Shiny, how is the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar maintained?

There is a saying in the tourist circle: If you can only see one scenic spot when traveling to Myanmar, it must be the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.

The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is probably the most valuable stupa in the world. Together with Borobudur in Indonesia and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, it is known as the treasure of oriental art and the national symbol of Myanmar, which is world-renowned.

The most sacred stupa in Myanmar

The more precious things are, the more difficult it is to preserve, and so is the Shwedagon Pagoda. Age? As it grows, it is inevitable to patch it every few years.

The mysterious origin of Shwedagon Pagoda

The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is a sacred stupa, located on a sacred mountain in the center of Yangon, with a mountain height of 5 1 m, the main pagoda of Shwedagon Pagoda1/2 m, and a total elevation of 170 m, reaching the sky.

According to one of the most popular legends in Myanmar, the Shwedagon Pagoda appeared more than 2,500 years ago, almost at the same time as the Buddha.

At that time, a pair of merchant brothers from Okalapa (now Yangon) met the Buddha in India. The Buddha gave them eight hairs to give to a mountain in Okalapa. This mountain is also buried with Buddhist relics reincarnated by the first three generations of the Buddha, a staff for detaining the Sun Buddha, a water filter for holding the Buddha, and the cassock of Kaye Buddha.

The Buddha said that he would sacrifice his hair, so he had a big tower.

The two brothers returned to Okalapa with eight hairs given by the Buddha and presented them to their king. Hearing this, the king began to look for the place mentioned by the Buddha, but after a long search, there was no result.

Finally, with the help of psionic masters, they found a sacred place, Mount Singutala. This place was therefore chosen as the construction site of the Shwedagon Pagoda.

San Dinggudala Mountain is located on the last ridge of the Pegu Mountains.

It is said that the Shwedagon Pagoda was built before the death of the Buddha. When the eight hairs were taken out to worship, the golden light of the earth shook and jewels fell from the sky to the knees. Trees in the Himalayas will blossom and bear fruit even if they are not in the flowering season.

Legends are legends after all. According to the research of archaeologists, the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon was built by the Meng nationality in Myanmar from the 6th century to the10th century. At first, it was only 8 meters high, and the outer layer was not plated with gold, so it was not called Shwedagon Pagoda.

After several generations of repairs, it has increased.

Only the Shwedagon Pagoda is what it is today.

Moreover, after the completion of the stupa, no one cares, and it has been in disrepair for a long time. /kloc-It was rebuilt in the middle of 1300 in the 4th century by Poyetunu, king of Bogu dynasty, with a height of18m. /kloc-When it was rebuilt again in the 5th century, it reached the level of 98m.

The gold plating on the outer layer of the Shwedagon Pagoda was also added later. In the 65438+5th century, in order to show her devotion to the Buddha, the reigning Queen Shinsawbu covered the stupa with 88 pounds (about 39.9 kilograms) of gold equal to her own weight. Later, her son-in-law Damoxiti? Devotion? What's more, he took out four times the total weight of himself and his wife and covered it with gold foil. The finished product of the Shwedagon Pagoda was glittering and expensive.

Shinsawbu abdicated after only seven years in power.

Then he devoted himself to the religious affairs of Dajin Temple.

However, this miracle cannot be built once and for all. The Shwedagon Pagoda experienced many earthquakes in the following hundreds of years, and the top of the tower was destroyed in the 1768 earthquake. After the occupation and plunder by British colonists, Myanmar became the base of protesters many times during its declaration of independence.

1945, British soldiers took off their shoes as required when visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda.

The British attacked Yangon.

In a word, the doomed Shwedagon Pagoda was expanded and repaired many times by later generations, and it was not until the end of the 20th century that it showed what we see today.

Good things are often fragile.

The main stupa of the Shwedagon Pagoda is the most impressive: it is 99 meters high, its body is gilded, and it is not fake gold, but gold foil made of real gold. As for the source of the money, most of them are donations from monks and the public.

Myanmar is a country where almost everyone believes in Buddhism.

The top of the Shwedagon Pagoda is covered with Burmese? hti？ Metal umbrella. This is an umbrella-shaped ornament, weighing 1260 kg. The top of the treasure umbrella is like an umbrella, with lotus petals in the middle and seven concentric rings in the lower part. The metal umbrella is inlaid with dazzling 5448 diamonds and 23 17 rubies, and the top is inlaid with a 72-carat diamond. The whole umbrella is estimated to be worth $3 billion, making it the most expensive tower in history. There are 1065 gold bells and 420 silver bells hanging around the tower.

Very expensive ...

If visitors stand around the right place to watch, they can see that all kinds of diamonds and precious stones at the top of the tower reflect red, purple, orange and other colors in the sun, which are bright and dazzling.

