The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples[1] 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves; however, this term is also used as a collective term to include other Buddhist cave sites in and around the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 2,000 years.[2]
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 worship, and caves continued to be built at the site until the 14th century.[2][3] The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of 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 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.[4]
^Murray, Stuart A. P. (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History. Chicago: Skyhorse Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-61608-453-0.
^ ab"Mogao Caves". UNESCO. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
^Zhang Wenbin
^Makinen, Julie (27 September 2014). "Getty Institute helps save China's Mogao Grottoes from tourism's impact". Los Angeles Times.
The MogaoCaves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the...
Nestorian Christian, and Zoroastrian documents and other artifacts at MogaoCaves dating back to the Guiyi era reveal their coexistence in a multi-religious...
The caves carved out by the monks, originally used for meditation, developed into a place of worship and pilgrimage called the MogaoCaves or "Caves of...
on the Silk Road. It is the western counterpart of the MogaoCaves, also known as the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas" after the founding monk Yuezun's...
Illustration, is a Buddhist mural painting located on the south wall of Cave 220 of the MogaoCaves in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China. The 5.3 m × 3.5 m (17 ft...
from the body movements in the Dunhuang grotto frescoes (such as in the Mogaocaves), and the musical instruments and music scores found in Dunhuang, Gansu...
pinyin: Wáng Yuánlù; c. 1849 – 1931) was a Taoist priest and abbot of the MogaoCaves at Dunhuang during the early 20th century. He is credited with the discovery...
located some 100 km (62 mi) east of the oasis town of Dunhuang and the MogaoCaves. It takes its name from the elm trees lining the Yulin River, which flows...
pipa-playing Buddhist semi-deities are depicted in the wall paintings of the MogaoCaves near Dunhuang. The four and five-stringed pipas were especially popular...
the attributes of a Bodhisattva. Cave 17 is contemporary with the earliest decorated MogaoCaves near Dunhuang (caves 268, 272 and 275), which were built...
Caves in India, of the 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE, probably housed several hundred Buddhist monks and are cut into a cliff, as are the Mogao Caves...
woodblock-printed texts) in Chinese and other languages that were discovered at the MogaoCaves of Dunhuang, China, during the 20th century. The majority of the surviving...
centuries A.D. in the MogaoCaves (Caves 327 and 465) and Yulin Caves in Dunhuang, China, and the Kizil Caves and Bezeklik Caves (cave 438) in Xinjiang, China...
China. The other two grottoes are the Yungang Caves near Datong in Shanxi Province, and the MogaoCaves near Dunhuang in Gansu Province. The valley formed...
by the conquest of Khotan and ending of Buddhism there, sealed Cave 17 of the MogaoCaves containing the Dunhuang manuscripts so to protect them. The Karakhanid...
Hungarian-born British archaeologist Aurel Stein at the Library Cave (Cave 17) of the MogaoCaves in 1908, and is now kept in the British Museum, London. The...
Together with the MogaoCaves, Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves, the Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves is one of the five...
(一卷，兼受無相戒弘法弟子法海集記). Two copies dated to between 830 and 860 have been found in the MogaoCaves in Dunhuang. Both are thought to be based on an edition from about 780...
with large groups of excavated caves, include the Yungang Grottoes, Longmen Grottoes, Maijishan Grottoes, and MogaoCaves. Bronze mask, from Sanxingdui...
the south of the MogaoCaves, and together with these, the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves, and Yulin Caves, is one of the...
Buddhist statues from Central Asia, as depicted in the murals found in the MogaoCaves. Emperor Wu is considered one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history...
written in Chinese sometime before the 9th century and were found in the MogaoCaves among the Dunhuang manuscripts. Chinese Manichaeism represents a set...
Hundred Robbers (535–557 CE), MogaoCaves, Cave 285, Dunhuang, Western Wei period An apsara plays a pipa in MogaoCaves, Cave 285, Western Wei period. Monarchy...
at Zhoukoudian, Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the MogaoCaves and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, and all of them were in China...
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