitfield and Agnew, Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang, 126-127.
112 Jinshi Fan, “Tourism to the Mogao Grottoes: Overview of Conservation Challenges and Countermeasures” in
Colloquium, 13.
52

while visitors entering from the south entrance visit the caves along the lower tier route. Guides
are stationed inside the twenty open caves instead of guiding visitors around the caves. For the
five “must-see” caves, the Dunhuang Academy set up interpretive panels to give visitors
background information and the guides give presentations outside these caves. Visitors are
required to stay inside those caves from three to five minutes to relieve visitation stress. It greatly
decreases the time visitors spending inside the caves, thus reducing the potential threats visitors
may apply to the microenvironment inside.
In order to expand the visitor experience, an exhibition hall was built in 1994. It offers
changing exhibits which provide in-depth interpretation of the site for people who have more
interests to understand Mogao. In addition to exhibits, ten beautiful and exact replica caves,
accurately depicting the loss and deteriorations are displayed.113 The making of hand-painted
replica caves by the Dunhuang Academy is their tradition dating back to 1944. Unlike replicas
such as those of Lascaux, it was traditionally a way to commemorate Buddhism and learn
painting techniques. The purpose evolved in documenting the art as a way of preservation. Over
time, the goal became to share the art with people around the world unable to visit the caves
themselves. The Dunhuang Academy has brought Mogao replica caves to many places to be
introduced by a broader international audience. It has travelled to the University of Venice in
Italy, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and more. In 2016, the
Getty Center hosted an exhibit “Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk
Road” from May 7 to September 4 that consists of three parts: a galley featuring rare authentic
artifacts, hand-painted full scale replica caves which are Cave 275 (5th century), cave 285 (6th
century) and cave 320 (8th century), and a digital virtual immersive experience. (Figure 3.6) The
three-part exhibition was co-organized by the Getty Research Institute and the Getty
Conservation Institute with the Dunhuang Academy and its foundation. The gallery uncovered
the history of the cave temples through rare authentic objects from the “library cave” and a 3-D
multimedia installation, including an overview of the location, the art, environmental threats and
conservation efforts.114 In order to put the artifacts into a proper context, a virtual cave was
designed using 3-D technology. The foyer area oriented visitors before they entered the virtual

113 Demas, Agnew and Fan, Strategies for Sustainable Tourism at the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang, China, 102.
114 Deborah Vankin, “Arts Preview: ‘Cave Temples of Dunhuang’ at the Getty Museum wants to transport you to
China’s Silk Road,” Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2016, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-
cave-temples-getty-20160320-story.html.
53

cave. A film focusing on conservation efforts was mapped onto a curved wall. Upon entering the
virtual cave, visitors experienced the caves in three dimensions with the help of stereoscopic
immersive technology.115 (Figure 3.7) The goal of the exhibition was to share the unique treasure
of the cave temples of Dunhuang with as many people as possible and to make Los Angeles
residents and visitors who can’t make the pilgrimage to China experience the same awe felt on
the real site.116

Figure 3.6: A full-scale hand-painted replica of cave 275 on display at Getty Center in 2016.
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/las-getty-museum-recreates-chinas-cave-temples-of-dunhuang.

115 Emily Sharpe, “Silk Road leads to Los Angeles as Getty show recreates Mogao Grottoes,” The Art Newspaper,
June 13, 2016, https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/silk-road-leads-to-los-angeles-as-getty-show-recreates-
mogao-grottoes.
116 Mike Boehm, “Getty to show exact replicas of art-filled Buddhist caves in China,” Los Angeles Times, July 14,
2015, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-getty-mogao-buddhist-cave-art-china-20150713-
story.html.
54

Figure 3.7: Cave 45 virtual immersive experience in the exhibition “Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on
China’s Silk Road” at Getty center in 2016.
Source: https://www.yuco.com/works/the-getty-dunhuang. Permission pending.

Installing the new visitor center at Mogao in 2014 has relieved the enormous visitation
stress. (Figure 3.8) Its form resembles the Mingsha sand dunes of the surrounding landscape,
designed by Beijing architect Cui Kai. (Cui Kai, principal of the China Architecture Design and
Research Group, lead architect.)117 It is located at the northern boundary of the grottoes
protection zone but approximately 15 kilometers from the site.118 The visitor center serves an
important function of orientation and interpretation.

117 Demas, Agnew and Fan, Strategies for Sustainable Tourism at the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang, China, 99.
118 Xudong Wang, “Incorporating a Visitor Center into the Mogao Grottoes Visitation Model,” in Colloquium, 66.
55

Figure 3.8: The new Visitor Center for the Mogao Grottoes.
Photo: Courtesy of the Dunhuang Academy
http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/30_1/gcinews2.html. Permission pending.

Before visiting the actual caves, all the visitors will watch two movies, both twenty
minutes long. The Imax-like movie “The Millennium of Mogao” tells visitors a rich story of
Dunhuang and the Silk Road, while the other one “The Dream of the Buddha Temple” was
projected on an almost planetarium screen, immersing visitors in the cave interiors.119 Then
visitors take a vehicle heading to the caves, enjoying a deep interpretation of eight to ten caves
led by the guides. After finishing the cave tour, visitors could self-guide to the Exhibition Hall
and Museum of the History of the Dunhuang Academy. The museum displays artifacts found in
the caves including textiles, sculptures and handwritten scrolls. There is also some information
about the techniques to build these caves such as how they made color pigments.
At the end, visitors can come back to visitor center for dining and souvenirs. The center
provides a great collection of information, with models and demonstrations. It reduces much
time guides need to spend in caves, thus reduces visitors’ spending time in situ, which greatly
mitigate the environmental impact caused by visitors.120 The visitor carrying capacity has

119 Julie Makinen, “Getty Institute helps save China’s Mogao Grottoes from tourism’s impact,” Los Angeles Times,
September 27, 2014, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-mogao-grottoes-buddhist-caves-
dunhuang-20140928-story.html.
120 Xudong Wang, “Incorporating a Visitor Center into the Mogao Grottoes Visitation Model,” in Colloquium, 66.
56

