Mogao Caves
The Mogao Grottoes, commonly named Thousand-Buddha Caves, and praised as “a glittering pearl that adorns the Silk Road”, are the most famous grottoes in China. Located 25km southeast of Dunhuang County, these caves are carved out of the sandstone cliffs of Mingsha Mountain, extending some 1600m from south to north. Constructed in 10 dynasties from the fourth to the 14th century, its 45000 square meters of mural paintings and more than 2000 color statues are regarded as the greatest treasure-house of Buddhist art existing in the world.
The grotto was first chiseled in 366 AD. According to legend, this area was marshland over 1000 years ago. A monk called Yue Zun dreamed of 1000 golden Buddhas when he was traveling home across this region and he decided to turned his dream into reality.
Over the next 1000 years, 16 dynasties rose and fell; artists of each period contributed. The construction work was completed during the Yuan dynasty and since ever, the grottoes have stood there through natural erosion and war flames for hundreds of years. Today, 492 caves are still standing. Altogether there are 2,000 statues and over 45,000 separate murals.
Big statues look grand and small ones look delicate. All these murals and statues reveal the excellent mastery of art and the rich imagination.
Colorful statues in Mogao Grottoes
The colorful painting world of the Mogao Grottoes shows to the world that its characteristic originated not only from the Chinese style, it absorbed the goodness from arts of ancient India, Greece and Iran. Therefore, it is a shining pearl of mixture of eastern and western arts.
Especially, some Buddhist story paintings are so vivid and beautiful. For example, the stories about the whole life of Sakyamuni, and about his goodies and contributing his moral efforts to others.
In addition, murals of Buddha, Bodhisattva, kings of the paradise, mighty fighters, minor thousand-Buddha, and flying Buddhist angels, with the background of mountains and rivers, beatify the mystic grottoes into an Buddhist world with wind blowing and clouds floating.
In fact, the Mogao Grottoes value themselves more than art as most murals reflect the lives of those times. For example, there is a mural showing a scene of robbers robbing a foreign businessman. This picture has revealed the contact between China and the world.
From the paintings, it is easy to learn that music and dancing played important roles in people’s life at that time. In addition, different nationalities clothing, man and woman, old and young, are all presented in the pictures.
The Dunhuang Grottoes also store many scriptures, documents, and books, which are valuable to supplement or revise the antique literature. The colorful murals inside the Grottoes provide precious historical information to study politics, economy, military actions, culture, art, religion, science, national history, foreign affairs, and cultural contact of ancient China. Therefore, coming to this barren land does not just mean to appreciate the ancient paintings.
