Three Gorges Cultural Relics Science and Technology Protection Base Opened

Chongqing- Integrating culture, art and science and technology, the Cultural Relics Science and Technology Protection Base of Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum was opened recently after two years and a half of construction. 

Located in Nanping Town, Nan'an District, with an investment of about 161 million yuan, the base covers an area of 8,400 square meters and a construction area of 18,000 square meters or so. The digital experience hall at the base shows the advanced development of digital conservation of cultural relics. The intelligent three-dimensional interactive screen can show the audience the full picture of cultural relics in three dimensions. Through the screen, visitors can understand the historical background of cultural relics, freely enjoy and play with their models and observe their subtle details. Behind the perfect and interesting interactive results is a set of high-precision digital database of ancient collections, covering three-dimensional coordinate cloud data, three-dimensional prime modulus data, texture image data and three-dimensional original models of cultural relics.

In addition, there are digital rubbings for such cultural relics as the stone inscriptions of the Eulogy to Emperor Gaozong and the Southern Song Dynasty on precipices, the stone Tablet for the Great Xia of the Yuan Dynasty and the bird-shaped bronze statue of the Warring States. Tourists can make digital rubbings by washing the tablet, placing a piece of paper over a subject and rubbing the paper with something to deposit marks via a touchscreen in a bid to feel the elegance and charm of the calligraphy on the tablet and patterns on bronze ware. Besides, the exhibition hall embraces many interesting and interactive exhibition items, which are suitable for adults and children to visit and experience together. They include the touchable "knowledge galaxy", the "small cinema" dedicated to the animation of cultural relics restoration, the VR experience for guqin restoration, and the interactive archeology encyclopedia, which are conducive to cultural relics protection education.

Opposite the entrance of the digital experience hall, tourists can also visit the "Century Engineering, National Action — Three Gorges Cultural Relics Rescue and Protection Achievements Exhibition". In the early 1990s, China launched a large-scale protection project for cultural relics of the Three Gorges. It involved more than 7,000 professionals for archaeology and cultural heritage protection and hundreds of thousands of migrant workers and more than 200 universities, scientific research institutions and manufacturing enterprises. After more than 30 years of joint efforts, this precious heritage was finally preserved and displayed for the people. There are also many electronic screens for visitors to get information about the history of cultural relics in the hall.

On the second floor of the base, visitors could enjoy the "Brilliance Reappearance — Science Popularization Exhibition of Three Gorges Cultural Relics Science and Technology Protection Base". To offer the audience relevant knowledge of cultural relics protection in a more direct manner, the exhibition is connected with the cultural relics science and technology protection laboratory and the cultural relics preventive protection laboratory of the cultural relics restoration room of the base, so as to realize the integration of theory and practice and the organic combination of the planar space and the three-dimensional space. Visitors can go to the cultural relics restoration room nearby and see the ongoing restoration.

The Three Gorges Cultural Relics Science and Technology Protection Base enables the public to learn and understand historical stories and traditional Chinese culture in the interaction. In the future, the base will plan more exhibitions to disseminate relevant knowledge based on cultural relics protection to highlight its importance and necessity. It will also carry out activities about cultural relics protection and research and study of traditional culture for young people and vigorously strive for more effective ways to publicize cultural relics knowledge.