Visitors look at a replica of a cave in the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes reproduced with 3D digital printing technology at the Zhejiang University Museum of Art and Archaeology in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on November 2, 2021. Photo: VCG

Into the Dunhuang Tales, an art exhibition powered by digital technology that focuses on introducing the mysterious history of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province to the public through multiple digital exhibits, debuted in Shanghai on Saturday. 

The highlight of the exhibition - the very first multimedia grottoes show authorized by the Dunhuang Academy - is a miniature replica of Cave No.220, an early Tang Dynasty (618-907) cave that contains many masterpieces full of color and artistry.

Using various digital means, the show aims to provide audiences with an immersive visiting experience through high-definition digital images of the actual location inside the cave displayed on a 63-meter-long 360 degree digital screen that surrounds visitors, who hold lamps as they explore the digitized cave as if they were there for real. 

"Such an experiential digital design aims to promote the legacy of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes among the public. This holds an equal importance to the research and preservation efforts of the experts behind the scenes because passing on this particular culture allows more people to inherit it. They may also create new cultural derivatives based on the history they learn," Zhang Yuchong, a creative cultural researcher, told the Global Times on Monday.  

The importance of digitalizing the more than 1,000-year-old Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, China's largest collection of Buddhist art, was recognized in the 1980s, when expert Fan Jinshi put forward the idea as a way to preserve the slowly deteriorating caves for future generations. 

To date, more than 200 caves have been digitized.

"As of 2022, we have collected 255 high-precision images for digital restoration of Cave No.220. It took us more than two months alone to take the photos, and data processing took another two to three months with more than 1,000 photos assembled into a single picture," Yu Tianxiu, director of the Cultural Relics Digitalization Research Institute of the Dunhuang Academy, told media at the exhibition.  

Before the Shanghai exhibition, there were another Dunhuang culture-focused art exhibition called Meet Dunhuang was launched in Beijing in mid July, 2021. The exhibition was also technological, engaging 3D light-sculpting digital technology to show the artistic charm of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in lights and shadows. 

Public lectures and social and educational activities related to Dunhuang culture preservation will also be held during the exhibition, which is scheduled to end on March 22.