In this main tower, there is a jade statue of sitting Buddha and Luo Cha, exquisite, dignified and beautiful. Around the main pagoda, there are 64 small wooden and stone pagodas with different styles and 4 Chinese pagodas. There are also huge Burmese beasts standing at the four entrances, such as white lions and golden lions. On the wall decoration at the entrance, beautiful decorative paintings and the story of the Buddha's past life are printed. Around the entrance, there are many vendors selling ancient books, mascots, Buddha statues, candles, gold foils, incense sticks and prayer flags.

Jinta Buddha statue

On a larger scale, there are hundreds of temples, auditoriums, Buddha statues and statues here, and the whole block is full of religious flavor.

Every year, Shwedagon Pagoda receives millions of kind men, women and ordinary tourists from Myanmar and overseas. No matter the status of visitors, they are all equal before arriving at the pagoda, so they need to walk barefoot. Many Burmese men and women will also wear traditional Burmese costumes, wrap themselves in long skirts and cages, walk slowly among them and appreciate the wonderful shape and design of the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Different from the way China temples burn incense.

The ritual Buddha in Myanmar is to water flowers in front of the Buddha statue.

But if it is not maintained regularly, the beauty of the Shwedagon Pagoda will fade: the gold foil will peel off and the surface will be damaged, so the Shwedagon Pagoda needs to be renovated every once in a while.

The surface damage of the Shwedagon Pagoda comes from two aspects:

Because the Shwedagon Pagoda is located near the ocean near the Asian monsoon region, the humidity in the air is very high, and water will corrode copper (the tower foundation is copper), and a layer of patina will gradually form on the copper surface, which will affect the bonding degree of gold and glue.

Even indoor Buddha statues need constant maintenance.

The surface of the Shwedagon Pagoda is exposed, and the corrosion rate is fast.

The greater influence comes from the change of temperature. The expansion coefficients of gold, copper, glue and other substances are different, and the expansion ratios of different materials are different when heated in sunlight, which leads to unsynchronized expansion and uneven connection area, which destroys the smooth and docile texture of the surface of the Shwedagon Pagoda.

The temperature in Yangon is not low, and with the drastic climate change in recent years, it is expected that extreme weather and temperature fluctuations will increase in the coming decades, and the expansion and contraction of the gold roof surface of the Shwedagon Pagoda may increase. Is it beautiful? Skin? It will also face a more severe test.

It smells like burning money.

Since 1972, the Shwedagon Pagoda has been carrying out sporadic maintenance work. The basic operation is to repair the cracks caused by water inflow with cement slurry, or to reinforce the wall to prevent natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides. Sometimes, in order to ensure the safety of water use in scenic spots, the Shwedagon Pagoda is also equipped with infrastructure such as groundwater resources monitoring system.

More importantly, in order to maintain the beauty of the outer layer of the Shwedagon Pagoda, maintenance personnel will renovate its appearance every four or five years.

Every maintenance is a big project.

The last major renovation event occurred from the end of 20 18 to the middle of 20 19. Before the renovation, the Union Ministry of Religion and Culture held a renovation planning meeting, and then carried out a series of work with relevant Buddhist organizations, such as gold foil disassembly, testing, fundraising and reassembly. Hundreds of people have been busy for more than eight months. After completion, a brand-new Shwedagon Pagoda is presented to the world.

Jinta is a protected cultural relic, so you need to be more careful in the maintenance process.

2065438+At the completion blessing ceremony in June 2009, 108, a monk presided over the ceremony, and in accordance with Buddhist etiquette and traditional customs, he prayed for the Buddha with his followers, hoping that the future of the Shwedagon Pagoda would be smooth.

In this way, the whole repair process can be regarded as a beginning or an end.

At present, the gold foil used in the repair of the Shwedagon Pagoda is domestic gold foil with a shelf life of over 1 0,000 years, with a total of 22 1 0,67 thick gold foil and 1 8,375 thin gold foil, with a value of over 34 billion kyats (about10.70 billion RMB).

Although the Shwedagon Pagoda has driven part of Myanmar's tourism economy

But it will cost a lot of money to repair this pagoda.

Perhaps it is unrealistic to realize that such expensive renovation projects are always donated by the outside world. Recently, a small gold factory is being built near the Shwedagon Pagoda to help produce and provide the gold needed for restoration, but when the factory will be completed is still unknown.

A more radical approach than formal restoration may be to find out what can make the skin of the Shwedagon Pagoda more? Resist sports? The method. To this end, even the international community is helping.

From the end of last year 1 1, materials scientists in Brussels, Belgium began to study how to make the dome more resistant to the temperature and humidity in Myanmar, in order to find a better way to prolong the life of gold foil. Of course, the application significance of this research is not limited to the Shwedagon Pagoda, after all, there are many gold-plated parts in many modern buildings.

Professor Herman is a famous expert on material corrosion.

If the research can get effective results.

This will be a breakthrough in the corrosion protection of gold materials.

In the laboratory, the researchers used the same material as the top of the Shwedagon Pagoda to make the gold plate, and exposed it to the same humidity, temperature, salinity and ultraviolet light level as the Shwedagon Pagoda, hoping to compare the aging process of the gold plate with the real sample and understand the mechanism behind this degradation.