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Restoration of a large-format 11th-century mural from Tuyuk-Mazar, Eastern Turkistan Restorers: Raisa Kazimirova, Olga Viktorova, Yelena Stepanova, Vera Fominykh In 2006 the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Monumental Painting completed the large and complex task of restoring a ceiling painting from the cave temple of Tuyuk-Mazar. The mural was brought by the First Turkistan Expedition (1909-10) that was led by Academician Sergei Oldenburg. The work consisted of sixteen badly damaged pieces set in plaster of Paris blocks with a large number of through cracks and chips as well as separation of the plaster layers. Certain fragments on one plaster of Paris slab were incorrectly assembled and at displaced levels. The paint layer had also suffered badly: there were numerous losses down to the base, abrasions to the priming and fine craquelure. After the restoration work the painting became an integral whole; the design can be clearly made out and cleaning of the paint layer revealed details that could not previously be seen. The unwieldy, hydroscopic plaster of Paris base was replaced with a light-weight one with the sixteen separate fragments mounted on three foam plastic platforms. The collection of artefacts from the oases along the Great Silk Road are of outstanding importance for the study of the culture, religion and art of the many peoples who inhabited the region of Central Asia. Thanks to the restoration work carried out, one more remarkable work - a large-format mural from the 11th-century temple of Tuyuk-Mazar - can be included in the State Hermitage's exhibition programme. |
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