The Use of Digital Images Recording Historical Sites and ‘Spirit of Place’: A Case Study of Xuejia Tzu-chi Temple

• Published in: International journal of humanities and arts computing Vol. 7; no. supplement; pp. 156 - 171
• Main Authors: Tseng, Yung-Kuan, Chen, Hong-Kun, Hsu, Pi-Yen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press 01.03.2013
• Subjects: Case studies; Digital preservation; Digital technology; Historic buildings & sites; Memorials & monuments; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1753-8548; 1755-1706
• DOI: 10.3366/ijhac.2013.0067

ICOMOS emphasised in the 2008 Québec Declaration that the ‘Spirit of Place,’ possessed by monuments and sites, must be preserved, the idea spread and promoted, and that digital technology should be extensively utilised. Xuejia Tzu-chi Temple in Taiwan, an ancestral temple that inherited the traditional belief of Bao Sheng Da Di ([Formula: see text], God of medicine) from Baijiao ([Formula: see text]), holds much religious significance and is crucial to the residents' spiritual sustenance and community. Among those objects preserved in this temple are the intricate Ye Wang's Koji potteries as well as various other precious cultural relics, making the palace an important research base for Taiwan's traditional arts. As such, religion, society, art and other elements coalesce to form the unique spirit of place of the Tzu-chi Temple. This study, under the principle of continuity in space, focuses on the temple square, corridors spanning different areas, the pantheon, and uses ‘image-based interactive panoramic imaging technology’ to capture a total of 45 spatial scenes, recording the overall spatial construct and the paths within which the space could move, completing the spirit of space of the object, and recording the track of space. Then setting this as the basis for establishing a recording of various activities of the humanities and for preserving the spirit of place of the Xuejia Tzu-chi Temple for future generations, we hope that the results of this study will provide various relevant types of digital recording for research on spatial construct in monuments.