increased to 6000 after the opening of the visitor center. The total amount of time visitors spend
in the caves decreases to approximately sixty minutes from 120 minutes, however, the entire visit
to site will extend to 150-180 minutes.121 They actually gain more information of the site. It is a
win-win relationship of visitation and conservation. In the meantime, visitors need to pre-book
their visits online or by phone. The new model relieves the potential threat visitors may cause to
the fragile polychrome sculptures and wall paintings. It also provides a more attractive way for
visitors to experience the site.
For many years, visitors could only see the wall paintings clearly with the flashlights
used by guides. It was believed that the light from outside is ambient enough to illuminate the
cave when the door is open. However, research shows that the natural light will cause change to
the mineral pigment, which is a great threat to the wall paintings. And visitors’ experiences show
they do prefer a stable light source to help them appreciate the wall painting. There have been
several tests undertaken in cave 85. LED sources were found to be optimal in terms of efficiency,
disposal issues, etc. A remote control is carried by guides to illuminate either particular areas or
the entire chamber based on the need during visitation.122
Heavy glass barriers with aluminum framing were once used to protect the wall paintings.
However, based on the survey, many visitors still have the chance to touch the surface because
some of the barriers are not tall enough. Visitors did not like the heavy glass barrier since it
intruded the on the view. Cave 85 improved the visitation experience by installing a wooden
railing system at 1.10-1.20 meters from the wall to prevent the damage of paintings from visitors.
Cave 85 is a large chamber with at a height of 13m. Visitors could hardly see the paintings on the
ceiling slopes from the floor level. Also, the base of the wall in cave 85 has a large area of loss.
Visitors were confronted with the loss and deterioration in the first glance. Based on the
considerations above, a platform was installed in 1.3m height corresponding to the deterioration
at the base and the need to see the ceiling on the top. (Figure 3.9) Four panels were created on
the platform and one in the entry corridor explaining the conservation issues, which supplements
the guide’s normal speech of introducing the history. The approach is not suitable for all open
caves with mass tourism, but is for an interested visitor who spends more time in the cave

121 Xudong Wang, “Incorporating a Visitor Center into the Mogao Grottoes Visitation Model” in Colloquium, 67.
122 Whitfield and Agnew, Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang: 314.
57

appreciating the art and realizing the conservation process.123

Figure 3.9: The platform installed in cave 85.
Source: http://www.getty.edu/conservation/our_projects/field_projects/mogao/presentation.html.

Through the collaboration of the DA and the GCI, the interpretation of Mogao Grottoes
that has been developed proves to be effective and sustainable, including promoting display
methods, the use of digital technology, the installation of the new visitor center, and expanding
the influence through exhibitions at home and abroad. The more diversified and enhanced
methods of interpretation lead to greater understanding of the site. The success depends on the
trained staff complying to the requirements and the tourism authorities understanding the
importance. The Mogao Grottoes, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is going to face more
challenges in the future, especially in the face of mass tourism and development pressures. It
depends on whether the authorities can insist on the aim of educating the visitors rather than just
meet their desires for entertainment.
Mogao Grottoes is worthy to be analyzed to promote the interpretation approaches of
Fengguo Temple. The Mogao Caves and Fengguo Temple have many similarities in Chinese

123 Neville Agnew, Martha Demas and Xundong Wang, “The Enduring Collaboration of the Getty Conservation
Institute and the Dunhuang Academy in Conservation and Management at the Buddhist Cave Temples of Dunhuang,
China,” The Public Historian 34, no. 3 (Summer 2012): 19.
58

background. In China, with the development of economy, heritage tourism is flourishing.
Heritage sites are attracting increasing numbers of domestic and international visitors. However,
heritage sites in China face the transitional period of site-focused to visitor-focused. In the past,
the issue of heritage sites only focused on the preservation and conservation aspect. The
significance of interpretation was ignored. The Mogao caves, which is listed on the UNESCO
World Heritage List, is one of the most renowned historic sites in China and the world. In order
to satisfy the needs of new-generation domestic and international visitors, the Mogao caves plays
a pioneer role in enhancing interpretation approaches with the collaboration of the Getty
Conservation Institute. Therefore, the interpretation methods of the Mogao Cave should be a
good model for Fengguo Temple. For example, the Imax movie can be adopted in Fengguo
Temple to tell a rich story of the temple in a vivid way if it is financially practicable. Just like
Lascaux III, the replicas of the Mogao caves have travelled to other sites around the world. The
significance of the Fengguo Temple is ignored due to the remote location and poor advertising.
Holding such a travelling exhibition can broaden its influence and let people who cannot see the
temple themselves have the chance to experience the same grandeur on the real site. Besides, the
mural has similar diseases between Fengguo Temple and the Mogao Caves. The conservation
group of Fengguo Temple can learn from the Mogao’s way to deal with pulverizing pigment,
smoke pollution, and other threats. The real-time environmental monitoring system which shows
interior humidity, carbon dioxide, temperature, air quality, and visitor number is an effective
approach to monitor dynamic conditions in order to preserve the murals. Learning from the
Mogao’s conservation approaches is also necessary because conservation is the prerequisite of
interpretation. Therefore, the Mogao cave is an appropriate example to help promote the
interpretation of Fengguo Temple.

59

Chapter 4 Analysis of Recommendations at Fengguo Temple
4.1 History of Fengguo Temple
In the northwest of Yixian County in Liaoning Province, the Daling River has nurtured
the people and culture since ancient times. (Figure 4.1.) During the Northern Wei Dynasty
(A.D.368-534), Chinese ancestors built the Wanfotang Rock Cave, which is dated the earliest
and largest grotto in Northeast China, on the hills along the north bank of the river. Since then,
this place had been attached with the development of Buddhism. In the hundreds of years after
the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Khitan people (an ancient nomadic people inhabited in modern
Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East) established the Liao Empire (A.D.907-
1125).124 Although the Liao Dynasty was built by nomadic people, it was deeply influenced by
central plains culture which was dominated by Buddhism. Buddhism was regarded as the state
religion in the Liao Dynasty and was highly respected by the royal family. With the prevalence
of Buddhism, a lot of temples were built for pilgrims to worship Buddha. Fengguo Temple was
built during this period.125

Figure 4.1: The location of Fengguo Temple.
Source:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fengguo+Monastery/@37.040267,86.0638261,4z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x5e26b
077d4592777:0x2ceb455cb52c9306!8m2!3d41.543433!4d121.248425.

124 “ 辉耀千载奉国古寺”(in Chinese), Tencent video, 16:38, produced by Fengguo Temple Administrative Office,
http://www.yxfgs.com/col.jsp?id=105.
125 Jingxin Sun and Weijun Hu, “ 义县奉国寺‘ 大雄殿’ 所体现的辽代历史文化特征,” 兰台世界, no. 27 (2014):
141. DOI ：10.16565/j.cnki.1006-7744.2014.27.081.
60

