The 30th Public Exhibition of the Conservation Facility for Mural Paintings of Takamatsuzuka Tumulus, a National Treasure
The 29th Public Exhibition of the Conservation Facility for Mural Paintings of Takamatsuzuka Tumulus, a National Treasure, was canceled because the number of the cases with novel coronavirus was so increasing. With sufficient infection prevention supervised by public health specialists, the 30th Public Exhibition was held from July 18th to July 24th, 2020. Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural properties sent four researchers as expositors for the visitors.
In this public exhibition, the azure dragon painted on the east wall, the black tortoise on the northern wall, female figures on the east and west walls, which were restored last year, were placed near the visitor corridor.
Before viewing these wall paintings, we asked visitors to measure their body temperature, report their health condition in the last two weeks, and disinfect their hands frequently. The number of daily visitors were restricted to 100 in the viewpoint of avoiding crowded in the corridor for visitors. While face to face instructions have been done previously, we installed audio guides and answered the questions from visitors outside to protect them against droplet infection. We also ventilated the corridor with a blower, and cleaned the surface inside with alcohol.. As specialists of conservation science, we offered technical supports to insure visitors’ safety, such as monitoring the concentration of carbon dioxide as the index of ventilation and measuring the number of droplet particles with a particle counter to check the air quality.
The application for public exhibition in this coming winter is available form the link below:
http://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/takamatsu_kitora/sagyoshitsu_kokai/index.html