Digital and Analog Replications in the Restoration Museology of Theravada Temple Art

Abstract

Two Theravada Buddhist temples in Laos and Thailand containing exemplary and significant artworks, which were in one case intentionally destroyed and in the other degraded by seismic events, were archived by us and others periodically in still and video formats. The lost interior murals were successfully replicated inside the new replacement structure at their original size, coloration, and general layout. In the second case, those most-damaged reverse glass paintings (RGPs) —a medium not lending itself to attempted repairing of the originals— were reproduced and reinstalled using traditional techniques with varying levels of success; and also completely digitally restored by first using image editing software and then were inkjet-printed on the backs of new glass panes. One entire wall of the in-situ RGP array was re-created at its actual size for a museum exhibition in the United States.