3-D shows the way of heritage

A file photo shows the damaged statues in Cave No 14. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Japanese art dealer Yamanaka Sadajiro, who was then the biggest antique dealer selling Chinese and Japanese art, took 45 Buddha heads in 1926, according to previous media reports.

"To some extent, the Tianlongshan Caves are more known outside China due to the collection in museums across the world," says Yu.

With the digital data of the heads and their separated bodies, he says the management is now preparing a national touring show in 2018 that will display virtually the reconstructed sculptures.

The show is expected to go to the US and Japan in 2019.

Yu says the show will loan sculpture pieces from Chinese collector Xu Peng who bought back a Buddha head auctioned at the Christie's in New York in 2008.

Two other such head sculptures were bought back to the country in 2003 and are now displayed at the National Museum of China.

If you go

10 am-5 pm, Mondays closed, through Dec 31. OCAT Institute, Jinchan West Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6737-5418.