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103-521: (Redirected from Thousand Buddha Grottoes ) Thousand Buddha Caves or Qianfo Grottoes may refer to the following Buddhist caves in China: Mogao Caves or Thousand Buddha Caves, Dunhuang Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves Western Thousand Buddha Caves Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves Kumtura Thousand Buddha Caves Kizil Caves or Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves Topics referred to by

206-456: A gross domestic product of ¥8.178 billion. The value of the city's primary sector totaled ¥0.994 billion, its secondary sector totaled ¥1.872 billion, and its tertiary sector totaled ¥5.312 billion. As of 2020, Dunhuang has a gross domestic product of ¥7.778 billion. The value of the city's primary sector totaled ¥1.082 billion, its secondary sector totaled ¥1.752 billion, and its tertiary sector totaled ¥4.943 billion. Dunhuang

309-600: A 24-hour average temperature of −8.3 °C (17.1 °F) in January, while summers are hot, with a July average of 24.6 °C (76.3 °F); the annual mean is 9.48 °C (49.1 °F). The diurnal temperature variation averages 16.1 °C (29.0 °F) annually. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 69% in March to 82% in October, the city receives 3,258 hours of bright sunshine annually, making it one of

412-589: A Japanese expedition under Otani Kozui in 1911 and a Russian expedition under Sergei F. Oldenburg in 1914. A well-known scholar Luo Zhenyu edited some of the manuscripts Pelliot acquired into a volume which was then published in 1909 as "Manuscripts of the Dunhuang Caves" ( 敦煌石室遺書 ). Stein and Pelliot provoked much interest in the West about the Dunhuang Caves. Scholars in Beijing, after seeing samples of

515-471: A cache of documents hidden by Wang from the authorities was later found in the 1940s. Some of the caves were damaged and vandalized by White Russian soldiers when they were used by the local authority in 1921 to house Russian soldiers fleeing the civil war following the Russian Revolution . In 1924, American explorer Langdon Warner removed a number of murals as well as a statue from some of

618-461: A dedication by the pious commissioner; at least two prints were commissioned by Cao Yuanzhong , Imperial Commissioner at Dunhuang in 947. Many of the images have colour added by hand to the printed outline. Several sheets contain repeated impressions of the same block with a Buddha image. Possibly these reflect stock for cutting when sold to pilgrims, but inscriptions in some examples show these were also printed out at different times by an individual as

721-495: A devotion to acquire merit . It is unclear whether such people owned their own blocks, or visited a monastery to have the images printed. The textiles found in the Library Cave include silk banners, altar hangings, wrappings for manuscripts, and monks' apparel ( kāṣāya ). The monks normally used fabrics consisting of a patchwork of different scraps of cloth as a sign of humility; these therefore provide valuable insights into

824-606: A group of five. Figures from the Sui and Tang periods may be present as larger groups of seven or nine, and some showed large-scale parinirvana scene with groups of mourners. The early sculptures were based on Indian and Central Asian prototypes, with some in the Greco-Indian style of Gandhara . Over time the sculptures showed more Chinese elements and became gradually sinicized. The two giant statues represent Maitreya Buddha . The earlier and larger one in cave 96, at 35.5 m high,

927-483: A monk Yuezun had a vision of a thousand Buddhas at the site. This name, however, may have come from the large number of Buddha figures at the site, or the miniatures figures painted on the walls of these caves as these figures are called "thousand Buddhas" colloquially. The name Mogao Caves ( Chinese : 莫高窟 ; pinyin : Mògāo kū ) was used in the Tang dynasty , where 'Mogao' refers to an administrative district at

1030-696: A place of worship and pilgrimage for the public. From the 4th until the 14th century, caves were constructed by monks to serve as shrines with funds from donors. These caves were elaborately painted, the cave paintings and architecture serving as aids to meditation , as visual representations of the quest for enlightenment, as mnemonic devices, and as teaching tools to inform those illiterate about Buddhist beliefs and stories. The major caves were sponsored by patrons such as important clergy, local ruling elite, foreign dignitaries, as well as Chinese emperors. Other caves may have been funded by merchants, military officers, and other local people such as women's groups. During

1133-746: A quasi-autonomous manner during the Late Tang period, include a commemoration of his victory over the Tibetans in 848. The portraits of donors increased in size during the period ruled by the Cao family who succeeded the Zhang family. The Caos formed alliances with the Uyghurs ( Uyghur Gansu Kingdom and Kingdom of Qocho ) and the Saka Kingdom of Khotan and their portraits are featured prominently in some of

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1236-452: A restoration in 1898. Two further restorations were carried out in the 20th century, and the building is now a 9-storey structure. The murals in the caves date from a period of over a thousand years, from the 5th to the 14th century, and many earlier ones were repainted at later points within the period. The murals are extensive, covering an area of 490,000 square feet (46,000 square metres). The most fully painted caves have paintings all over

