冲击两大“世界难题”，“卧佛”修复将面对哪些挑战？本刊记者专访大足石刻研究院院长黎方银

□文、图/本刊记者 曾睿

冲击两大“世界难题”，“卧佛”修复将面对哪些挑战？本刊记者专访大足石刻研究院院长黎方银

□文、图/本刊记者 曾睿

黎方银

一直以来，世界文化遗产大足石刻的文物保护修复工作备受社会各界关注，在成功地对“千手观音”进行了抢救性修复后，对于“卧佛”的修复工程又在紧锣密鼓的开展中。在2017年国际博物馆日到来前夕，记者就相关问题对大足石刻研究院院长黎方银进行了专访。

常年裸露在外病害数量多

大足宝顶山的卧佛全长31米，是全世界最大的石雕半身卧佛像，也是整个宝顶山石刻的中心，历史价值、艺术价值、宗教价值巨大。然而，在南宋距今近千年的岁月中，卧佛一直暴露在露天环境中，常年遭受多种病害侵蚀，石刻表面风化较为严重，卧佛表面彩绘颜色几乎全部脱落，本体也残缺不全，“已经到了不修不行的程度”，必须对它进行修复。

据了解，对于“卧佛”初步的病害调查现在已结束，根据目前已经了解到的情况，“卧佛”一共涉及6种材质的47种病害，比有保护性建筑的“千手观音”修复之前整整多了13种。

同时冲击两大“世界难题”

黎方银院长介绍，国家文物局已把对四川和重庆的石窟的保护作为一个重大专项，列入“十三五”国家重大文物保护项目，其中，大足宝顶山“卧佛”保护维修工程，列为了国家文物保护的重大示范工程来开展。

在全世界范围内，石窟、石刻文物的最大危害是“水”，“卧佛”目前已经发现确定的47种类病害中大部分也是与水有关，“水害”是全世界石窟、石刻文物面对的最大保护难题。因此，国家文物局和相关部门要求在“卧佛”修复过程中，要重点突破两大“水害”难题—“潮湿环境下的石窟寺彩绘保护修复技术”和“潮湿环境下的砂岩石窟的加固技术”。黎方银表示，这是两个非常重要的关键性技术，是全球性难题，希望通过对大足石刻“卧佛”的修复，能为全球同类型文物的保护修复提供一些参考。

为便于开展修复工作，已在“卧佛”外搭起施工脚手架。

① “卧佛”造像上严重的石质风化。

② “卧佛”造像上大量的彩绘脱落。

大量修复工作需要雕刻艺术家完成

“宝相庄严、慈悲肃穆、法相金身”是人们对佛教造像的普遍印象，如何将已经病害缠身的“卧佛”进行现状修复的同时又能尽可能地保留历史的厚重，是文物保护修复专家们面对的又一大难点。

黎方银称：“卧佛”修复将大量涉及面像和人体形态的修复，对修复技术的要求更高。在“千手观音”手的修复中，经过专业培训的一般工作人员就可以进行造型的工作，而在“卧佛”的修复过程中，造型工作需要由专业的雕塑艺术家来完成，要求是大大高于“千手观音”。他预计这一部分工作在整个修复的工作量中将达到90%。

欢迎国际监督与国际合作

“大足石刻研究院欢迎各种形式的国际合作，并一直在按照联合国教科文组织等国际组织的相关规定在自觉接受国际监督。”黎方银告诉记者，世界文化遗产有一个规定，联合国教科文组织世界遗产委员会对列入世界文化遗产名录的遗产要进行长期监测，所谓监测就是通过公众和专业机构对保护管理情况进行监督，“那个规定是非常严格的。全球任何一个国家的公民在遗产保护地看到了认为不符合遗产保护管理要求的情况都可以直接投诉，向世界遗产委员会投诉或投诉到国际古迹遗迹理事会，接到投诉后他们会以多种形式到现场进行检查核实。”所以在“卧佛”保护修复工作过程中，大足石刻研究院将一如既往地重视和欢迎与国际机构的合作与沟通，也会邀请国际文物保护专家来参与或向他们进行专业咨询。

