Mogao Grottoes, located at a strategic point on the Silk Road in China, is not only a transit point for trade between the East and the West, but also a meeting point for religion, culture and knowledge. The 492 small caves and cave temples in Mogao Grottoes are world-famous for their statues and murals, showing the Buddhist art that has lasted for thousands of years.
Introduction to Mogao Grottoes
Mogao Grottoes are located in Dunhuang at the western end of the Hexi Corridor. It was excavated from the Sixteen Kingdoms period to the Yuan Dynasty, lasting about 1,000 years, which is unique among Chinese grottoes. It is not only a brilliant art treasure house of ancient Chinese civilization, but also an important witness to the dialogue and exchanges between different civilizations that once took place on the ancient Silk Road. Mogao Grottoes currently has 735 caves, more than 45,000 square meters of murals, more than 2,400 colored sculptures, and 5 Tang and Song Dynasty wooden cave eaves. It is a microcosm of the development and evolution of Chinese grotto art and enjoys a lofty historical status in grotto art. The caves are painted and sculpted with Buddha statues and Buddhist scriptures, and are places for Buddhists to practice, observe images, and worship.
Dunhuang Grottoes is a three-dimensional art that combines architecture, sculpture, and murals. The caves are divided into two areas: the 492 caves in the south area are the places for worshipping Buddha in Mogao Grottoes, and the 243 caves in the north area are mainly the residences of monks and craftsmen. They have earthen kang pits, flues, niches, lamp stands and other facilities for practice and living, but most of them do not have colored sculptures and murals.
The name Dunhuang Grottoes is usually used to refer to Mogao Grottoes. It is the general name of Mogao Grottoes and Western Thousand Buddha Caves, and sometimes also includes Yulin Grottoes in Anxi. Dunhuang Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi, and Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan are known as the three major grottoes in China. In 1961, the State Council of China announced that Mogao Grottoes and Yulin Grottoes were national key cultural relics protection units. In 1987, Mogao Grottoes was listed in the World Heritage List as a cultural heritage.
Building Structure
Mogao Grottoes were carved on the cliffs at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City. It faces Dangquan in front and Sanwei Mountain, a branch of Qilian Mountain, in the east. It is 1,680 meters long from north to south. There are 735 caves built in various dynasties, distributed on cliffs 15 to 30 meters high, with 1 to 4 layers distributed up and down. It is divided into two areas, the south and the north. The south area is a place for Buddhist worship activities. There are 492 caves with murals and colored sculptures from various dynasties, more than 2,400 colored sculptures, more than 45,000 square meters of murals, five wooden cave eaves from the Tang and Song Dynasties, and a nine-story building rebuilt in the early Republic of China as the symbol of Mogao Grottoes. There are more than 20 lotus pillars and stupas, and more than 20,000 floor tiles. The 243 caves in the North District (another 5 caves have been included in the 492 caves in the North District) are places for monks to practice, live and be buried. There are earthen kangs, stoves, flues, niches, lampstands and other facilities for practice and life, but most of them do not have colored sculptures and murals.
Each cave in Mogao Grottoes is a comprehensive art of cave architecture, colored sculptures and paintings. The largest cave is more than 200 square meters, and the smallest is less than 1 square meter. The cave forms mainly include Zen caves, central tower column caves, Buddha niche caves, Buddha altar caves, Nirvana caves, seven Buddha caves, and large statue caves. The colored sculptures combined with sculpture and painting mainly include Buddha, Bodhisattva, disciples, heavenly kings, and strong men. The colored sculptures include round sculptures, relief sculptures, shadow sculptures, and good deeds mud. Except for the two big Buddhas in Caves 96 and 130 and the two big reclining Buddhas in Caves 148 and 158, which are stone-based clay sculptures, the rest are wood-framed clay sculptures. The Buddha statue is in the center, with disciples, bodhisattvas, heavenly kings, and strong men standing on both sides, with at least 3 and as many as 11. The tallest is the 35.6-meter-tall Maitreya statue in Cave 96, while the smallest is just over 10 centimeters.