1339-506: A single composition is very common at the site. Before the discovery in the Library Cave, original paintings on silk and paper from the Tang dynasty, an influential period in Chinese art, were very rare, and most of the surviving examples were copies made in later periods. Over a thousand paintings on silk, banners, and embroideries were found in the Library Cave, none apparently dating before

1442-483: A stone core. The Buddha is generally shown as the central statue, often attended by boddhisattvas , heavenly kings , devas , and apsaras, along with yaksas and other mythical creatures. The early figures are relatively simple and mainly of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The Buddhas of Northern Wei may have two attendant Bodhisattvas, and in the Northern Zhou period, two further disciples may be added, forming

1545-545: A truncated pyramidal ceiling sometimes painted to resemble a tent, or they may have a flat or gabled ceiling that imitates traditional buildings. Some of the caves used for meditation are adaptations of the Indian vihara (monastery) cave plan and contain side-chambers just large enough for one person to sit in. Many of the caves originally had wooden porches or fore-temples built out from the cliff, but most of these have decayed or been lost in other ways, with only five remaining,

1648-409: A vision of a thousand Buddhas bathed in golden light at the site in 366 AD, inspiring him to build a cave here. The story is also found in other sources, such as in inscriptions on a stele in cave 332; an earlier date of 353 however was given in another document, Shazhou Tujing ( 沙州土鏡 , Geography of Shazhou ). He was later joined by a second monk Faliang ( 法良 ), and the site gradually grew, by

1751-485: Is Qinghai Petroleum Authority Life Base  [ zh ] . Prior to 2015, Guojiabu  [ zh ] and Huangqu  [ zh ] were administered as townships. Prior to 2019, the city administered Guoying Dunhuang Farm  [ zh ] as a township-level division. In 2011, Yueyaquan  [ zh ] was formed from Yangjiaqiao Township ( Chinese : 杨家桥乡 ). 2019 city estimates put Dunhuang's population at about 191,800. According to

1854-404: Is also sold, consisting of a large, sweet confection made with nuts and dried fruit , sliced into the portion desired by the customer. Dunhuang has a cool arid climate ( Köppen BWk ), with an annual total precipitation of 67 mm (2.64 in), the majority of which occurs in summer; precipitation occurs only in trace amounts and quickly evaporates. Winters are long and freezing, with

1957-529: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Mogao Caves The first caves were dug out in 366 CE as places of Buddhist meditation and worship; later the caves became a place of pilgrimage, and caves continued to be built at the site until the 14th century. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes , are one of

2060-767: Is evidence of habitation in the area as early as 2,000 BC, possibly by people recorded as the Qiang in Chinese history. According to Zuo Zhuan and Book of the Later Han , the Dunhuang region was a part of the ancient Guazhou, which was known for its production of melons. Its name was also mentioned in relation to the homeland of the Yuezhi in the Records of the Grand Historian . Some have argued that this may refer to

2163-657: Is largely in its original form apart for its right hand. The larger Buddha is housed in a prominent wooden 9-storey structure. One type of caves constructed during the Tibetan era is the Nirvana Cave, which features a large reclining Buddha that covers the entire length of the hall. Figures of mourners in murals or in sculptural forms are also depicted along the length of the hall behind the Buddha. The Buddha figure in cave 158 measures 15.6 m long. The original function of

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2266-517: Is not what the painters had originally intended. This shading technique is unique to Dunhuang in East Asia at this period as such shading on human faces was generally not done in Chinese paintings until much later when there were influences from European paintings. Another difference from traditional Chinese painting is the presence of figures that are semi-nude, occasionally fully nude, as figures are generally fully clothed in Chinese paintings. Many of

2369-411: Is often portrayed on a diminutive scale. The donor figures become notably more elaborate in dress by the 10th century. The Library Cave is equally important as a source of rare early images and texts produced by woodblock printing , including the famous Diamond Sutra , the earliest printed book to survive. Other printed images were made to be hung, often with text below containing prayers and sometimes

2472-735: Is served by China National Highway 215 and Dunhuang Mogao International Airport . A railway branch known as the Dunhuang railway or the Liudun Railway ( 柳敦铁路 ), constructed in 2004–2006, connects Dunhuang with the Liugou Station on the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway (in Guazhou County ). There is regular passenger service on the line, with overnight trains from Dunhuang to Lanzhou and Xi'an . Dunhuang Station

2575-540: Is the representation of the paradise of the Pure Land , indicating the increasing popularity of this school of Mahayana Buddhism in the Tang era. The Western Paradise Illustration of Cave 220 is a well-preserved mural of this type. The iconography of Tantric Buddhism , such as the eleven-headed or thousand-armed Avalokitesvara, also started to appear in Mogao wall paintings during the Tang period. It became popular during

