Research, Representation, and Conservation of Mani Heaps: The Digitalization Projects

Abstract

As a kind of cultural heritage, the mani heap is piled by many carving stones and used as the religious altar for praying in the daily life of Tibetans. It has distinctive characteristics and high research value in its extensive content and abundant information. This paper is focused on an overview of three digitalization projects for mani heaps. Based on the collected data of 5 field surveys, the three projects leverage digitalization methods to introduce, analyze, represent mani heaps to support scholarly analysis and casual appreciation. The general purpose of this paper is to explore the digitalization study to study, represent and conserve mani heaps which are always ignored by researchers.