Jokhang Monastery murals go digital

Thangka scrolls are also a major feature at Lhasa's Jokhang Monastery. Built more than a thousand years ago, the temple is the holiest site in Tibetan Buddhism, drawing hoards of worshippers and tourists every day.

Being the earliest wooden architecture in Tibet, it was among the first National Relic Sites announced in 1961. Now, a new project is moving the temple's intricate murals into the digital world.

It's said if that you don't go to Jokhang Monastery, you haven't really been to Lhasa. And the temple's weathered murals are an important reminder of its 1,350 years of history. Now, the local government is protecting the murals by photographing them in sections, repairing them, and piecing them back together in a computer.

Chen Jiajia, myral repair engineer, said, "All the pictures have a magnification ratio of 1:1, so the width of each picture is only 30 to 40 centimeters."

Bu Qiong, director of Admin. office of Jokhang temple, said, "We use eight cameras to shoot one part of the mural, so there are tens of thousands of photos being shot."

Zhen Jiajia, an animation major, has been working with the monks at the temple to repair and assemble the mural photos for several months. She says the light used while shooting the pictures is designed to reproduce the original color of the paintings.

Chen said, "We have to replicate, and we are not allowed to make any changes to the colors and the pictures."

The themes of the murals include Sakyamuni, the creators of Tibetan Buddhism, the ancient rulers of the region, and how Lhasa was built. These elaborate paintings have long drawn visitors from home and abroad. And while the murals have undergone repairs before, this is the first time for them to go digital.

Bu said, "It's estimated that two more months are needed to finish piecing together the murals. Then people can look at them on computers in a museum."

In this way, the murals of Jokhang temple can be kept intact, and the database for the murals will also be a cherished source for researchers and artists. More importantly, they will enable more people to appreciate Buddhist art, without doing harm to the real thing.