2678-401: The 2010 Chinese census , Dunhuang has a population of 186,027, down slightly from the 187,578 recorded in the 2000 Chinese census . In 1996, the city had an estimated population of 125,000 people. Dunhuang has an urbanization rate of 69.45% as of 2019. In 2019, the city had a birth rate of 9.87‰, and a death rate of 5.69‰, giving it a rate of natural increase of 3.15‰. 97.8% of

2781-855: The Cultural Revolution . Today, efforts are continuing to conserve and research the site and its content. The Mogao Caves became one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987. From 1988 to 1995 a further 248 caves were discovered to the north of the 487 caves known since the early 1900s. The Dunhuang Academy entered a period of "scientific conservation" for the Mogao Caves in the 1980s and began exploring "digital conservation" as early as 1993. Since 2010, it has completed photographic acquisition of 120 caves, image processing of 40 caves, panoramic roaming of 120 caves, and 3D reconstruction of 20 painted sculptures in

2884-546: The Dunhuang manuscripts and other material. The caves themselves are now a popular tourist destination, but the number of visitors has been capped to help with the preservation of the caves. The caves are commonly referred to in Chinese as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas ( Chinese : 千佛洞 ; pinyin : qiānfó dòng ), a name that some scholars have speculated to have come from the legend of its founding, when

2987-525: The Northern Wei . They share many stylistic characteristics in common with some of the Kizil Caves , such as Cave 17 . Members of the ruling family of Northern Wei and Northern Zhou then constructed many caves here, and it flourished in the short-lived Sui dynasty . By the Tang dynasty , the number of caves had reached over a thousand. By the Sui and Tang dynasties, Mogao Caves had become

3090-532: The Tripitaka became obsolete when printing became widespread, the older manuscripts were therefore stored away. Another suggestion is that the cave was simply used as a book storehouse for documents which accumulated over a century and a half, then sealed up when it became full. Others, such as Pelliot, suggested an alternative scenario, that the monks hurriedly hid the documents in advance of an attack by invaders, perhaps when Xi Xia invaded in 1035. This theory

3193-570: The Western Jin (280–316 AD). Dunhuang Night Market is a night market held on the main thoroughfare, Dong Dajie, in the city centre of Dunhuang, popular with tourists during the summer months. Many souvenir items are sold, including such typical items as jade , jewelry, scrolls, hangings, small sculptures, leather shows puppets, coins, Tibetan horns and Buddha statues. A sizable number of members of China's ethnic minorities engage in business at these markets. A Central Asian dessert or sweet

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3296-531: The Xiongnu in 111 BC. It also became an important gateway to the West, a centre of commerce along the Silk Road , as well as a meeting place of various people and religions such as Buddhism . The Mogao Caves near Dunhuang were first constructed in the 4th century AD and were used as a site of Buddhist worship and pilgrimage. The caves contain over 400,000 square feet of frescoes and sculptures, making them one of

3399-515: The "Library Cave" was as a shrine commemorating Hong Bian, the 9th-century monk. His portrait statue, unusual here and among all surviving works in China, was removed to another spot when the cave was sealed up in the 11th century, but has been returned now the library has been removed. There is also a stone stele describing his life, and the wall behind the statue is painted with attendant figure; such blending of painted sculpture and wall paintings into

3502-413: The Chinese government, administrative documents, anthologies, glossaries, dictionaries, and calligraphic exercises. Many of the manuscripts were previously unknown or thought lost, and the manuscripts provide a unique insight into the religious and secular matters of Northern China as well as other Central Asian kingdoms from the early periods up to the Tang and early Song dynasty. The manuscripts found in

3605-469: The Dunhuang Caves after the nearest city Dunhuang , which means "blazing beacon" as beacons were used at the frontier outpost to warn of attacks by nomadic tribes. The term Dunhuang Caves however is also used in a broader sense as a collective term for all the caves found in or around the Dunhuang area. Dunhuang was established as a frontier garrison outpost by the Han dynasty Emperor Wudi to protect against

3708-498: The Hungarian-born British archaeologist Aurel Stein who was on an archaeological expedition in the area in 1907. Stein negotiated with Wang to allow him to remove a significant number of manuscripts as well as the finest paintings and textiles in exchange for a donation to Wang's restoration effort. He was followed by a French expedition under Paul Pelliot who acquired many thousands of items in 1908, and then by

3811-709: The Library Cave include the earliest dated printed book, the Diamond Sutra from 868, which was first translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the fourth century. These scrolls also include manuscripts that ranged from the Christian Jingjiao Documents to the Dunhuang Go Manual and ancient music scores, as well as the image of the Chinese astronomy Dunhuang map . These scrolls chronicle the development of Buddhism in China, record

3914-455: The Library Cave manuscripts digitally, and they are now available as part of International Dunhuang Project . The art of Dunhuang covers more than ten major genres, such as architecture , stucco sculpture, wall paintings , silk paintings, calligraphy, woodblock printing, embroidery, literature, music and dance, and popular entertainment. The caves are examples of rock-cut architecture , but unlike Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes ,