Fengguo Temple was a royal temple built by Emperor Shengzong of Liao who regarded
himself as the reincarnation of the Buddha. The temple was located in the hometown of the
emperor’s mother. He wanted to commemorate his mother and promote Buddhism by building
the temple. Since the establishment of the Liao Dynasty, it has been repeatedly visited by the
royal family. The Liao Empire tyrannized ethnic minorities, and were especially cruel to the
Jurchen people (a group of Tungusic and affiliated peoples). The war provoked by the Jurchen
people damaged thousands of buildings and temples across the country. Afterwards, Fengguo
Temple weathered the storm again when the Mongolian army struck northeastern China.126
Fortunately, Fengguo Temple was comprehensively repaired due to a royal family member’s
loyalty to Buddhism. The local records have never been found. According to stelae records,
Daxiongbao Hall (the main hall) was repaired at least sixteen other times between 1487 and
1888. The most recent damage to Fengguo Temple occurred as the result of a bombing in
1948.127 On October 1, 1948, Yixian County was attacked during the Chinese civil war.
Countless lives were lost and many buildings were damaged. A bomb broke through the roof of
the main hall and landed into the conjoined hands of Sakyamuni’s statue. Magically the bomb
didn’t explode, and only slightly damaged the statue’s right arm. The other two bombs fell into
the yard and didn’t explode as well.128 In 1966, Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong
launched the Cultural Revolution. He closed the nation’s schools and called for fanatical youths
to root out those he considered as the bourgeois by harassing and humiliating the intellectual
group in public.129 The movement escalated quickly in the next months, students formed large
groups called the Red Guards to answer Mao’s call to continue the revolution.130 The destruction
of the “Four Olds”-ideas, customs, culture, and habits - meant everything related to Chinese
traditional culture was toxic. Under this campaign, countless historic sites and cultural relics

126 Jingxin Sun and Weijun Hu, “ 义县奉国寺‘ 大雄殿’ 所体现的辽代历史文化特征,” 兰台世界, no. 27 (2014):
141. DOI ：10.16565/j.cnki.1006-7744.2014.27.081.
127 Nancy Shatzman Steainhardt, Liao Architecture (Honolulu: The University of Hawai‘i Press, 1977), 89.
128 “ 辉耀千载奉国古寺”(in Chinese), the video directed by Yu Zhou, produced by Fengguo Temple Administrative
Office, on the official website. http://www.yxfgs.com/col.jsp?id=105.
129 “Cultural Revolution,” History, last modified August 21, 2018, http://www.history.com/topics/china/cultural-
revolution.
130 Austin Ramzy, “China’s Cultural Revolution, Explained,” The New York Times, May 14, 2016,
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/world/asia/china-cultural-revolution-explainer.html.
61

were destroyed, causing an incalculable damage to Chinese antiques.131 The Chinese morals and
values including their traditional beliefs were all gone with the movement. Apparently, Buddhist
temples were one of the main targets to destroy in order to carry out their idea of wiping out the
“Four Olds.” Fengguo Temple is a true miracle to survive from those disasters. Luckily, Fengguo
Temple dodged the bullet from this cultural disaster. The staff tried their best to save the temple.
It is said that when a red guard broke into Fengguo Temple and tried to destroy the Buddha
statue, an expert working at the Cultural Relics Department of the Municipal Cultural Bureau
convinced the red guard by telling the significance of the temple. In a few days later, some red
guards from Tsinghua University came to Fengguo Temple and left with a slogan “The Rebels
wish the cultural relics and historic sites to be protected,” which later persuaded many red guards
to stop the destruction.132 Later, the characters on the plaque were cut off unfortunately, while
the ancient buildings and Buddha statues were still intact. It is truly a miracle that Fengguo
Temple has escaped so many crises over time.

4.2 Site Description
Fengguo Temple was established in 1020 A.D. during the Liao Dynasty and gradually
grew in the next centuries. The presence of Fengguo Temple is so overwhelming that it is hard to
believe local records about Fengguo Temple have never been found.133 The documentation has to
be reconstructed from stelae. The main hall (Daxiongbao Hall) is one of only three surviving
temples dating back to the Liao Dynasty.134 And Daxiongbao Main Hall is the only Seven-
Buddha hall known at present. But it might not be the only temple worshiping the Seven
Buddhas in ancient times. Belief in “The Seven Buddhas” was widespread and popular at one
time. The theme of the Seven Buddhas was common in stone towers or grottoes. But Fengguo
Temple is the only temple that still has the Seven Buddhas. Therefore, Fengguo Temple is

131 Hermann Rohr, “China’s Destruction of Cultural Sites During the Cultural Revolution,” Vision Times, August 26,
2018, http://www.visiontimes.com/2018/08/26/chinas-destruction-of-cultural-sites-during-the-cultural-
revolution.html.
132 Lianyi Zhang, “ 红卫兵保护文物古迹,奉国寺五次危难记,” SINA WEIBO, November 17, 2014,
http://news.sina.com.cn/cul/2004-11-17/755.html.
133 Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, “Liao: An Architectural Tradition in the Making,” Artibus Asiae Publishers 54,
no.1/2 (1994): 14.
134 "China's Fresco Restoration Hampered by Lack of Talent," The Philippines News Agency (PNA), Jun 14, 2014.
http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search-
proquestcom.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/1535360703?accountid=14749.
62

significant in studying the history of the Seven Buddhas. It is also the only surviving Liao
building in the monastery.135
Other structures were presented at the mid-fourteen-century monastery: an “absence
hall”; three ge:one in front of Daxiongbao Main Hall and one at either side of it; a bathing
chamber; monks’ quarters; three different kitchen areas; a Ten Thousand Buddhas Hall; and
many other courtyards of buildings. 136137138 (Figure 4.2) The main hall is a single-story structure
with a hipped roof and five ridges. (Figure 4.3) It is twenty-one meters tall, 48.2 meters long
from east to west and 25.13 meters from south to north, built on a platform 3 meters tall.139 It has
a floor area of 1,824 square meters and is one of the largest and the most intact single-story
wooden structures from the Liao Dynasty, representing the highest level of Chinese architecture
in the eleventh century. The main hall contains precious artistic, religious, and scientific
information from the Liao Dynasty as well. It is a valuable integration of architecture, statuary,
paintings, and art, and also an excellent example of ancient Chinese Buddhist architecture. The
temple shows not only characteristics of the Liao Dynasty, but also regional features of North
China. It is also the evidence of nomads such as the Khitan people from the central plain.140 In
some art historian’s opinion, the temple is beautiful example of the early style of the Song
Dynasty.141 It is said “all of this is so much like the mature Northern Song style that it is
tempting to imagine that the Liao architects made a special effort to reproduce some Chinese
prototype, either by bringing in a consultant or by referring to some manual that preceded the
Yingzao fashi.”142
The Yingzao fashi specifies that a rise of eight cun for a hall of seven-to-nine bays. 143 144
145 The pillars of Daxiongbao Main Hall in Fengguo Temple exhibit a “rise” of 36 centimeters,

