Protection of New Baiheliang Underwater Museum

The construction of the Three Gorges Project has realized the Millennium dream of China people. However, after the completion of the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project, the inscription of Baiheliang, which has accompanied Fuling people for more than 1,000 years, will also sleep in the depth of 40 meters underwater forever. How to protect this "national treasure" has become an important test of cultural relics protection in the Three Gorges Project.

In order to protect this wonder of the world, as early as 1994, more than/kloc-0 academicians and industry authorities from water conservancy engineering, architecture, shipping, cultural relics protection and other fields have taken action, and spent nearly 10 years doing a lot of research and demonstration work, trying to find a most scientific method to protect Baiheliang.

According to the spirit of China's Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics and the Venice Charter, which is generally followed in the world, the inscription of Baiheliang should not be displaced or divorced from the water environment on which it depends. Building an "underwater museum" in situ has become the best scheme for protection and utilization.

The two schemes that conform to the above principles are "Underwater Museum" proposed by Tianjin University and "Pressureless Container" proposed by Professor Ge Xiurun, an academician of China Academy of Engineering. The similarity between the two schemes is in-situ protection. Although the former is the most ideal way to protect the inscription of Baiheliang, it is estimated that the project investment will reach 300 million yuan, almost equivalent to all the funds for the protection of cultural relics in the Three Gorges. After repeated research and demonstration, Academician Ge Xiurun's "pressure-free container" scheme was finally adopted. The project consists of four parts: underwater museum, connecting traffic corridor, underwater anti-collision pier and onshore exhibition hall. This method is actually engraving on the White Crane Beam, which is about 220m long and15m wide. It is very difficult to protect all this under the "coat". Judging from the importance of the inscription, experts decided to design the length, width and height of the protector as 70 meters, 25 meters and 143 meters, covering an area with a depth of about 55 meters and a width of about 18 meters in the middle section of Baiheliang. This passage contains more than 90% of the essence inscriptions. Scattered inscriptions in other areas will be moved to the exhibition hall on the shore, and a small number of inscriptions will be buried by natural siltation.

Bai Heliang's "Underwater New Home"

The protection project of Baiheliang is unprecedented. The environment is special, the conditions are complex, and there is no similar engineering experience for reference, so the engineering technology is extremely difficult. From the official start of construction in 2003 to the water level of 156 meters in September 2006, the underwater construction period originally scheduled for two years was shortened to one year, during which it experienced a long shutdown period of more than two years. On May 8, 2009, the Baiheliang Underwater Museum opened.

The current Baiheliang Underwater Museum gives people a kind of "deep water fantasy tour".

The underwater museum is 40 meters underwater, and the environment is extremely special. To enter the underwater museum, you must go through the security procedures similar to flying. Then step on the 88-meter-long elevator and enter the water depth of 40 meters. Then it passes through a straight traffic corridor with a length of 150m, passes through a steel hatch with a width of about 1m and a thickness of about half a meter, and enters a circular sightseeing corridor with a length of more than 60m.

There are 23 and a half meters long underwater windows on one side of the corridor. Looking from the window, there are stone fish, book carvings, etc. It's all laid out before us. The latest inscription is only one meter away, and the farthest one is only about eight meters. More than 6 rows of * * * 10000 energy-saving lamps are installed around the underwater inscription, which can ensure that tourists can see the inscription clearly.

There are also 28 rotatable cameras installed in the water outside the window. Visitors can adjust and appreciate the details of the inscription through the touch screen, and also transfer the video materials related to the landscape through the computer database. If tourists are diving enthusiasts, they can also get into the water and get in touch with the inscription. Visitors who are still wanting more can also go to the shore museum to visit the inscription from Baiheliang.

The reporter learned that thanks to the excellent safety measures of the underwater museum, the visit of the underwater museum will not be affected by passing ships at all, and its own safety can be guaranteed. No navigation, no parking measures to fully protect the waters around the underwater protector 1 1,000 square meters.

In 2006, Chongqing began to prepare to declare the inscription of Baiheliang as "World Cultural Heritage". At present, Bai Heliang's application for World Heritage has been included in the national declaration preparation list.