Deep Learning Based Digital Artwork Restoration Using ResNet-GAN for Cultural Heritage Preservation

Authors

  • Gurpreet Kaur Author
  • Medha Yadav Author
  • Ujjval Author
  • Shivansh Namdev Department of AIDS/AIML, HMRITM, GGSIPU, New Delhi, India Author

Abstract

The research suggests a new way to restore digital art using a GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) working together with a pretrained Residual Network and a modified version of U-Net architecture. The proposed system attempts to recover excellent images from images that are damaged, even without having to use masks. The encoder in the generator uses ResNet, which allows it to pick useful features from the degraded photos, and the decoder sorts them back into their original form. The model is trained and evaluated on a dataset of artwork images collected from open-source publicly available sources. To simulate real-world degradation, synthetic damage such as missing regions, noise, and structural distortions is introduced during training. It was the PSNR, SSIM, MSE, and FID methods that helped test the quality of restoration. The model achieved a PSNR of 31.85 dB, being better than the existing methods. Further evaluation showed SSIM scores of 0.57 and FID scores of 345. This process enhances the way restorations are done and keeps the original features, so it can greatly help with India’s heritage preservation and its cultural assets.

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Published

2026-09-21