135 Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, “Liao: An Architectural Tradition in the Making,” Artibus Asiae Publishers 54,
no.1/2 (1994): 14.
136 阁 (in Chinese): Pavilion.
137 斋堂（in Chinese): a hall for vegetarian feasts.
138 Nancy Shatzman Steainhardt, Liao Architecture (Honolulu: The University of Hawai‘i Press, 1977), 89.
139 Nancy Shatzman Steainhardt, Liao Architecture (Honolulu: The University of Hawai‘i Press, 1977), 89.
140 Bingbing Zhao, Jian Wang, Siduo Liu, “The preliminary Study on the Restoration of Gate to Fengguo Temple,”
Journal of Landscape Research 7, no.5 (Sep 2015): 20.
141 William Watson, China. Kunst und Kultur (Breisgau: Herder, 1980): 221.
142 Laurence C. S. Sickman, and Soper, Alexander Coburn. The Art and Architecture of China. 3rd ed.
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968): 457.
143 Cun is a traditional Chinese unit of length. One metre is equal to 30 cun.
144 Yingzao fashi is the oldest extant Chinese technical manual on buildings.
145 Nancy Shatzman Steainhardt, Liao Architecture (Honolulu: The University of Hawai‘i Press, 1977), 90.
63

which translates into 11.5 cun.146 The use of the large pillars is rare in early architecture. Besides
Daxiongbao Main Hall in Fengguo Temple, the East Hall of Foguang Temple, Hualinsi Main
Hall, and Huayansi Main Hall adopt the large size of pillars.147 The Northern Song Dynasty and
the Liao Dynasty were in a state of peace for a long time under the Chanyuan Treaty.148 There
might be a dispute between Song and Liao to build more grandeur architectures than each other.
The construction of magnificent Daxiongbao Main Hall is the result under the competitive
atmosphere.149

146 Ibid.
147 East Hall of Foguang Temple is the third earliest preserved timber structure in China (Tang Dynasty), located in
Wutai County, Shaanxi Province of China. Hualinsi Main Hall was built in the early Song Dynasty, located in
Fuzhou, Fujian Province of China. Huayansi was first established in 1038. The Main Hall preserves the architectural
style of the Liao and Jin dynasties.
148 Chanyuan Treaty is a peace treaty concluded between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty. The
boundary established between the Song and Liao by the treaty was an international boundary in a modern sense.
149 Zhaokai Yang, “ 太平之甍- 巨刹大奉国寺的前世今生,” 华夏地理, December 5, 2016.

64

Figure 4.2: Reconstructed plan of Fengguo Temple.
Source: Nancy Shatzman Steainhardt, Liao Architecture (Honolulu: The University of Hawai‘i Press, 1977), 102.

65

Figure 4.3: The main hall of Fennguo Temple. Image retrieved from Fengguo Temple Official Website.
Source: http://www.yxfgs.com/col.jsp?id=101.

4.2.1 Statues
There are seven very large Buddha statues on the altar, which is unique in an ancient
Chinese Buddhist temple because most Buddhist temples contain one, three, or five Buddha
statues in their main halls. From east to west, they are: Kassapo, Kakusandho, Sikhin, Vipassi,
Vessabhū, Konāgamano, and Sakyamuni. (Figure 4.4) The statue of Vipassi in the middle is the
highest one, which is 9.5 meters tall.150 They are called “Seven Past Buddhas”. According to the
legend, there were six Buddhas to come upon earth before Sakyamuni. The six previous Buddhas
and together with Sakyamuni is regarded as Seven Buddhas of the past. The theme of “Seven
Past Buddhas” was common in stone towers or grottoes, but very rare housed in a large wooden
structure temple like the Fengguo Temple.151 In front of each Buddha are two servant Buddha
statues of 2.5-2.7 meters tall. And there is one powerful attendant statue at both the west and east
ends of 3.5 meters tall. Behind the statue of Vipassi sits a male statue of Bodhisattva Skanda,

150 “Fengguo Temple,” accessed November 1, 2018, http://en.chinaculture.org/library/2008-
02/15/content_34459.htm.
151 Qin Xin, translated by David Li, “Fengguo Temple: A Treasure Dynasty after Dynasty”, Middle Land, December
19, 2015.
66

facing away.152 (Figure 4.5) This is the oldest and largest colored-clay sculpture group in the
world.153

Figure 4.4: Seven Past Buddhas in the main hall of Fengguo Temple.
Source: http://www.zhongguofeng.com/simiao/55459.html.

152 Ibid.
153 “Wooden Structures of Liao Dynasty—Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County, Main Hall of Fengguo Monastery
of Yixian County,” accessed January 28, 2020, http://whc.unesco.org/fr/listesindicatives/5803/.

67

Figure 4.5: Statue of Bodhisattva Skanda, facing away.
Image retrieved from Fengguo Temple Official Website. Source: http://www.yxfgs.com/pod.jsp?id=86.

4.2.2 Mural and Architectural Painting
The murals dating back to Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1279-1368) are located on three sidewalls
in the main hall. Five Buddhas are painted on the east and west walls, eight Bodhisattvas on the
north wall and two Bodhisattvas with eleven faces on the south wall, total in more than 534. 2
square meters.154 (Figures 4.6a – 4.6d) The condition can be barely seen because a lot of
pigments have already fallen off. And the walls under the mural appear to be unstable and loose.
The figures on the east wall and west wall are recognizable while pigments on the north and
south wall are largely gone. There used to be eighteen Arhats dating back to Ming Dynasty (A.D.
1368-1644) on the main wall.155 During repairs in 1984, several Arhat figures were removed and

154 Qin Xin, translated by David Li, “Fengguo Temple: A Treasure Dynasty after Dynasty”, Middle Land, December
19, 2015
155 Arhats: one who gains insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved nirvana (a place of perfect
happiness and peace).
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relocated to the back of the main hall. .156 (Figure 4.7) The mural from Ming Dynasty is the most
intact one in the main hall. However, the development of Buddhist art has gradually declined
since Ming Dynasty, the size of mural and figures were smaller than before and the arrangement
of the paintings was restrained, and the characters were not as vivid as the previous dynasty as
well.157

(a) (b)

156 Xiaodong Zhang, “ 奉国寺大雄殿的元、明时期壁画,” 边疆考古研究, no.00, (2010): 229.
157 Xiaodong Zhang, “ 奉国寺大雄殿的元、明时期壁画,” 边疆考古研究, no.00, (2010): 229.
69

(c)
70

(d)
Figure 4.6: (a) One of five Buddhas painted on the east wall. Photo by students in Northwest University (China). (b)
One of five Buddhas painted on the east wall. Photo by students in Northwest University (China). (c) What remains
of one of eight Bodhisattvas on the north wall. Photo by students in Northwest University (China). (d) One of two
Bodhisattvas with eleven faces on the south wall.
Photo by students in Northwest University (China).

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Figure 4.7: One of eighteen Arhats taken down which preserved beside the Bodhisattva Skanda.
Photo by students in Northwest University (China).