“小佛湾”将同时修复后正式开放

很少有人知道，目前开放给公众参观的宝顶山石刻区域并不是全部，在宝顶山石刻中最早被修建，被称为“大佛湾”蓝本的“小佛湾”一直没有对外开放。据了解，此次在宝顶山启动的修复工程的全称为“大足石刻宝顶山卧佛、小佛湾摩崖造像保护修缮工程”，系全国文物重大保护示范性工程。这一修复工程所涉及的文物涉及位于大足宝顶山石刻中心处的“卧佛”和“小佛湾”两处。黎方银介绍，位于“圣寿寺”旁的“小佛湾”是大足宝顶山石刻的重要组成部分，“小佛湾”是宝顶山石刻中是最早雕刻的，是整个宝顶山石刻“大佛湾”的蓝本，“小佛湾”在宝顶山石刻主持修建者赵智凤的构思中是核心中的核心，是作为僧徒修行的场所，非常重要。这一次的修复工程结束后，“小佛湾”将正式对公众开放。届时，观众才能真正欣赏到宝顶山石刻艺术的全部。

已成功修复的大足石刻“千手观音”造像。（图片由大足区旅游局提供）

黎方银最后表示：大足石刻是公认的在世界范围内石窟保存得最为完整的。大足石刻能够保存到现在，前人做了大量的工作，我们今天的人都应该有一种使命感和责任感，在前人的基础上把大足石刻更好地保护下去。

① 小佛湾内密集的浅龛造像等待修复后向公众开放。

② 暂未对外开放的小佛湾“隐身”于宝顶山这个安静的院落里。

③ 为文物修复进行的材料实验。

④ 正在修缮中的大足石刻小佛湾祖师法身经目塔。

All the time, the protection and restoration of cultural relics of Dazu Rock Carvings, the world cultural heritage, have drawn great attention from all walks of life.After the successful saving repair of “Thousand-Armed Guanyin”, the restoration work of “Reclining Buddha” is carried out intensely.Before the arrival of the 2017 International Museum Day, the journalist made an exclusive interview with Li Fangyin, head of the Research Institution of Dazu Rock Carvings, on some related issues.

The reasons that have caused the damage are of great number because the “Reclining Buddha” is exposed to the air year in and year out

The “Reclining Buddha” of Baoding Mountain, 31 meters in length, is the largest half-bodied reclining Buddha carved in stone with a tremendous value of history, art and religion, which is also the center of stone carvings on Baoding Mountain.However, in the past one thousand years, which could be dated back to the Southern Song Dynasty, the “Reclining Buddha”has been exposed to the open air and suffered various damages ever since.The weathering of its surface is relatively serious and the painted color of its surface is almost all off.And the body of it is no longer complete.“If without repair, it would be hopeless to reserve it any longer.” So it has to be fi xed.

According to Li, the preliminary investigation of the damages to the “Reclining Buddha” is already over.According to the already known situation, 47 kinds of damages to the “Reclining Buddha” involving 6 kinds of material are investigated.There are 13 more kinds of damages compared with the protective “Thousandarmed Guanyin” before repair.

In order to carry out repair work, the construction scaffolding has been set up outside the “Reclining Buddha”.

Face Two worldwide difficulties simultaneously

Li Fangyin told the journalist that, State Administration of Cultural Heritage has regarded the protection of thegrottoes of Sichuan and Chongqing as a major project and listed them into the protection project of national major cultural relics in the “13th Five-Year”, in which the protection and restoration work of “Reclining Buddha” of the Baoding Mountain in Dazu is also listed as the major demonstration project of national cultural heritage conservation.In the whole world, the biggest damage to the grottoes and stone carvings is “water”.Most of the 47 kinds of damages are also related to “water”.“Water” is the biggest problem for the protection of grottoes and stone carvings in the world.

