During his state go to to Greece in 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping and then President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos visited the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Xi mentioned that China and Greece, each boasting plentiful cultural heritages, can strengthen cooperation within the preservation and restoration of essential historic and cultural heritages.
At that point, a museum employees member demonstrated superior laser restoration know-how for cultural relics to the visitors. The employees member was Costas Vasiliadis. Six years later, he, now head of the Conservation Department and Casts on the Acropolis Museum, nonetheless remembers the scene vividly.
“I demonstrated laser cleaning on a philosopher’s bust and introduced the contemporary approach of the Acropolis Museum and of the Institute of Electronic Structure & Laser (IESL) to conservation,” Vasiliadis instructed Science and Technology Daily.
“What remains particularly memorable for me is the genuine and engaged interest shown by both presidents in the practical aspects of conservation,” Vasiliadis added. “The visit was also decisive in strengthening our cooperation with the Palace Museum.”
Ten months later, the China-Greece Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Cultural Heritage Conservation Technology was launched for institution. Its Chinese main unit is the Palace Museum, and the Greek main unit is IESL underneath the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH).
“The mutual attraction between two ancient civilizations, the shared need for cultural heritage conservation, and a wonderful serendipity naturally brought the Chinese and Greek sides together.” When discussing the method of their acquaintance and cooperation, Zhao Guoying, former deputy director of the Palace Museum and director of the joint lab, recounted the small print with nice readability.
She vividly remembers the scene of her crew’s first go to to the IESL in 2023. “That day, under a blue sky with white clouds, the Greek side specially hoisted the Chinese national flag in front of the pristine FORTH building to welcome the arrival of the Chinese delegation,” recalled Zhao.
During the following symposium, all Greek companions attended, and all events engaged in in-depth discussions on the event of the joint lab and cooperation in conservation applied sciences.
Now, the joint lab has established services totaling 650 sq. meters on the Chinese facet and 100 sq. meters on the Greek facet.
It has fashioned an entire innovation chain spanning scientific analysis, gear, requirements and functions, attaining important progress in a number of areas, equivalent to laser cleansing, laser holographic speckle interferometry, non-destructive testing, and digital applied sciences.
Laser cleansing is one of the important thing areas of collaborative R&D. The conservation of Lingzhao Xuan gives a wonderful alternative for in-depth cooperation. Primarily constructed of masonry and metallic, Lingzhao Xuan, one of the few Western-style buildings within the Forbidden City, stands out distinctively amid the crimson partitions and yellow tiles.
“Lingzhao Xuan is not only a witness to historical exchanges between Eastern and Western building materials and cultures, but also a calling card for today’s international cooperation in stone cultural relic conservation technologies,” mentioned Duan Hongying, part chief of the Material Science Group, Department of Architectural Heritage on the Palace Museum. Currently, the joint lab is making advances within the R&D of a brand new laser cleansing gear tailor-made for on-site operation on the Palace Museum.
Through the collaboration, the Chinese and Greek sides have established a stable basis of mutual belief, achieved exceptional outcomes, and fostered deep friendship.
In the view of Paraskevi Pouli, senior utility scientist on the IESL and Greek head of the joint lab, the joint lab just isn’t solely an interdisciplinary worldwide collaboration platform, but in addition a bridge for the change and mutual studying amongst various civilizations.
To date, the joint lab has established two workstations in China and expanded its collaborative analysis establishments to 12 models throughout China and Greece.
“In the future, the joint lab will continue to deepen international cooperation. It has already collaborated with the UAE on archaeological excavations and plans to establish a workstation in Malta to jointly conduct research and conservation of local sites, ancient architecture, and murals,” mentioned Qu Liang, director of the Palace Museum’s Conservation Standard Department and govt deputy director of the joint lab.
“The joint lab aims not only to benefit the Chinese and Greek partners but also to become an exchange and cooperation platform across China, Europe and beyond, making more contributions to international cooperation in cultural heritage conservation technology and the mutual learning among global civilizations,” Qu added.