The existing architectural painting dating back to Liao Dynasty is rare in China, and the
one at the main hall of Fengguo Temple is the most intact example of it.158 The painted beams
and arches total about 2,000 square meters.159 The Feitian figures in Fengguo Temple have halos,
wearing crowns or double hair buns.160 These paintings contain themes such as sea

158 Xin Bai, “Preliminary Study of the Colored Flying Fairies Painted in Daxiong Hall of Fengguo Temple in Yi
County of Liaoning Province in the Liao Dynasty,” 装饰, no 04 (2008):112.
159 Xin Bai,“ 辽宁义县奉国寺大雄殿建筑彩画,” 中国书画, no 03 (2009):118.
160 Xin Bai, “Preliminary Study of the Colored Flying Fairies Painted in Daxiong Hall of Fengguo Temple in Yi
County of Liaoning Province in the Liao Dynasty,” 装饰, no. 04 (2008):113.
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pomegranates, lotus flowers, phoenixes, and Feitian figures (flying heavenly beauties in
Buddhism).161 Each Feitian figure has a peaceful and joyful face in great detail and rich colors,
showing their beautiful gestures. (Figure 4.8) Their faces show male characteristics like beards,
and bodies are in-between that of a male and a female, which is a common and classic
representation of Feitian figures in traditional Buddhism. Only thirty Feitian figures of all are
female which have much of the Tang Dynasty’s style.162 Some of them hold fruit plates, some
hold flowers and food, flying and dancing right above the “Seven Past Buddhas.” Their
animation contrasts Buddhas’ solemnity, which makes a majestic picture of worship.163

Figure 4.8: The Feitian figure on the beam.
Photo by students in Northwest University (China).

161 Qin Xin, translated by David Li, “Fengguo Temple: A Treasure Dynasty after Dynasty”, Middle Land, December
19, 2015.
162 Xin Bai, “Preliminary Study of the Colored Flying Fairies Painted in Daxiong Hall of Fengguo Temple in Yi
County of Liaoning Province in the Liao Dynasty,” 装饰, no. 04 (2008):113.
163 Qin Xin, translated by David Li, “Fengguo Temple: A Treasure Dynasty after Dynasty”, Middle Land, December
19, 2015.
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To conclude, Daxiongbao Main Hall is one of only three surviving temples dating back to
the Liao Dynasty and is the biggest wooden structure with one tier of eaves.164 The sculpture of
the Seven Buddha is the oldest and largest colored-clay sculpture group in the world.165 And
Daxiongbao Main Hall is the only Seven-Buddha hall known at present, which make Fengguo
Temple unique and significant in studying the religious history. There are many magnificent
paintings of Feitian figures on the beam frames of the hall which makes Fengguo Temple
significant in architectural paintings. Fengguo Temple is also home to precious twelfth century
murals on the interior wall of Daxiongbao Hall. Therefore, Fengguo Temple embodies great
significance in architectures, sculptures, murals, history, art, and religion.

4.3 Current Interpretation Approach at Fengguo Temple
Fengguo Temple is now managed by Yixian County Cultural Relics Management Office.
Since 2001, Fengguo Temple has invited the Chinese Cultural Relics Research Institute, the
Dunhuang Research Institute, the National Museum, Tsinghua University, Peking University,
Rome University, and the German Archaeological Research Institute to participate in the
scientific research and preliminary repair research. Fengguo Temple has an official website and
Wechat (most popular social app in China) official account to accelerate communication to the
public. There are also many events happening on site regularly such as temple fairs or tourist
festivals. In order to further promote and protect the history and culture of Fengguo Temple and
Yixian County, the Yixian county government built a Yixian Museum on the west side of the
Fengguo Temple. However, due to poor management, the museum does not open on a regular
basis and the exhibition and displays lack novelty, making the museum not attractive to the
public as the government meant to be. The museum doesn’t effectively promote local history and
Fengguo Temple. The interpretation of Fengguo Temple is still in the early stage – its specialty,
scarcity, and economic value as a historic tourism resource have not been fully realized yet.166
The great artistic, religious, and architectural arts values that Fengguo Temple contains
have not been paid enough attention by the public due to the remote location and poor

164 "China's Fresco Restoration Hampered by Lack of Talent," The Philippines News Agency (PNA), Jun 14, 2014.
http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search-
proquestcom.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/1535360703?accountid=14749.
165 “Wooden Structures of Liao Dynasty—Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County, Main Hall of Fengguo Monastery
of Yixian County,” accessed January 28, 2020, http://whc.unesco.org/fr/listesindicatives/5803/.
166 Zhandong Hu, “ 辽宁义县奉国寺旅游开发研究,” 辽宁农业职业技术学院学报 18, no. 05 (2016):58.
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advertising methods. The legend of “Seven Past Buddhas” is well known, which brings a lot of
people to Fengguo Temple for worshipping the Buddhas, not for the purpose of visiting the
historic site. Even though exploring the historic site is not their initial motive, the Yixian County
Cultural Relics Management Office can still grasp the chance to educate the people who are
already here no matter what kinds of reasons makes them to visit. There are not enough guides
on site and they require extra charge. Usually the guides show up just for an academic or
government group. Visitors understand the history and art mostly through the monks in the
temple. The monks don’t share their non-professional knowledge for free – instead they ask and
even force visitors to donate money to the Buddha by threatening visitors with bad luck.
Fengguo Temple loses many potential interested visitors in this way. Beside the inefficient
guides and monks, there is no other ways to interpret the mural, statues, and the building for
now.
The speed of deterioration of mural is accelerating year by year. The walls under the
mural appear to be loose and unstable. The bonding material is naturally aging, causing the
pigment layer to pulverize and fall off. Smoke pollution coming from visitors burning incense
and worshiping the Buddha over the years have made many details of the mural unrecognizable.
The rain leaking on the architectural painting leads to stains and cracks. Spider webs on the
mural and architectural painting attract dust to the painted surface, which is also a threat to
paintings. In the history, a large number of bats have inhabited the main hall, whose urine and
scratch ruined the wood, causing the painting to fall off with the wood chips.167 In order to deal
with the accelerating damage, the Yixian County Cultural Relics Management Office invited
many scholars and professionals from conservation fields to participate in the preliminary
conservation research. For now, the mural is just protected by a wooden railing system to prevent
from visitor damage.

4.4 Analysis Learned from Case Studies and Recommendations of Fengguo Temple
4.4.1 Marketing
When it refers to heritage interpretation, marketing is always an important aspect.
Successful marketing brings in more new visitors and return visitors. One of the problems is not

167 Fei Wang, “ 奉国寺古代壁画彩绘保护初探,” 中国文物报, no 007 ( February 2015):1.

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knowing who the audience is. The understanding about existing and intended visitors is not
enough. For the existing audience, a questionnaire can be designed and passed out to them,
which may include:
● Where are you from?
● How old are you?
● How do you know Fengguo Temple? Through newspaper, magazine, TV, travel agent or
friends?
● What makes you come to visit Fengguo Temple? What experiences are you looking for?
● How many times did you visit Fengguo Temple during the past year? If more than one
time, what reasons did we give you to visit Fengguo Temple again?
● Did you pay for the guides for further interpretation? If not, why?
● Did the site meet your initial expectation? Did you feel welcome? Did you learn
something meaningful?