4017-430: The Mogao Caves. The Dunhuang Academy also introduced I-m-Cave, a multi-touch desktop system for virtual tours of the Mogao Caves, which presents a relationship between currently damaged artifacts and their virtual restored versions that cannot be experienced during a real tour. Cave 17 discovered by Wang Yuanlu in the early 1900s came to be known as the Library Cave. It is located off the entrance leading to cave 16 and

4120-606: The Northern Wei dynasty. Motifs of Chinese, Central Asian and Indian origin may be found in a single cave, and Chinese elements increased during the Western Wei period. A common motif in many caves is the areas entirely covered by rows of small seated Buddha figures, after which this and other "Thousand Buddhas Caves" are named. These small Buddhas were drawn using stencils so that identical figures may be replicated. Flying apsaras , or celestial beings may be depicted in

4223-705: The Qiang tribes. By the third century BC, the area became dominated by the Xiongnu , but came under Chinese rule during the Han dynasty after Emperor Wu defeated the Xiongnu in 121 BC . Dunhuang was one of the four frontier garrison towns (along with Jiuquan , Zhangye and Wuwei ) established by the Emperor Wu after the defeat of the Xiongnu, and the Chinese built fortifications at Dunhuang and sent settlers there. The name Dunhuang, meaning "Blazing Beacon", refers to

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4326-518: The Tang dynasty, Dunhuang became the main hub of commerce of the Silk Road and a major religious centre. A large number of the caves were constructed at Mogao during this era, including the two large statues of Buddha at the site, the largest one constructed in 695 following an edict a year earlier by Tang Empress Wu Zetian to build giant statues across the country. The site escaped the persecution of Buddhists ordered by Emperor Wuzong in 845 as it

4429-567: The Tibetan occupation of Dunhuang and the subsequent periods, especially during the Yuan dynasty . While Buddhist art is stylistically distinct from secular art, the style of paintings in the caves often reflects that of contemporary secular painting (insofar as we know of this), especially those depicting secular scenes. Donor figures are generally depicted in secular style, and may include secular events associated with them. For example, scenes depicting General Zhang Yichao , who ruled over Dunhuang in

4532-813: The Tibetans in 848. After the fall of Tang, Zhang's family formed the Kingdom of Golden Mountain in 910, but in 911 it came under the influence of the Uighurs . The Zhangs were succeeded by the Cao family, who formed alliances with the Uighurs and the Kingdom of Khotan . During the Song dynasty , Dunhuang fell outside the Chinese borders. In 1036 the Tanguts who founded the Western Xia dynasty captured Dunhuang. From

4635-474: The ancient Silk Road and the lost cities of Central Asia, and those who passed through Dunhuang noted the murals, sculptures, and artifacts such as the Stele of Sulaiman at Mogao. There is an estimated half a million square feet of religious wall murals within the caves. The biggest discovery, however, came from a Chinese Taoist named Wang Yuanlu who had appointed himself guardian of some of these temples around

4738-523: The beacons lit to warn of attacks by marauding nomadic tribes. Dunhuang Commandery was probably established shortly after 104 BC. Located in the western end of the Hexi Corridor near the historic junction of the Northern and Southern Silk Roads , Dunhuang was a town of military importance. "The Great Wall was extended to Dunhuang, and a line of fortified beacon towers stretched westwards into

4841-532: The cave, heaped up in closely packed layers of bundles of scrolls. In addition to the 1,100 bundles of scrolls, there were also over 15,000 paper books and shorter texts, including a Hebrew penitential prayer ( selichah ) (see Dunhuang manuscripts ). It's estimated that 50,000 ancient documents were discovered inside on topics of literature, philosophy, art and medicine. The Library Cave also contained textiles such as banners, numerous damaged figurines of Buddhas, and other Buddhist paraphernalia. According to Stein who

4944-421: The caves in Mogao are particularly noted for their Buddhist art, as well as the hoard of manuscripts, the Dunhuang manuscripts , found hidden in a sealed-up cave. Many of these caves were covered with murals and contain many Buddhist statues. Discoveries continue to be found in the caves, including excerpts from a Christian Bible dating to the Yuan dynasty . Numerous smaller Buddhist cave sites are located in

5047-401: The caves. In 1939 Kuomintang soldiers stationed at Dunhuang caused some damage to the murals and statues at the site. The situation improved in 1941 when, following a visit by Wu Zuoren to the site the previous year, the painter Zhang Daqian arrived at the caves with a small team of assistants and stayed for two and a half years to repair and copy the murals. He exhibited and published

5150-399: The caves. Many of the figures have darkened due to oxidation of the lead-based pigments from exposure to air and light. Many early figures in the murals in Dunhuang also used painting techniques originated from India where shading was applied to achieve a three-dimensional or chiaroscuro effect. However, the darkening of the paint used in shading over time resulted in heavy outlines which

