An investigative device capable of examining the interior of large Buddhist statues up to 3 meters tall has been introduced in Korea for the first time. Experts say this establishes a foundation for Korea to rise to the forefront of the world in the field of cultural heritage conservation science.
The National Museum of Korea, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, unveiled the world's largest cylindrical computed tomography (CT) device on the 14th at the Conservation Science Center inside the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul. Custom-manufacturing the device in Germany cost 2.3 billion won, and including auxiliary equipment, the total investment reached 3.5 billion won.
This cylindrical CT captures images with the X-ray device rotating 220 degrees while the artifact remains in place. The image quality reaches 13 megapixels. In particular, it can handle large artifacts up to 1.1 meters in diameter and up to 3 meters in length.
The CT device previously used by the National Museum of Korea worked by fixing the object under examination and rotating it while capturing images. Its image quality was only 4 megapixels. The museum explained that it has "established a foundation for analyzing internal and external structures, production techniques, and states of damage without marring the cultural heritage."
With the introduction of the new device, future investigations and research are expected to become more active. Starting with a vertical CT in 2017, the museum introduced a CT using nanotechnology in 2019, and has now added the cylindrical CT, bringing its total to three CT devices. The introduction of this cylindrical CT is also significant as the largest project since the opening of the "Conservation Science Center," a separate building within the National Museum of Korea, last October. Beginning with the establishment of a conservation technology office within the artifacts department in 1976, the National Museum of Korea now has its own advanced conservation science center after 50 years.
On this day, the National Museum of Korea unveiled the results of scanning the treasure "Seated Wooden Vairocana Buddha of Jijangam," its first work using the cylindrical CT. When the museum purchased this artifact in 2017, the enshrined objects in the body had been separated from the statue, but the fact that separate enshrined objects remained inside the head was confirmed for the first time in this CT investigation.
Yoo Hong-jun, director of the National Museum of Korea, said, "In line with the expanded introduction of advanced facilities, the task is to cultivate specialized personnel and collect more reliable data."