Therefore, State Administration of Cultural Heritage and related departments require that during the restoration, two big problems of “water damage” have to be overcome specifically including “the protection and repair technology of painted grottoes in the moist environment” and “the reinforcement technology of sandstone grottoes in the moist environment”.Li said, those are two key technologies and two global difficulties.He hopes that through the repair of “Reclining Buddha”, some references could be provided for the protection and repair of the same type cultural relics in the world.

A good deal of repair work needs to be done by carving artists

“The figure of the Buddha is solemn and benevolent with a glided appearance.” This is people’s general impression of Buddhist statues.It is another difficulty for the experts of cultural relics protection and repair about how to do the restoration work of“Reclining Buddha” that is already damaged seriously while reserve the intense sense of history as much as possible at the same time.Li Fangyin said, the repair of “Reclining Buddha” would largely involve the restoration of facial image and human shape, which require an even higher restoration technique.The general staff that is professionally trained could do the shaping work in the restoration of hands of “Thousand-armed Guanyin”.However, the shaping work of “Reclining Buddha” has to be done by the professional carving artists in the restoration.The requirement is much higher than that of “Thousand-arm Guanyin”.He expected that this part of work would occupy 90% of the repair work.

Welcome the international supervision and cooperation

Li Fangyin said, the Research Institution of Dazu Rock Carvings welcomes international cooperation in various forms and consciously accepts the international supervision in accordance with the related regulations of international organizations including UNESCO and etc.He told the journalist that the repair work of world cultural heritage has to accept the international supervision for there is a rule of the world cultural heritage.The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO will carry out a long-term supervision to the heritage that is listed in the World Cultural Heritage List.The so-called supervision is to supervise your protection and management through the public and professional institutions, which is very strict.Any citizen of any country could address complaint to World Heritage Committee or International Council on Monuments and Sites when they see the situations that may do not meet the requirements of heritage protection management.After receiving the complaint, they will make an on-site check and investigation in various forms.Therefore, in the restoration work of“Reclining Buddha”, Research Institution of Dazu Rock Carvings will continue to attach importance to and welcome cooperation and communication with international institutions and invite international experts of protection of cultural relics to join us or ask them for some professional suggestions.

“Xiaofowan” will also be off cially opened after repair

Few people know about the current areas of “stone carvings” that are opened to the public don’t include the whole stone carvings of “Baoding Mountain”.“Xiaofowan”, called as the blueprint of “Dafowan”, is not opened to the public even though it was first built among the stone carvings of Baoding Mountain.It is understood that the full name of this restoration work started in Baoding Mountain is “The Protection and Restoration Project of the Reclining Buddha and the Cliff Carvings of Xiaofowan of Baoding Mountain, Dazu Rock Carvings”, which is the major protection and demonstration project of national cultural relics.There are two cultural relics including “Reclining Buddha” and“Xiaofowan” involved in this project.Li Fangyin introduced that“Xiaofowan”, next to the “Shengshou Temple”, is an important part of the stone carvings of Baoding Mountain.As the first carved stone carving of Baoding Mountain, “Xiaofowan” is the blueprint of the whole stone carvings of “Dafowan”.In the conception of Zhao Zhifeng who presided over the construction of stone carvings of Baoding Mountain, “Xiaofowan” is the center of them, which is very important as it is the place for monks to perform Buddhist practices.After the restoration project, “Xiaofowan” will be officially opened to the public.By then, the public could really enjoy the whole stone carvings of “Baoding Mountain” which also means that Baoding Mountain will be completely opened to the public after the restoration work.

Li Fangyin said finally, Dazu Rock Carvings are recognized as the most complete preservation of grottoes in the world.Dazu rock carvings can be preserved to the present only for the lot of work done by the predecessors.All of us today should have a sense of mission and responsibility to continue to preserve the stone carvings on the basis of the previous.

Two Worldwide Difficulties; What Challenges will Be Dealt with in the Repair of the “Reclining Buddha”? an exclusive interview with Li Fangyin, head of the Research Institution of Dazu Rock Carvings

□ Article/ Journalist Zeng Rui