Biological distribution and environmental monitoring for the conservation of Janggyeong panjeon Depositories and Daejanggyeongpan (Printing Woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana) of Haeinsa Temple in Korea

This paper is a modified and expanded version of a paper presented in the 2018 conference of the International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation Society (IBBS), “New Trends in Cultural Heritage Biodeterioration.”
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2020.105131Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Biological distribution around Panjeon is listed.

  • Environmental monitoring suggest the period which biodeterioration could occur.

  • Architectural structure and manufacturing technique have conserved woodblocks.

Abstract

Biological damage due to material characteristics and climatic change poses serious threats to wooden cultural heritage objects in Korea. This study is a preliminary survey for the preparation of a conservation/management plan for Janggyeongpanjeon (depositories of the Tripitaka Koreana Woodblocks), which is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, and Daejanggyeongpan (Printing woodblcoks of the Tripitaka Koreana), which is part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme. Over a period of two years, we monitored the distribution of insect and microbial species and the environmental condition in and around the Janggyeongpanjeon, including wood moisture content, and conducted relevant comparison and analysis. As a result, we compiled a list of species of wood-damaging organisms for the long-term conservation and management of the Janggyeongpanjeon (depository halls) and Daejanggyeongpan (woodblocks) and identified high-risk periods of biological damage for these wooden cultural heritage objects. The results of comprehensive analysis of the biological distribution and environmental condition demonstrated that conservation of the original form of the Janggyeongpanjeon and Daejanggyeongpan is based on a complex interplay of the material characteristics of the wood used, architectural features of the Janggyeongpanjeon enabling ventilation, and Daejanggyeongpan manufacturing technique.

Introduction

Wood has been used extensively in all areas of life since time immemorial. There are many different types of wooden cultural heritage objects in Korea, including wooden buildings and handicrafts. Such wooden objects eloquently tell the history and culture of a nation. Buddhism was introduced to Korea in the 4th century, and it played an important role in the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392) as the state religion. Daejanggyeong (Tripitaka) is a title given to a complete collection of Buddhist scriptures. In Korea, Daejanggyeong was produced in an effort to prevent the Mongol invasions through religious devotion, and the complete work was named Palman (80 thousand) Daejanggyeong because it consists of 81,258 wooden blocks.

Daejanggyeongpan (Printing Woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana Woodblocks) in Haeinsa Temple in Hapcheon, the oldest of all Daejanggyeong versions, was completed in 11 years (1237–1248). It was designated as Korea's National Treasure No. 32 in 1962 and registered on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2007. It was moved to Haeinsa Temple in 1398, and separate depositories called Janggyeongpanjeon, which consist of two storage halls. These storage halls are Sudarajang (Hall of Sutras), built in 1457, and Beopbojeon (Hall of Dharma), built in 1488. Janggyeongpanjeon has a unique design with building structures and layouts harmonized with the surrounding landscape in a manner best suited for efficient preservation of woodblocks. It was in recognition of this distinctive feature that it was designated as Korea's National Treasure No. 52 in 1962 and registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

Wooden cultural heritage objects like Daejanggyeongpan and Janggyeongpanjeon are damaged by various causes, most frequently by biological attacks of insects and microorganisms due to the properties of the material itself. Biological attacks on wooden cultural heritage objects are closely associated with the environment of the heritage site. Its location is a determinant of the influx of damaging agents such as insects and wood-rotting fungi, and environmental factors such as temperature and humidity are determinants of the period of their activities, foraging activities, metabolic activities, and reproduction of insects and development of microorganisms. Therefore, for the conservation of wooden cultural heritage objects, it is necessary to monitor the biological distribution and environment simultaneously and to establish a conservation management plan based on the monitoring results.

Because the importance of Janggyeongpanjeon and Daejanggyeongpan has long been recognized, many studies have been conducted on their preservation (Park and Kang 1996; Park et al., 1999) from various perspectives. They include studies on tree species used for constructing Janggyeongpanjeon and Daejanggyeongpan (Park and Kang 1996; Park et al., 1999), production technique and surface lacquering of Daejanggyeongpan (Do and Lee 1998, 1999), and interior environmental architectural features of Janggyeongpanjeon (Society of Air-conditioning and Refrigerating Engineers of Korea 1979; Ahn and Kim 1991; Bae and Lee 1996; Hur et al., 2007; Lim et al., 2007; Jo et al., 2017). They also include surveys on biological damage such as interior damage to storage halls and woodblocks (Research Institute of the Tripitaka Koreana 1996; Kim et al., 2007; Kim and Han 2007), termite damage and other biological attacks on Haeinsa Temple (Jeong et al., 2002; National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage 2014), and airborne microorganisms and woodblock surface microorganisms in Janggyeongpanjeon as a preliminary study for the prevention of damage by microorganisms (Hong et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2018).

As mentioned above, the preservation of wooden cultural heritage objects requires long-term monitoring of the biological distribution and environmental condition to enable a situational diagnosis and efficient preservation management. However, various obstacles, such as administrative problems in the cultural heritage area, budget, and maintenance of monitoring equipment, make monitoring very challenging. In Korea, the recent recognition of the importance of wooden cultural heritage objects has led to several long-term monitoring studies on their environmental condition and biological distribution (Jeong et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2017). Against this background, this study was conducted over a two-year period to monitor the biological distribution and environmental conditionin and around the Janggyeongpanjeon with the aim of obtaining the basic data necessary for establishing strategies for preservation management of cultural heritage objects.

Section snippets

Research target

The research target, Janggyeongpanjeon, is located in Gaya Mountain, Hapcheon County, South Gyeongsang Province, Korea. It is 640 m above sea level (35.80° North, 128.09° East). This area belongs to the temperate zone; it is a climate of high temperature and humidity in summer and low temperature drying in winter; it records an average monthly temperature of more than 20° from June to September as well as about 62.7% of annual precipitation concentration (Table 1).

Janggyeongpanjeon is located

Insect distribution

As a result of termite monitoring, termite colonies were confirmed in three positions. And the species of founded termites is Reticulitermes speratus kyushuensis, which is a popular species in Korea. Multiple termite colonies were continuously observed around the Haeinsa Temple entrance during the periods of July–November 2014 and March–June 2016, and two termite colonies were observed on a hill to the left of Janggyeongpanjeon during the periods of September–November 2014 and February–June

Conclusion

In this study, we performed a two-year monitoring project to investigate the biological distribution and environmental condition in an effort to contribute to the optimal conservation of Janggyeongpanjeon and Daejanggyeongpan. Termite colonies, dry wood-damaging insects and wood-rotting fungi were found around the Janggyeongpanjeon. Environmental monitoring and wood moisture content measurement results showed environmental conditions from May through September were favorable to fungal attacks,

Funding

This work was supported by Haein-sa Temple.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

None.

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