TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Lukang Decang Temple in Changhua County held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of its mural restoration project on Wednesday (July 17).

A team of experts, including painters Pan Yueh-hsiung (潘岳雄), Li I-hsing (李奕興), and Lin Chuan-chih (林傳智) and restoration artist Howard Lai (賴志豪), will undertake the project, according to the Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau (CCCAB). The CCCAB expects the restoration to be completed by November 2025, per CNA.

Changhua County Magistrate Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) said in a speech that the government designated Lukang Decang Temple a county monument in 1985. Noting the murals' damage from years of exposure, Wang said the county government secured grants from the Ministry of Culture to protect the artworks.

Wang said they raised about NT$12 million (US$366,910) for the project through cooperation between the central and county governments and the temple's committee. She explained the focus will be on preserving and restoring the murals to showcase the traditional beauty and craftsmanship of Taiwanese temples.

Lukang Township Mayor Hsu Chih-hung (許志宏) said Lukang Decang Temple is a significant religious center for the area. Lukang Decang Temple Committee Chair Hsu Sen-shi (許森樹) echoed that sentiment, highlighting the temple's 362-year history and its role in hosting lunar calendar ghost festival rites every July.

Hsu added that the decaying murals posed not only a cultural risk but also a safety hazard for temple-goers.

The CCCAB noted that the locals built Lukang Decang Temple with leftover funds from the reconstruction of Lukang Tianhou Temple. These two temples, in turn, form the religious centers of their respective areas in Lukang, Tianhou Temple in the north and Decang Temple in the south.