Those questions make us understand our audiences’ needs and feelings and we can make
progress on the base of the questionnaire. For example, Fengguo Temple is more of a religious
place for local people worshipping the Buddhas, that’s the main reason for returning visits.
Apparently, the legend of “Seven Past Buddhas” is their motive to revisit Fengguo Temple.
Many older adults and some young people are willing to talk to monks about their wishes and
hope to get the wisdom of Buddhas from monks instead of communicating with guides because
it requires an extra charge and guides are not always on site. It is a chance to educate visitors
through monks if they have professional knowledge with visitors’ trust. Forbidding monks to
force visitors donate money is necessary as well. In Mogao Grottoes, all visitors must be
accompanied by a trained Dunhuang Academy guide.168 Since Fengguo Temple is a religious
place, arranging a stationed guide in the main hall to explain the history when people finish their
worshipping routine and stop by the mural is a good choice, which can also prevent visitors
damaging the mural.
Also, generating new visitors is important. Although the Fengguo Temple has high
historical, artistic, religious, and economic value, not many people are aware of its significance.

168 Martha Demas, Neville Agnew, and Jinshi Fan, Strategies for Sustainable Tourism at the Mogao Grottoes of
Dunhuang, China. (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2015), 49.
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Even in other parts of Liaoning province except Jinzhou City (where Yixian County is located),
people barely know about Fengguo Temple. And it is rare to see information about the Fengguo
Temple in the tourism introduction video of Liaoning Province. The current advertising methods
are not promoting Fengguo Temple. It is only introduced through the official website of the
tourism bureau, the official website of Fengguo Temple, and the Wechat official account. We
can hold events like Buddhism festival or temporary exhibition related to the theme. Fengguo
Temple once was the shooting spot for a film A Grandmaster, starring one of the most famous
Chinese actresses Ziyi Zhang. This was supposed to be a great chance to bring Fengguo Temple
to the public. But it seemed like they didn’t best use the highlight to promote the popularity of
Fengguo Temple. Having the experience to be selected as a shooting spot for a famous movie,
Fengguo Temple can also take more filming events regarding historical context with the
principle of not damaging the heritage to advertise itself.
In the analysis of Lascaux Cave, a touring exhibition called Lascaux 3 travelled around
the world to give more people opportunity to realize the precious art of Lascaux. Like Lascaux’s
travelling exhibition, a replica of the Mogao Grottoes travelled around the world as well. Visitors
can see the extraordinary walk-in replica hand-painted by the professional artists of the
Dunhuang Academy. Such a touring exhibition can be used as reference to enhance the publicity
of the Fengguo Temple as well. Temporary exhibitions in famous historic sites such as the
Mogao Grottoes to help visitors who are already interested in heritage become aware of the
Fengguo Temple.
From the analysis of América Tropical, one of the exhibition rooms is used as community
center for arts and cultural lectures. I think it is a great way to attract different groups of people
and make them visit Fengguo Temple. The arrangement of lectures can be versatile. The themes
of Buddhism, cultural relics, painting, architecture, conservation, and arts can be incorporated
into lectures and seminars. Even participants who were not planning to visit Fengguo Temple
might become interested in the value and significance behind Fengguo Temple. Marketing is the
first and important job we should do - attracting more visitors is fundamental to make historic
sites better serve the educational role to the public.

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4.4.2 The Prerequisite of Interpretation----Conservation
Preserving the mural to a good state is the first and crucial step of interpretation. The
mural from Yuan Dynasty is not in a good condition. Faded pigments, aged bonding material,
smoke pollution, and rain have made the painting hard to recognize. Under the Yixian County
Cultural Relics Management Office’s call to enact a conservation plan, a preliminary research
report has been finished. Environment monitoring has been conducted in the main hall to provide
reliable data of temperature and humidity incorporated in conservation research. The condition
of the mural paintings was manually well-recorded. Students from Northwest University (China)
then transferred the information into a digital format as CAD drawings and conducted research
about the distribution of soluble salt, which laid the foundation for further conservation.
In the analysis of Mogao Grottoes, what they have done is to conduct real-time
environmental monitoring showing cave humidity, carbon dioxide, temperature, air quality, and
visitor number in each cave. Some monitor sensor can also monitor the painting condition and
crack movement. They also established an image monitoring system. No matter in terms of scale,
popularity, financial support, government attention, or long-time collaboration with renowned
institution like the Getty Conservation Institute, the Fengguo Temple cannot be compared with
the Mogao Grottoes, but the goal is to better preserve the mural, the statues, the architectural
paintings, and the building. Excessive smoke from the incense is also a tough problem, because it
is an inevitable problem in such a religious place. Smoke pollution can be very harmful to the
mural. Mogao Grottoes have the same smoke issue as well, the difference is the cave is not used
as a religious function any more while smoke caused by burning incense still happens every day
in Fengguo Temple. Mogao Grottoes did a good job in cleaning smoke pollution on the mural
but in Fengguo Temple, the problem is preventing the pollution. A glass barrier might be a good
way to block the pollution and not intrude visitors’ view in the meantime.
Yixian County Cultural Relics Management Office has conducted a preliminary research
regarding disease distribution in order to enact a more detailed conservation plan. One of the
most important criteria we should follow is keeping authenticity. According to Venice Charter:
Imbued with a message from the past, the historic monuments of generations of people
remain to the present day as living witnesses of their age-old traditions. People are
becoming more and more conscious of the unity of human values and regard ancient
monuments as a common heritage. The common responsibility to safeguard them for
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future generations is recognized. It is our duty to hand them on in the full richness of their
authenticity.169

Authenticity is well explained in Article 3, “The intention in conserving and restoring
monuments is to safeguard them no less as works of art than as historical evidence.”170 In other
words, the intention should be to preserve the works of art itself and historical evidence it
contains as well. If a work of arts loses its historical information, no matter how exquisite it
looks like, the cultural and historical value will be all gone. In order to follow the criteria of
authenticity, there are some principles we need to comply with:
● Preserving the original state.171
It refers to preserve the original historical information of the murals in the process of restoration
or repair, maintaining the original shape, color, materials and techniques. Repairs that
result in new, altered or removed changes to the painting is not allowed.
● Minimal intervention.172
During the process of repairing the murals, preventive conservation measures can be undertaken
to reduce intervention. Intervention to the historical mural should be restricted to the
minimum necessary. If no threats evaluated in the near future, intervention should be
minimized. When intervention is required, only the endangered part can be treated.
● Appropriate technology.173
The use of technology should be proven to be beneficial to the long-term conservation of the
mural and not detrimental to neighboring cultural relics. Conservation measures should
be reversible, not precluding future intervention. We should select transparent,
waterproof materials with proper adhesion and penetration, and no damage to the

169 The Venice Charter: International Charter for the Conservation and the Restoration of Monuments and Sites. II
International Congress of Architects and Historic Monuments Technicians, Venice, 1964. Adopted by ICOMOS in
1965.
170 Article 3 Venice Charter.
171 Article 9. Rev. issued by ICOMOS CHINA, 中国文物古迹保护准则 = Principles for the Conservation of
Heritage Sites in China. (Beijing: 文物出版社, 2015), 10.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/gci_pubs/china_principles_2015.
172 Article 12. Rev. ed. by ICOMOS CHINA, 中国文物古迹保护准则 = Principles for the Conservation of Heritage
Sites in China. (Beijing: 文物出版社, 2015), 13.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/gci_pubs/china_principles_2015
173 Article 14. Rev. ed. by ICOMOS CHINA, 中国文物古迹保护准则 = Principles for the Conservation of Heritage
Sites in China. (Beijing: 文物出版社, 2015),13. http://hdl.handle.net/10020/gci_pubs/china_principles_2015.
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pigment layer and base coat. When the repair finishes, no harmful substances may remain
or evaporate to cause visitor’s health problem.

