Paris, 11 May 2023 (TDI): On Wednesday, the Shaanxi Province-based Mausoleum Site Museum of Emperor Qinshihuang declared that it would work with its French counterpart to preserve the Terracotta Warriors and restore the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The deal is one of eighteen that Chinese and French businesses struck from Sunday to Tuesday while Chinese President Xi Jinping was on an official visit to France.
The museum in Shaanxi Province, northwest China, states that the cooperative research with France’s Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine is mainly concerned with preserving wooden remains and earthen archaeological sites.
In particular, collaborative efforts to conserve and restore the fire-damaged wood from the Emperor Qinshihuang Mausoleum and Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris will be part of the research on safeguarding wooden remnants.
Moreover, the research will identify wood species, evaluate preservation status, analyze degradation mechanisms, and explore protection systems and methodologies.
In addition, the two countries will investigate the material characteristics and historical significance of the two UNESCO World Heritage sites’ archaeological earth sites and wooden remnants in the future.
The Mausoleum of Emperor Qinshihuang and the Notre Dame Cathedral, both internationally acclaimed UNESCO sites, utilized significant amounts of hardwood materials, some of which have been affected by fire damage. Significantly, the wooden structure of the cathedral was severely damaged in a fire in 2019.
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The spire of the ancient cathedral in the center of Paris was utterly destroyed by a massive fire that started on April 15, 2019. According to a pledge made by French President Emmanuel Macron just hours after the fire, one of the best specimens of French Gothic architecture, the cathedral would be rebuilt and reopened by 2024.
Lastly, this Sino-French collaboration also addresses the collaborative development of young talent in cultural heritage protection and the development of workable conservation technologies and method systems for cultural relics.
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