5253-515: The ceiling or above the Buddhas, and figures of donors may be shown along the bottom of the walls. The paintings often depict jataka tales which are stories of the life of Buddha, or avadana which are parables of the doctrine of karma . The murals may also depict religious themes. Bodhisattvas started appearing during the Northern Zhou period, with Avalokitesvara ( Guanyin ), which was originally male but acquired female characteristics later,

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5356-440: The changing styles of Buddhist art in China for nearly a thousand years. The artistry of the murals reached its apogee during the Tang period, and the quality of the work dropped after the tenth century. Early murals showed a strong Indian and Central Asian influence in the painting techniques used, the composition and style of the paintings as well as costumes worn by the figures, but a distinct Dunhuang style began to emerge during

5459-430: The city and/or its surrounding region has also been known by the names Shazhou (prefecture of sand) or Guazhou (prefecture of melons). In the modern era, the two alternative names have been assigned respectively to Shazhou zhen (Shazhou town) which serves as Dunhuang's seat of government, and to the neighboring Guazhou County . A number of derivations of the name Dunhuang have been suggested by scholars: There

5562-431: The city's population is ethnically Han Chinese , with the remaining 2.2% being 27 ethnic minorities , including ethnic Hui , Mongol , Tibetan , Uyghur , Miao , Manchu , Monguor , Kazakh , Dongxiang , and Yugur populations. As of 2019, the annual per capita disposable income of urban residents was ¥36,215, and the annual per capita disposable income of rural residents was ¥18,852. As of 2019, Dunhuang has

5665-607: The copies of the murals in 1943, which helped to publicize and give much prominence to the art of Dunhuang within China. Historian Xiang Da then persuaded Yu Youren , a prominent member of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party), to set up an institution, the Research Institute of Dunhuang Art (which later became the Dunhuang Academy ), at Mogao in 1944 to look after the site and its contents. In 1956,

5768-446: The date for sealing the cave, while Huntington (1986) supported a closing around the early to mid-thirteen century. It is difficult to determine the state of the materials found since the chamber was not opened "under scientific conditions", so critical evidence to support dating the closure was lost. The latest date recorded in the documents found in the cave is believed to be 1002, and although some have proposed later dates for some of

5871-447: The dates of around five hundred caves have been determined. Following is a list of the caves by era, compiled in the 1980s (more have been identified since): Dunhuang Dunhuang ( listen ) is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province , Western China . According to the 2010 Chinese census , the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang)

5974-406: The desert. By the second century AD Dunhuang had a population of more than 76,000 and was a key supply base for caravans that passed through the city: those setting out for the arduous trek across the desert loaded up with water and food supplies, and others arriving from the west gratefully looked upon the mirage-like sight of Dunhuang's walls, which signified safety and comfort. Dunhuang prospered on

6077-567: The documents in Pelliot's possession, became aware of their value. Concerned that the remaining manuscripts might be lost, Luo Zhenyu and others persuaded the Ministry of Education to recover the rest of the manuscripts to be sent to Peking ( Beijing ) in 1910. However, not all the remaining manuscripts were taken to Peking, and of those retrieved, some were then stolen. Rumours of caches of documents taken by local people continued for some time, and

6180-469: The documents, the cave was likely to have been sealed not long after that date. The manuscripts from the Library Cave date from fifth century until early eleventh century when it was sealed. Up to 50,000 manuscripts may have been kept there, one of the greatest treasure troves of ancient documents found. While most of them are in Chinese, a large number of documents are in various other languages such as Tibetan , Uighur , Sanskrit , and Sogdian , including

6283-616: The fall of the Han dynasty it came under the rule of various nomadic tribes, such as the Xiongnu during Northern Liang and the Turkic Tuoba during Northern Wei . The Tibetans occupied Dunhuang when the Tang Empire became weakened considerably after the An Lushan Rebellion ; and even though it was later returned to Tang rule, it was under quasi-autonomous rule by the local general Zhang Yichao , who expelled

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6386-504: The fall of the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan to Karakhanids invaders from Kashgar in 1006 and the destruction it caused, so they sealed their library to avoid it being destroyed. Another possible theory posits that to save the manuscripts from a coming "Age of Decline", the Library Cave was sealed to prevent this from occurring. The date of the sealing of the cave continued to be debated. Rong (2000) provided evidence to support 1002 as

6489-532: The first Premier of the People's Republic of China , Zhou Enlai , took a personal interest in the caves and sanctioned a grant to repair and protect the site; and in 1961, the Mogao Caves were declared to be a specially protected historical monument by the State Council , and large-scale renovation work at Mogao began soon afterwards. The site escaped the widespread damage caused to many religious sites during

6592-470: The first century AD, and a sizable Buddhist community eventually developed in Dunhuang. The caves carved out by the monks, originally used for meditation, developed into a place of worship and pilgrimage called the Mogao Caves or " Caves of a Thousand Buddhas. " A number of Christian, Jewish, and Manichaean artifacts have also been found in the caves (see for example Jingjiao Documents ), testimony to

