Mogao Caves

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View of the Mogao Grottoes from outside

The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes (Traditional Chinese: 莫高窟; Simplified Chinese: 莫高窟; pinyin: mò gāo kū) form a system of 492 temples near Dunhuang, in Gansu province, China. They are also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, Qianfodong (Traditional Chinese: 千佛洞; Simplified Chinese: 千佛洞; pinyin: qiān fó dòng) [link], or the Caves of Dunhuang.

Introduction

Robbers on the Silk Road, Mogao caves, 535-556 CE.

Local legend says that in AD 366 the Buddhist monk Lezun (樂尊) had a vision of a thousand Buddhas and convinced a wealthy Silk Road pilgrim to fund the first of the temples. The temples eventually grew to number more than a thousand. From the 4th until the 14th century, Buddhist monks at Dunhuang collected scriptures from the west, and many pilgrims passed through the area, painting murals inside the caves. The murals cover 450,000 square feet (42,000 m²). The caves were abandoned in the 14th century.

The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes, and along with Longmen and Yungang are one of the three famous ancient sculptural sites of China.

The travel of Zhang Qian to the West, Mogao caves, 618-712 CE.

Buddhist monks valued austerity in life, and they hoped that remote caves would aid their quest for enlightenment. The paintings served as aids to meditation, as visual representations of their quest for enlightenment, and as tools to inform illiterate Chinese about Buddhist beliefs and stories.

In the early 20th century, a Chinese Taoist named Wang Yuan-lu appointed himself guardian of some of these temples. Wang discovered an enormous hoard of manuscripts. Rumors of these manuscripts brought European explorers, who trekked across Central Asia to attempt to see and obtain these manuscripts. Wang embarked on an ambitious refurbishment of the temples, funded in part by soliciting donations from neighboring towns, and in part by donations from European explorers such as Sir Aurel Stein (who discovered the famous Diamond Sutra in one of the Mogao Caves) and Paul Pelliot who were interested in Wang's manuscripts.

Today, the site is an important tourist attraction and the subject of an ongoing archaeological project.

The Mogao Caves became one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987.

Notice to Visitors

Notice to Visitors

1. Opening times
   8:30am - 6:00pm from 1st April to 31st October (ticket sold till 5:00pm)
   9:00am - 5:30pm from 1st November to 31st March (ticket sold till 4:30pm)
2. Per ticket is priced ¥100RMB for domestic visitors, and ¥120RMB for foreign visitors (¥20RMB covered for foreign language interpretation).
3. With a ticket, visitors are admitted to the open caves and the Exhibition Hall of the Hidden Library Cave. The ticket is irretrievable and valid only once on the very day. Admission is free to the Relics Exhibition Center and the Historical Exhibition Hall of the Dunhuang Academy.
4. Visitors will be organized into groups containing 20 to 25 persons to access caves under the guidance of a professional interpreter.
5. Group visitors and individuals requiring foreign language interpretation are supposed to contact the Reception Office (to the south of the Ticket Office). Other visitors please to direct to the Entrance to be grouped. During summit season, reservation system is to be followed by both group visitors and individual foreigner who needs foreign language interpretation, which is available at 9:00am, 12:00pm and 2:00pm.
6. Caves are not open on raining, snowing or sandstorming days for conservation of the heritage.
7. No bag, camera or video camera is allowed to the caves.
8. Not to score, smear or touch wall paintings and painted sculptures.
9. Anyone who damages cultural relles will be punished by relevant laws and regulations.

Fresco describing Emperor Han Wudi (156-87 BCE) worshipping two statues of the Buddha, Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, c.8th century CE.

Complaint telephone: 8869060, 8869001.

See also

• Buddhism in China
• Jesus Sutras

Reference

• Hopkirk, Peter (1980). Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-435-8.

External links

• [International Dunhuang Project]
• [Travel China Guide: Dunhuang Caves]

World Heritage Sites in China

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