A health check-up was finished recently on the beautiful stone lion sculptures on the 800-year-old Lugou Bridge in southwest Beijing. Conservators will submit a "health report" by the end of this year to serve as a guideline for future protection work on the exquisite lions, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
Lugou Bridge, recorded in the travelogue of Marco Polo, is famous for its 485 lifelike and vivid carved stone lions.
When Marco Polo went all the way to China during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), he described the bridge in vivid words as "Over the river, there is an extremely beautiful stone bridge. Come to think of it, it is indeed the most wonderful and unique bridge in the world ...".
However, the artistic stone lions on the bridge balustrades are suffering damages because of weathering.
The examination work on the health condition of the lions took conservation experts two years to finish and could serve as preparation of future protection work, said an official with the cultural relics department of Beijing's Fengtai District.
Conservators have found that the stone texture of the lions are different, making some of the lions more vulnerable to weathering than others.
"The Bridge was refurbished and repaired many times in history, and different stone materials were used so there is a difference in the texture of the stone lions", the official explained.
Experts are currently making final revisions on their "health report." A trial protection project will be initiated to protect the stone lions, in which conservators will try to solve the weathering problem by spraying a protective chemical over the stone lions. If this method proves a success, an action plan to save these vivid stone lions will be set up, according to the official.
The Lugou Bridge, 266.5 meters in length and 7.5 meters in width with 11 arches, was first built in 1189 over the Yongding River south of Beijing.
The lion cubs on the bridge vary from a few millimeters to a dozen millimeters in size. Often half hidden, they would prove difficult to count.
(CRI December 27, 2007)