6695-517: The heavy flow of traffic. The first Buddhist caves in the Dunhuang area were hewn in 353." During the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties, it was the main stop of communication between ancient China and the rest of the world and a major hub of commerce of the Silk Road. Dunhuang was the intersection city of all three main silk routes (north, central, south) during this time. From the West also came early Buddhist monks, who had arrived in China by

6798-508: The largest repositories of Buddhist art in the world. The construction of the Mogao Caves is generally taken to have begun sometime in the fourth century AD, when Dunhuang was under control of the Former Liang dynasty . According to a book written during the reign of Tang Empress Wu , Fokan Ji ( 佛龕記 , An Account of Buddhist Shrines ) by Li Junxiu ( 李君修 ), a Buddhist monk named Lè Zūn ( 樂尊 , which may also be pronounced Yuezun) had

6901-551: The late 7th century. The great majority of the paintings are anonymous, but many are of high quality, especially from the Tang. Most are sutra paintings, images of Buddha, and narrative paintings. The paintings show something of the contemporary Chinese style of the capital Chang'an , but many also reflect Indian, Tibetan and Uighur painting styles. There are brush paintings in ink alone, some in just two colours, as well as many in full colour. Most common are single figures, and most paintings were probably donated by an individual, who

7004-668: The local rock is a rather soft gravel conglomerate that is not suitable for either sculpture or elaborate architectural details. Many of the early caves were developed from earlier Buddhist rock-cut chaitya styles seen in places such as the Ajanta Caves in India, with a square-sectioned central column, with sculpture in niches, representing the stupa round which worshippers may circumambulate ( parikrama ) and gain blessings. Others are hall caves influenced by traditional Chinese and Buddhist temple architecture. These caves may have

7107-407: The main road leading from India via Lhasa to Mongolia and southern Siberia , and also controls the entrance to the narrow Hexi Corridor , which leads straight to the heart of the north Chinese plains and the ancient capitals of Chang'an (today known as Xi'an) and Luoyang . Administratively, the county-level city of Dunhuang is part of the prefecture-level city of Jiuquan . Historically,

7210-465: The most popular. Most caves show Mahayana and Sravakayana ( Theravada or Hinayana ) influences, although Mahayana Buddhism became the dominant form during the Sui dynasty. An innovation of the Sui-Tang period is the visual representation of the sutra – Mahayana Buddhist teachings transformed into large complete and detailed narrative paintings. One of the central features of Tang art in Mogao

7313-477: The murals have been repaired or plastered over and repainted over the centuries, and older murals may be seen where sections of later paintings had been removed. The Getty Conservation Institute has a dedicated page to the conservation of those wall paintings. There are around 2,400 surviving clay sculptures at Mogao. These were first constructed on a wooden frame, padded with reed, then modelled in clay stucco, and finished with paint. The giant statues however have

7416-404: The north which were living quarters, meditation chambers, and burial sites for the monks. The caves at the southern section are decorated, while those at the northern section are mostly plain. The caves are clustered together according to their era, with new caves from a new dynasty being constructed in different parts of the cliff. From the murals, sculptures, and other objects found in the caves,

7519-582: The outside world became dominated by southern sea-routes, and the Silk Road was officially abandoned during the Ming dynasty . It was occupied again by the Tibetans c. 1516, and also came under the influence of the Chagatai Khanate in the early sixteenth century. Dunhuang was retaken by China two centuries later c. 1715 during the Qing dynasty , and the present-day city of Dunhuang was established east of

7622-560: The outside world. During the Ming dynasty, the Silk Road was finally officially abandoned, and Dunhuang slowly became depopulated and largely forgotten by the outside world. Most of the Mogao caves were abandoned; the site, however, was still a place of pilgrimage and was used as a place of worship by local people at the beginning of the twentieth century when there was renewed interest in the site. During late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Western explorers began to show interest in

7725-400: The political and cultural life of the time, and provide documentation of mundane secular matters that gives a rare glimpse into the lives of ordinary people of these eras. The manuscripts were dispersed all over the world in the aftermath of the discovery. Stein's acquisition was split between Britain and India because his expedition was funded by both countries. Stein had the first pick and he

7828-583: The reconquest of 848 to about 1036 (i.e. era of the Guiyi Circuit ), Dunhuang was a multicultural entrepot that contained one of the largest ethnic Sogdian communities in China following the An Lushan Rebellion. The Sogdians were Sinified to some extent and were bilingual in Chinese and Sogdian , and wrote their documents in Chinese characters , but horizontally from left to right instead of right to left in vertical lines, as Chinese

7931-864: The region, including the Western Thousand Buddha Caves , the Eastern Thousands Buddha Caves, and the Five Temple site. The Yulin Caves are located further east in Guazhou County . in Hecang Fortress ( Chinese : 河仓城 ; pinyin : Hécāngchéng ), located about 11 km (6.8 mi) northeast of the Western-Han-era Yumen Pass , were built during the Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and significantly rebuilt during