Authenticity resides in the original materials, techniques, and design. The historical,
cultural, social characteristics should remain. Although the mural in the main hall dating back to
Yuan Dynasty is barely recognizable, we cannot repaint it since it is not possible to use the
original techniques. The first step to preserve historical mural should be examining and repairing
disease and cracks, pigment falling off, smoke pollution etc. In 1998, the Getty Conservation
Institute and Dunhuang Academy collaborated to work on Cave 85. The conservation project
which lasted for ten years, began with investigating the causes of diseases and treat and prevent
diseases fundamentally. We believe our descendants have better abilities to deal with the
problems we cannot solve. Therefore, the responsibility of our generation is to recognize heritage
objectively and try our best to pass on all the historical information that our ancestors left us to
our descendants.

4.4.3 The Idea of an Interpretive Center and Several Issues to Promote Interpretation
Tilden, the father of heritage interpretation, defines interpretation as “An educational
activity, which aims to reveal meanings and relationships through the use of original objects, by
first-hand experience, and by illustrative media, rather than simply to communicate factual
information.”174 He put the emphasis on educational and recreational purpose both. In China,
since the economic reform in 1978, both domestic and international tourism has expanded
rapidly. Especially when it comes to peak seasons, which are summer season (Winter in
Liaoning is too cold for travel) and national gold week, the number of visitors is exploded. With
the development of Chinese international and domestic tourism, the relationship between host
and visitor is changing. Interpreters need to explore new way to adapt the new-generation
visitors with a higher demand from domestic and overseas. However, the current relationship in
China between the visitor and the interpretation can be compare to a relationship between a
passive student and a strict teacher.175 The strict teacher decides what to interpret and students

174 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, ed. R. Bruce Craig, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2007), 17.
175 Yaniv Poria, Avital Biran and Arie Reichel, “Visitors' preferences for interpretation at heritage sites,” Journal of
Travel Research 48, no. 1, (2009): 103.
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learn the knowledge passively. However, contemporary visitors are not passive students, they are
curious explorer expecting interpreter to provide specific knowledge in a digestible and
interesting way. In Mogao Grottoes, a survey used to show visitors barely stopped and read
panels because those panels contain too much scientific information visitors are not interested in
and some common knowledge know. They later made some progress on the panel to make it
more digestible and interesting to the audience. When it comes with common knowledge,
interpreters should make the panels in different way to meet their needs. For example, for
international visitors, it is necessary to explain common knowledge of Chinese context in
English, but it can be removed from explanation written in Chinese. It is time to rethink our
interpretation model in order to best serve our audience.
The challenge we are facing is that the unrecognizable mural cannot deliver any efficient
information to our visitors. In order to keep the historical evidence of the mural and better
interpret the mural to the public, an interpretive center seems essential.
In the analysis of América Tropical, the interpretive center tells a complete story of the
Siqueiros, the history of Olvera Street, the art and history of the mural, and the controversy at a
time by using panels, images, posters, and multimedia in a sequence. In the case of Fengguo
Temple, such a clear and easily digestible framework can be adopted. Using different ways to
tell Fengguo Temple’s history, the story of murals, the techniques of paintings, the art of the
wooden structure of main hall, and the artistic, religious and cultural values of Fengguo Temple
is necessary. Through the exhibition, we should follow one of Tilden’s interpretation principles,
which is “the chief aim of interpretation is not instruction but provocation.”176 Interpretation
should definitely include instruction, but instruction is not enough because, “the purpose of
interpretation is to stimulate the reader or hearer toward a desire to widen his horizon of interests
and knowledge, and to gain an understanding of the greater truths that lie behind any statements
of fact.”177 América Tropical Interpretive Center tries to “ask provoking questions in order to
strike a dialogue and try to create an educational tone in the exhibit.”178 As a good interpreter, we
cannot decide for visitors what is important for them, we should let visitors figure out what does

176 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, ed. R. Bruce Craig, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2007), 18.
177 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, ed. R. Bruce Craig, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2007), 59.
178 Thomas Hartman, presented in Symposium: The Siqueiros Legacy: Challenges of Conserving the Artist's
Monumental Murals, October 17, 2012.
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it say to them and what eventually matters to them by themselves. The exhibition should be a
journey for visitors to explore the significance instead of just informing them stiffly.
A 3-D cinema can be installed in the interpretive center to tell a rich history of Fengguo
Temple and the background of mural to better give visitors’ a background information. A high-
tech tablet used in Lascaux 4 is also a good option to be adopted in this case. We can “repaint”
the mural on the basis of credibly historical resources achieved by virtual reality technology or
creating a replica. If we repaint on the mural, the historical information will be destroyed for
covering the artists’ original brush stroke. Virtually repainting the mural will satisfy visitors’
wish to appreciate the original masterpiece, and keep the authenticity of the historical mural in
the meantime. By virtually demonstrating the grand condition back in Liao Dynasty, the public
will further understand its charm and value by comparing the “present” and the “past.” In the
analysis of América Tropical, a mural was recreated in the exhibition room. The mural gets ray-
traced and electrified behind. Visitors can control the touchscreen to begin their exploring
journey. I think that is the most effective and interesting part for visitors to explore the painting.
We can install similar technology behind the recreated mural. Visitors can select different figures
like the Bodhisattva or Arhats to be illuminated and emphasized and listen their history and
legend through headphones.
After watching the basic information, a tablet with headphones containing all the
information in various languages give visitors more detailed information about the legend of
figures in the mural, painting techniques, the development of murals etc. Visitors are able to get
more in-depth information, and even take photographs and record information that interest them
with the tablet from the reproduced, virtual, authentic mural and the building and site. A code
can be created at their end of visiting to be used to access the official website and download all
the information and images they have recorded during the visiting on their own device. Many
heritage sites in China provide audio tours for visitors to learn more information, which make
tourists too busy using different devices during the visit because usually they need phones or
cameras to take pictures. This high-tech tablet will free visitors’ hands, making them more
concentrated on visiting and learning at ease.
In Lascaux 4, visitors can use the same tools used by Palaeolithic humans to create their
own works of art. It is a vivid way for them to experience and understand how ancient artists
made the drawings. The interpretation can be achieved in many ways: through images, panels,
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guides, movies and experiencing. In this way, they experience the culture from the past and be
entertained in the meantime. In future Fennguo Temple interpretive center, we can also adopt
similar approach. The interpretive presentation should be designed as an effective tool to inform,
engage and entertain visitors. Most visitors are more likely looking for an experience rather than
historical fact itself. The visitors who don’t seek for the advanced knowledge and history cannot
have an entertaining and meaningful experience for themselves, which can be provided by
evocative interpretation.179 We cannot expect all of our audience to seek for the hard facts of
historical reality and absorb it efficiently by themselves during their visiting. According to
Tilden’s definition of interpretation as an educational activity, we want to educate all different
groups of people. If we cannot arouse their interest and engage them during the visitation, then
our educational goal cannot be achieved. Such experiencing activity is efficient to help visitors
learn the history. For example, different tools can be placed to create a small portion of mural led
by an introducing video. (Figure 4.9) Visitors will be engaged to the process of painting the
mural, which can make them better remember the painting techniques and the process of creating
the mural, instead of listening to the guides drowsily. They can take home what they have made
in Fengguo Temple. That will be a tangible memory of their visit uniquely, which cannot be
achieved elsewhere.180

