The selection of cultural heritage restoration specialist Wang Jun-hao (王俊豪) to undertake training with the Vatican Museums marks a new era in exchange between Taiwan's Ministry of Culture and the Holy See.
Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chun visited the Vatican in 2017 and discussed an opportunity put forward by the Vatican to host a restoration specialist from Taiwan at their Museums with the assistance of the Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wang was chosen by the Bureau of Cultural Heritage through a public selection process and will undergo training with the Vatican Museums' Painting and Wood Materials Restoration Laboratory from October 2018 to March 2019.
In May 2017, Minister Cheng met with Dr. Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, and the two shared opinions on cultural heritage and reached an agreement on this project for the Museums to host and train Taiwanese restoration talent. The Vatican Museums as a whole are a world-class heavyweight in the museum scene, hosting the works of masters like Raphael, Da Vinci, and Caravaggio. They are uniquely experienced in the restoration of cultural heritage, and as such, the opportunity to learn from them is a rare honor.
Wang, the recipient of this opportunity, has a degree from the Graduate Institute of Conservation of Cultural Relics and Museology at Tainan National University of the Arts. He has also studied with a professional restoration organization in Germany, focusing on research into the materials involved in the restoration of cultural relics and on the scientific analysis of such materials. With such a background, Wang stood out from the candidates that were reviewed by the Bureau of Cultural Heritage's selection process.
The Ministry of Culture looks forward to learning from the experience of the Vatican Museums' restoration team and their thorough restoration and preservation management system. Equipped with this, Taiwan's professional restoration talent will be able to learn new concepts and ideas, while also furthering Taiwan-Holy See cultural exchange.
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