8034-445: The result of long-standing overgrazing of the surrounding land, has reached the edges of the city. In 2011 satellite images showing huge structures in the desert near Dunhuang surfaced online and caused a brief media stir. A number of Buddhist cave sites are located in the Dunhuang area, the most important of these is the Mogao Caves which is located 25 km (16 mi) southeast of Dunhuang. There are 735 caves in Mogao, and

8137-551: The ruined old city in 1725. In 1988, Dunhuang was elevated from county to county-level city status. On March 31, 1995, Turpan and Dunhuang became sister cities. Today, the site is an important tourist attraction and the subject of an ongoing archaeological project. A large number of manuscripts and artifacts retrieved at Dunhuang have been digitized and made publicly available via the International Dunhuang Project . The spreading Kumtag Desert ,

8240-438: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Thousand Buddha Caves . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thousand_Buddha_Caves&oldid=784407139 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

8343-409: The side of a cliff which is close to two kilometers long. At its height, during the Tang dynasty , there were more than a thousand caves, but over time many of the caves were lost, including the earliest caves. 735 caves currently exist in Mogao; the best-known ones are the 487 caves located in the southern section of the cliff which are places of pilgrimage and worship. 248 caves have also been found to

8446-419: The site during the Tang dynasty. Mogao may mean "peerless" (literally "none higher", where " mo " means "none", and " gao " means "high"); an alternative reading may be "high in the desert" if "mo" is read as a variant of the Chinese term for "desert". Mogao is also used as the name of a modern town that is administered by Dunhuang city: Mogao Town ( 莫高 镇 ). The Mogao Caves are also often referred to as

8549-747: The sunniest nationwide. The Gansu Dunhuang Solar Park was built in the southwest suburbs of the city to harvest the abundant solar energy. As of 2020, Dunhuang administers nine towns and one other township-level division . These township-level divisions then administer 56 village-level divisions . The city's nine towns are Qili  [ zh ] (七里镇), Shazhou  [ zh ] (沙州镇), Suzhou  [ zh ] (肃州镇), Mogao  [ zh ] (莫高镇), Zhuanqukou  [ zh ] (转渠口镇), Yangguan  [ zh ] (阳关镇), Yueyaquan  [ zh ] (月牙泉镇), Guojiabu  [ zh ] (郭家堡镇), and Huangqu  [ zh ] (黄渠镇). The city's sole other township-level division

8652-470: The then little-known Khotanese . They may be old hemp paper scrolls in Chinese and many other languages, Tibetan pothis , and paintings on hemp, silk or paper. The subject matter of the great majority of the scrolls is Buddhist in nature, but it also covers a diverse material. Along with the expected Buddhist canonical works are original commentaries, apocryphal works, workbooks, books of prayers, Confucian works, Taoist works, Christian works, works from

8755-442: The three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. An important cache of documents was discovered in 1900 in the so-called "Library Cave", which had been walled-up in the 11th century. The contents of the library were subsequently dispersed around the world, and the largest collections are now found in Beijing, London, Paris and Berlin, and the International Dunhuang Project exists to coordinate and collect scholarly work on

8858-475: The time of the Northern Liang a small community of monks had formed at the site. The caves initially served only as a place of meditation for hermit monks, but developed to serve the monasteries that sprang up nearby. The earliest decorated Mogao Caves remaining to this day (caves 268, 272 and 275 ), were built and decorated in the Northern Liang period between 419 and 439 CE, before the invasion of

8961-407: The turn of the century and tried to raise funds to repair the statues. Some of the caves had by then been blocked by sand, and Wang set about clearing away the sand and made an attempt at restoration of the site. In one such cave, on 25 June 1900, Wang followed the drift of smoke from a cigarette, and discovered a walled up area behind one side of a corridor leading to a main cave. Behind the wall

9064-561: The two earliest of which are rare surviving examples of Song dynasty wooden architecture. The most prominent wooden building at the site, first built during the Tang dynasty, houses the Great Buddha and was originally four storeys high, but it has been repaired at least five times and is no longer the original structure. A storey was added between 874 and 885, then repaired in the Guiyijun period, and two further storeys were added during

9167-691: The unrelated toponym Dunhong – the archaeologist Lin Meicun has also suggested that Dunhuan may be a Chinese name for the Tukhara , a people widely believed to be a Central Asian offshoot of the Yuezhi. During the Warring States period, the inhabitants of Dunhuang included the Dayuezhi people, Wusun people, and Saizhong people (Chinese name for Scythians). As Dayuezhi became stronger, it absorbed

9270-417: The various type of silk cloth and embroidery available at the time. Silk banners were used to adorn the cliff-face at the caves during festivals, and these are painted and may be embroidered. Valances used to decorate altars and temples had a horizontal strip at the top, from which hung streamers made from strips of different cloths ending in a V that look like a modern male necktie. The caves were cut into

