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d
e
n
d
r
u
p
'
s
c
h
a
p
e
l

  • CHINA

view of dendrup's chapel

The
chapel
is
located
in
the
third
floor
of
Mr
Dendrup’s
house
in
the
village
of
Wayao,
in
the
Sichuan's
region.
The
restoration
project
was
part
of
the
training
program
sponsored
by
the
Kham
Aid
Foundation,
supported
by
Winrock
International,
Millepede
Foundation
and
private
donors
and
carried
out
in
collaboration
with
John
Sanday
Associates.
A
local
team
composed
by
11
trainees
carried
out
the
preservation
of
the
wall
paintings.
The
local
team
received
guidance
from
Luigi
Fieni
and
5
members
of
the
Wall
Painting
Conservation
Team
of
Mustang,
Nepal.

View of Dendrup's House
view of dendrup's house

state
of
preservation

The
paintings
were
present
in
all
the
walls
but
one,
where
a
wooden
altar
was
standing.
The
entrance
was
given
by
a
wooden
separation
wall,
painted
as
well.
The
wooden
ceiling
was
painted
too
and
it
was
assembled
with
interlocking
panels.
The
structural
wall
of
this
chapel
was
made
of
stones
piled
up
apparently
without
binder.
On
top
of
the
construction
stones,
a
coating
of
clay
mixed
up
with
straw
was
applied
to
create
the
flat
surface,
hosting
the
pictorial
layer.
The
thickness
of
this
coating
varied
according
to
the
voids
left
by
the
construction
stones.
One
side
of
the
pictorial
cycle
was
painted
on
a
wooden
wall
made
of
planks
joined
together
with
glue.
The
binder
of
the
paint
layer
is
water
based
in
all
the
three
painted
walls.
A
water-soluble
varnish
was
applied
to
protect
the
wall
paintings.
The
paintings
were
extremely
damaged
and
it
could
be
guessed
that
the
majority
is
lost
forever.
Somehow
people
tried
a
very
rough
cleaning
in
the
past,
thus
producing
a
great
loss
of
paint
layer.
Moreover
the
paintings
still
left
are
covered
with
a
thin
coating
of
clay.
The
preparatory
layers
were
not
sound
and
many
gaps
and
detachments
are
present
all
along
the
surface
painted
on
the
walls.
The
wood
was
darkened
by
soot
deposits
of
smoke.

intervention
of
restoration

The
consolidation
was
carried
out
after
the
coating
of
mud
had
been
removed.
Toothbrushes
were
used
together
with
the
aid
of
specific
fiberglass
pencils
for
restoration
to
accomplish
the
task.
The
same
procedure
was
employed
to
clean
off
the
clay
from
the
ceiling.
The
detached
preparatory
layers
were
fixed
back
to
the
stone
based
wall
through
injections
of
mortars
and
gluing
solutions
based
on
PVA
binders.
The
small
detachments
were
filled
up
with
an
acrylic
binder
emulsion
in
water.
As
for
the
deepest
detachments,
they
were
filled
up
with
a
mortar
composed
of
local
clays
and
PVA
binder.

Tests
were
carried
out
to
find
out
the
most
suitable
clays
to
be
injected.
2
kinds
of
clay
were
subsequently
added
with
a
PVA
binder
emulsion.
Prior
any
injection,
a
surfactant
solution
was
instilled
through
syringes.
Where
it
was
possible,
existing
cracks
were
used
for
the
injections
but
in
most
cases,
the
paint
layer
had
to
be
pierces
using
hand-drills
with
bits
whose
width
varied
from
1
to
2
mm
of
diameter.
Care
was
taken
while
drilling
in
order
not
to
damage
important
outlines,
figures
or
inscriptions.

Since
the
amount
of
water
in
any
mortar
or
solution
will
evaporate,
some
voids
would
still
not
sound
still
underneath
the
surface
of
the
wall
paintings.
Thence,
the
consolidation
was
checked
every
few
weeks
for
the
whole
length
of
the
project
and
more
injections
were
carried
out
where
and
when
needed.
It
is
to
be
underlined
that
a
PVA
binder
may
cause
the
mortar
to
be
impermeable
from
a
20%
based
solution
onwards.
The
use
of
a
solution
in
a
range
of
10%
still
leaves
the
wall
“breathing”
without
causing
any
damages
to
the
stratification
of
the
wall
paintings.

the
end

Unfortunately
the
project
was
stopped
in
2008
following
a
ban
imposed
by
the
Chinese
Government
in
all
Tibetan
areas
soon
after
the
infamous
riots
broken
out
in
Lhasa
and
Chengdu
in
occasion
of
the
Olympic
Games.
All
of
a
sudden
foreigners
were
not
allowed
anymore
to
work
in
sensitive
areas,
thus
influencing
the
destiny
of
this
project.
Later
on
the
foundation
supporting
the
project
closed
down
and
the
project
could
never
be
finished.