Information about Mogao Caves~~

Mogao Grottoes is a national key cultural relics protection unit, commonly known as the Cave of a Thousand Buddhas, located in the western end of the Hexi Corridor, Dunhuang, known for its exquisite murals and statues. It was built in the sixteen countries of the pre-Qin period, through the sixteen countries, the Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Western Xia, Yuan and other generations of construction, the formation of a huge scale, the existing caves 735, mural paintings of 45,000 square meters, clay colorful sculpture 2415, is the world's largest existing, the richest Buddhist art shrine. In recent times, the cave has been discovered, containing more than 50,000 pieces of ancient relics, which has given rise to the discipline of Dunhuang Studies, which specializes in the study of the canonical texts of the cave and Dunhuang art. However, in recent times, Mogao Grottoes have been subjected to fraud, theft, massive loss of cultural relics, and their treasures have been seriously damaged. 1961, Mogao Grottoes was announced as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. 1987, Mogao Grottoes was listed as a World Heritage Site. It is one of the four major grottoes in China.

Overview of the history

Mogao Caves is located in China's Gansu Province, 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, Mingsha Mountain, the eastern foot of the cliffs, in front of the Dangquan River, facing east, north-south length of 1,680 meters, 50 meters high. Cave distribution of high and low, lined up, up and down up to five layers. It was built in the sixteen Kingdoms period, according to the Tang "Li Kejian remodeling Mogao Grottoes niche monument" records, the pre-Qin Jianyuan two years (366 years), the monk Le Cong passing through the mountain, suddenly saw the golden light shining, such as the appearance of ten thousand Buddhas, so it was in the rock wall cut the first cave. Thereafter, Zen Master Faliang and others continued to build caves here to practice Zen meditation, called "Mogao Grottoes", meaning "the high place of the desert". The name was changed to "Mogao Grottoes" in later times because it was a common name for "Mo" and "Mo". Northern Wei, Western Wei and Northern Zhou, the rulers believed in Buddhism, grotto construction supported by the princes and nobles, the development of faster. Sui and Tang dynasties, with the prosperity of the Silk Road, Mogao Grottoes is more prosperous, in the Wu Zetian when there are more than a thousand caves. After the Anshi Rebellion, Dunhuang was successively occupied by the Tubo and the Returning Righteousness Army, but statue-making activities were not greatly affected. Northern Song Dynasty, Western Xia and Yuan Dynasty, Mogao Grottoes gradually declining, only to repair the previous dynasty caves mainly, very few new. After the Yuan Dynasty, with the abandonment of the Silk Road, Mogao Grottoes also stopped building and gradually disappeared in the world's vision. It was not until after the 40th year of the Kangxi reign (1701) that the site was brought back to the forefront of people's attention. In modern times, it is often referred to as the "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas".

The Mogao Grottoes, with 735 caves ranging from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, are divided into two areas, the North and the South. South is the main body of the Mogao Grottoes, for the monks to engage in religious activities, there are 487 caves, all have wall paintings or statues. The North District has 248 caves, of which only 5 exist frescoes or statues, while the others are monks practice, living and burial place after death, there is a kang, stove kang, flue, niches, lamps and other living facilities. The two districts*** counted 492 caves where murals and statues exist, with 45,000 square meters of murals, 2,415 clay colored statues, 5 Tang and Song wooden cliff eaves, and thousands of lotus pillar stones and paving tiles.

Artistic Characteristics

Mogao Caves is a large-scale grotto temple integrating the arts of painting, sculpture and architecture, with frescoes as the main feature and statues as a supplement. Its grottoes are mainly in the form of Zen Grottoes, the central tower pillar grottoes, hall grottoes, the center of the Buddha altar grottoes, four walls and three niches grottoes, large like the grottoes, Nirvana Grottoes and other grottoes. The size of the grottoes vary greatly, the largest 16th grottoes up to 268 square meters, the smallest 37th grotto is not more than a foot high. Caves outside the original wooden halls, and corridors, stacks and other connected, are now mostly gone.

Mogao Caves murals painted on the four walls of the cave, the cave roof and the niche, the content of the profound, there are mainly Buddha, Buddhist stories, Buddhist history, sutra, gods and monsters, feeders, decorative motifs, such as seven types of subjects, in addition to a lot of expression of the time, hunting, farming, textile, transportation, war, construction, dance, wedding and funeral, and other aspects of social life of the paintings. Some of these paintings are majestic and broad, while others are bright and magnificent, reflecting the artistic styles and characteristics of different periods. China's paintings before the Five Dynasties have been mostly dispersed, Mogao Grottoes murals for the study of China's art history provides an important physical object, but also for the study of ancient Chinese customs provide extremely valuable images and drawings. According to calculations, these murals, if arranged according to the 2-meter-high, can be lined up to 25 kilometers of the gallery.

Mogao Grottoes is located in the cliffs of the soil is soft, and not suitable for making stone carvings, so the Mogao Grottoes statues in addition to the four Buddha for the stone tire clay, the rest of the wood and bone clay sculpture. Statues are Buddhist gods and figures, arranged in a single statue and group statues and other combinations, group statues are generally Buddha in the center, flanked by disciples, bodhisattvas, etc., as few as 3 bodies, as many as 11 bodies. The colorful sculpture form has round sculpture, floating sculpture, shadow sculpture, good karma sculpture and so on. These statues are exquisite and realistic, imaginative, high attainments, and with the frescoes, complement each other.

It is a nine-storey eaves, also known as the "North Statue", is in the middle of the cliff caves, and the top of the cliff is as high as the lofty and spectacular. Its wooden structure for the soil red, eaves high pecking, the appearance of the outline of the staggered, the eaves tied bell, with the wind for sound. Between the Maitreya Buddha sitting statue, 35.6 meters high, painted by the stone tire clay sculpture, is China's domestic second only to Leshan Buddha and Rongxian Buddha's third largest sitting Buddha. The space to accommodate the Buddha is large in the lower part and small in the upper part, with a square plan. There are two passages on the outside of the building, which can be used for viewing the Buddha in close proximity and as a source of light for the head and waist of the Buddha. The eaves of this cave existed before the first year of Tang Wende (888), when it was 5-story, and was rebuilt and changed to 4-story in the fourth year of the Northern Song Qiande (966) and the Qing Dynasty, and was rebuilt again in 1935 to form the present 9-story shape.

The murals of the Mogao Grottoes are filled with beautiful flying skies - the city sculpture of Dunhuang is also an image of a flying nymph playing the pipa. The Flying Sky was a god who served the Buddha and the Emperor, and could sing and dance. Above the wall, the flying sky in the boundless universe, some holding lotus buds, straight into the sky; some from the air swooped down, like a shooting star; some through the heavy buildings and highways, like a swimming dragon; some with the wind scrolling, relaxed and at ease. Painter with the characteristic long winding lines, stretching and harmonious interest, presenting people with a beautiful and ethereal world of imagination.

Bright colors, flying lines, in these northwest painters of the ideal heavenly warm and emotional depiction, we seem to feel their inexhaustible passion in the desert wilderness riding wildly, perhaps it is this passion that gave birth to the mural in the imaginative power of that kind of flamboyance it!

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