9373-456: The walls and ceilings, with geometrical or plant decoration filling the spaces not taken by figurative images, which are above all of the Buddha . Sculpture is also brightly painted. The murals are valued for the scale and richness of content as well as their artistry. Buddhist subjects are most common, however some have traditional mythical subjects and portraits of patrons . These murals document

9476-603: The wide variety of people who made their way along the Silk Road. During the time of the Sixteen Kingdoms , Li Gao established the Western Liang here in 400 AD. In 405 the capital of the Western Liang was moved from Dunhuang to Jiuquan . In 421 the Western Liang was conquered by the Northern Liang . As a frontier town, Dunhuang was fought over and occupied at various times by non-Han people. After

9579-403: Was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for the nearby Mogao Caves . Dunhuang is situated in an oasis containing Crescent Lake and Mingsha Shan ( 鳴沙山 , meaning "Singing-Sand Mountain"), named after the sound of the wind whipping off the dunes, the singing sand phenomenon. Dunhuang commands a strategic position at the crossroads of the ancient Southern Silk Route and

9682-409: Was a small cave stuffed with an enormous hoard of manuscripts . In the next few years, Wang took some manuscripts to show to various officials who expressed varying level of interest, but in 1904 Wang re-sealed the cave following an order by the governor of Gansu concerned about the cost of transporting these documents. Words of Wang's discovery drew the attention of a joint British/Indian group led by

9785-500: Was able to collect around 7,000 complete manuscripts and 6,000 fragments for which he paid £130, although these include many duplicate copies of the Diamond and Lotus Sutras . Pelliot took almost 10,000 documents for the equivalent of £90, but, unlike Stein, Pelliot was a trained sinologist literate in Chinese, and he was allowed to examine the manuscripts freely, so he was able to pick a better selection of documents than Stein. Pelliot

9888-471: Was constructed in 695 under the edicts from Empress Wu Zetian who instructed the constructions of monasteries in 689 and giant statues in 694. The smaller one is 27 m tall and was constructed in 713–41. The larger northern giant Buddha was damaged in an earthquake and had been repaired and restored multiple times, consequently its clothing, colour and gestures had been changed and only the head retains its original Early Tang appearance. The southern statue however

9991-493: Was interested in the more unusual and exotic of the Dunhuang manuscripts, such as those dealing with the administration and financing of the monastery and associated lay men's groups. Many of these manuscripts survived only because they formed a type of palimpsest whereby papers were reused and Buddhist texts were written on the opposite side of the paper . Hundreds more of the manuscripts were sold by Wang to Otani Kozui and Sergei Oldenburg. Efforts are now underway to reconstitute

10094-529: Was normally written at the time. Dunhuang was conquered in 1227 by the Mongols , and became part of the Mongol Empire in the wake of Kublai Khan 's conquest of China under the Yuan dynasty . During the Ming dynasty, China became a major sea power, conducting several voyages of exploration with sea routes for trade and cultural exchanges. Dunhuang went into a steep decline after the Chinese trade with

10197-455: Was originally used as a memorial cave for a local monk Hongbian on his death in 862. Hongbian, from a wealthy Wu family, was responsible for the construction of cave 16, and the Library Cave may have been used as his retreat in his lifetime. The cave originally contained his statue which was moved to another cave when it was used to keep manuscripts, some of which bear Hongbian's seal. A large number of documents dating from 406 to 1002 were found in

10300-423: Was proposed in light of the absence of documents from Xi Xia and the disordered state in which Pelliot found the room (perhaps a misinterpretation because unbeknownst to him the room was disturbed by Stein months before). Another theory posits that the items were from a monastic library and hidden due to threats from Muslims who were moving eastward. This theory proposes that the monks of a nearby monastery heard about

10403-412: Was the first to describe the cave in its original state: Heaped up in layers, but without any order, there appeared in the dim light of the priest's little lamp a solid mass of manuscript bundles rising to a height of nearly ten feet, and filling, as subsequent measurement showed, close on 500 cubic feet. The area left clear within the room was just sufficient for two people to stand in. The Library Cave

10506-420: Was then under Tibetan control. As a frontier town, Dunhuang had been occupied at various times by other non-Han Chinese people. After the Tang dynasty, the site went into a gradual decline, and construction of new caves ceased entirely after the Yuan dynasty . By then Islam had conquered much of Central Asia, and the Silk Road declined in importance when trading via sea-routes began to dominate Chinese trade with

10609-403: Was walled off sometime early in the 11th century. A number of theories have been proposed as the reason for sealing the caves. Stein first proposed that the cave had become a waste repository for venerable, damaged and used manuscripts and hallowed paraphernalia and then sealed perhaps when the place came under threat. Following this interpretation some suggested that the handwritten manuscripts of

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