Читать книгу Monument Future - Siegfried Siegesmund - Страница 257

Madam Soong Ching-ling (June 1893–May 1981) was the wife of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China. She had been honorary Chairlady of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

The marble statue of Soong Ching-ling stands in the memorial square of Soong Ching-ling cemetery in Shanghai, China (Fig. 1). The statue was inaugurated in 1984. It stands 2.52 m high on top of a granite basement, which is 1.1 m high above the ground level.

The statue is composed of 4 pieces of Fangshan Hanbaiyu, a valuable and famous dolomitic marble from Fangshan, Beijing.

Mineralogically it consists of approximately 92–97 % dolomite(CaMg(CO₃)₂), minor amounts of quartz and muscovite have also been identified.

Since 2014 many micro cracks appeared on the surface, especially on the head of the statue (Fig. 2).

Inspection under the in-situ microscope shows different stages of disintegration of the crystal fabric on the surface.

Figure 1: Marble statue of Ms. Song in Shanghai.

Figure 2: Progressive crack on the head.

A comprehensive conservation and compatible maintence concept is needed to check the weathering process. But first of all, the deterioration condition of the statue and the depth of the cracks had to be evaluated. Non-destructive ultrasonic technology was applied. The deterioration condition was tested by USCT method and the depths of surface cracks were determined.