179Melanie K. Smith, Issues in Cultural Tourism Studies (London: Routledge, 2003), 84.
180 Claudia Dreifus, “You Can Take it with You, and Museums Hope You Will,” New York Times, March 22, 2018.
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Figure 4.9: An example of creating a small portion of mural by Northwest University student. Photo by professor in
Northwest University.

Such a hands-on activity will be attractive to children accompanied by their families as
well, which encourages their inspiration on the history through entertainment. Tilden argues,
“Interpretation addressed to children (say, up to the age of twelve) should not be a dilution of the
presentation to adults but should follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at its best it
will require a separate program.”181 Applying an effective approach to increase children’s
engagement is important, because saving historic resources in the future depends on children’s
understanding of the importance of the historic resources. Because children’s accepting ability
and preferred approach is different with adults, a different approach with more expressive and
interactive characteristics should be considered. For example, dressing up costumes of Liao
Dynasty can be intriguing to children to explore the history of Liao Dynasty. In addition,
Fengguo Temple can provide group tours to nearby schools to expand children’s interest on
heritage and history. Providing children with opportunities from school makes them aware of
heritage, which can influence their level of interest and understanding of heritage.

181 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, ed. R. Bruce Craig, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2007), 18.
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An ideal interpretation of heritage shouldn’t just focus on the time visitors spend in the
historical site itself. As Falk and Dierking argue, “The museum experience begins long before
the visitor arrives and continues long after the visit.”182 To engage visitors in a long-term
connection, taking history to home is further interpretation. Souvenirs related with the theme of
Fengguo Temple can undoubtedly help visitors remember their transient visit. The current
cultural souvenirs lack cultural elements and characteristics of the Fengguo Temple. The use of
traditional symbols contained in souvenirs can create a bridge for visitors to further understand
the history and culture of Fengguo Temple.
The development of interpretation should also prevent excessive commercialization of
the historical site which could erode the nature of the cultural, religious, and artistic value of the
Fengguo Temple. The recommendation faces some realistic problem. The staff on site need to
have a systematic knowledge of the history and value of Fengguo Temple, which requires a
regular training for current practitioners and monks as well. And due to the limited revenue of
Yixian government, it is recommended that Liaoning province and Jinzhou city to allocate funds
to promote the conservation and interpretation of Fengguo Temple.

182 Falk John H. and Dierking LD, Museum Experience Revisited (Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, 2013), 10.

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Conclusion
China, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, is rich in historic resources. Since the
economic reform in 1978, China has experienced rapid economic growth and social changes.
Historic sites attract more and more domestic and international visitors. In the past, the heritage
issues are mainly focused on preservation and conservation. How to best to interpret heritage
sites is now becoming more important. A rigid approach cannot enhance visitors’ experience and
increase their bond with the sites. Therefore, creating engaging interpretive approaches is
necessary.
The main hall (Daxiongbao Hall) in Fengguo Temple is one of only three surviving
temples dating back to the Liao Dynasty.183 And Daxiongbao Main Hall is the only Seven-
Buddha hall known. It is also the only surviving Liao building in the monastery.184 But its
architectural and historical significance has not aroused enough public’s attention because of its
remote location and poor advertising. There is little interpretation of the site and no professional
guides. Therefore, this thesis analyzes three famous heritage sites which are successful in
interpretive installation to give recommendations of interpretation approaches to Fengguo
Temple.
The conclusion is that an interpretive center should be adopted using some of the
effective and engaging interpretive tools learned from the three case studies analyzed. A
complete story should be told by using panels, images, and multimedia in an educational tone,
following one of Tilden’s interpretation principles, which is “the chief aim of interpretation is
not instruction but provocation.”185 In order to let more people feel the same awe who cannot
make the pilgrimage, a travelling exhibition should be considered. Digital technologies such as
touchscreens, virtual reality, and 3-D cinema should be adopted. Visitors can be equipped with a
tablet with headphone which can be used to take photographs, search, and record information.
And a code will be given which can be used to access the official website to download all the
information and images. Virtually recreating the mural to the original state is also a good way to

183 "China's Fresco Restoration Hampered by Lack of Talent," The Philippines News Agency (PNA), Jun 14, 2014.
http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search-
proquestcom.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/1535360703?accountid=14749.
184 Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, “Liao: An Architectural Tradition in the Making,” Artibus Asiae Publishers 54,
no.1/2 (1994): 14.
185 Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, ed. R. Bruce Craig, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2007), 18.

86

understand its value by comparing the “past” and the “present.” In this way, visitors can
understand the mural’s original charm while keeps the authenticity. Using the same tool of the
ancient people to create the work of arts is also an engaging method to understand how ancient
artists made the drawings. Souvenirs with cultural elements give visitors an opportunity to take
history back to their homes, which is further heritage interpretation.
The thesis contributes to giving the recommendation of interpretation approaches of
Fengguo Temple. There are still many unaddressed issues. For example, visitors have different
motivations to visit heritage sites. This thesis does not investigate the targeted audience of
Fengguo Temple and analyze their interpretation preferences. Moreover, the research is limited
to three case studies rather than analyzing an overall successful interpretive method. Further
research could be focused on these topics.

87

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Asset Metadata

Creator Wu, Peilin (author)

Core Title Interpreting historic murals: a case study approach and best practices used in Fengguo Temple

School School of Architecture

Degree Master of Heritage Conservation

Degree Program Heritage Conservation

Publication Date 08/25/2020

Defense Date 01/30/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag América Tropical,Heritage Conservation,heritage interpretation,Lascaux,Mogao Grottoes,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

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Advisor Sandmeier, Trudi (committee chair), Hall, Peyton (committee member), Lee, Sonya (committee member)

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