Artistic Value
Architectural Art
There are more than 500 caves in Dunhuang Grottoes, with 492 paintings and colored sculptures preserved. According to the cave architecture and function, they are divided into central pillar caves (bracket caves), hall caves (central altar caves), bucket-shaped caves, large statue caves, nirvana caves, meditation caves, monk caves, granary caves, shadow caves and burial caves, as well as some pagodas. The largest cave is more than 40 meters high and 30 meters wide, and the smallest is less than a foot high. The central tower column type, an imported cave type preserved from the early grottoes, reflects that ancient artists digested and absorbed foreign art while accepting it, making it a Chinese national form, many of which are masterpieces of existing ancient buildings. There are relatively complete wooden structure cave eaves from the Tang and Song dynasties outside many caves, which are rare physical materials of wooden structure ancient buildings and have extremely high research value.
Colored Sculpture Art
Dunhuang Grottoes has more than 500 caves, among which 492 paintings and colored sculptures are preserved. According to the cave architecture and function, they are divided into central pillar caves (bracket caves), hall caves (central altar caves), bucket-shaped caves, large statue caves, nirvana caves, meditation caves, monks' room caves, granary caves, shadow caves and burial caves, and there are also some pagodas. The largest cave is more than 40 meters high and 30 meters wide, and the smallest is less than a foot high. The central tower column type, an imported cave type preserved from the early grottoes, reflects that ancient artists digested and absorbed foreign art while accepting it, making it a Chinese national form, many of which are masterpieces of existing ancient buildings. Outside many caves, there are relatively complete wooden structure cave eaves from the Tang and Song dynasties, which are rare physical materials of wooden structure ancient buildings and have extremely high research value.
Mural Art
The grotto murals are rich and colorful, with various Buddhist stories, mountain and river scenery, pavilions and other architectural paintings, landscape paintings, flower patterns, flying Buddha statues, and various scenes of the working people at that time. They are the artistic reproduction of the folk customs and historical changes of more than 1,500 years from the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Qing Dynasty. They are magnificent. It can also be found in a large number of mural arts that ancient artists absorbed the strengths of ancient art from Iran, India, Greece and other countries on the basis of nationalization, which is a symbol of the developed civilization of the Chinese nation. The murals of different dynasties show different painting styles, reflecting the political, economic and cultural conditions of Chinese feudal society. They are a glorious chapter in the history of ancient Chinese art and provide precious visual historical materials for the study of ancient Chinese history.
Scientific protection
How can we make treasures that have lasted for thousands of years pass on to the next millennium? The answer is the power of technology.
Walking to the top of the Mogao Grottoes, you can see the continuous sand ridges of Mingsha Mountain in the distance and the continuous grass grids in front of you.
Sandstorms were once the biggest threat to the Mogao Grottoes. On the walls outside the Mogao Grottoes Sutra Cave, scratches record the history of quicksand pouring into the caves a hundred years ago. Digging sand-proof ditches, building sand-blocking wooden fences, using chemical methods to fix sand... For more than half a century, conservation workers have been trying new methods to prevent and control sand damage.
Zhang Guobin, deputy research curator of the Dunhuang Academy, introduced that the Mogao Grottoes sand control system, which consists of high vertical fences, cave roof plant sand-fixing belts, and grass grid sand barriers, has effectively reduced the harm of sandstorms. Today, the annual sand accumulation in front of the Mogao Grottoes has dropped from 3,000 cubic meters in the 1980s to less than 200 cubic meters.
Entering the Dunhuang Grottoes Monitoring Center, the temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, passenger flow and other data of each open cave are displayed on a large screen on the entire wall. Even the rainfall, floods, and sandstorms within hundreds of kilometers are updated in real time on the large screen.
This preventive protection monitoring and early warning system relies on more than 600 different types of sensors deployed in the cave area, realizing real-time collection and interactive analysis of data on the Mogao Grottoes' macro-environment, cave micro-environment, cultural relics, cliffs, tourist carrying capacity, etc. It not only warns of potential risks in a timely manner, but also provides reliable data support for preventive protection.
Embrace the world
As early as the 1950s, the Dunhuang Research Institute took steps towards internationalization and continued to cooperate with relevant institutions in countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and France. The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has allowed Dunhuang, which has its own international genes, to further embrace the world.
In the past decade, experts from the Dunhuang Research Institute have visited Iran, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries many times to conduct investigations and exchanges on ancient sites of the Silk Road, and continue to explore the connection between Dunhuang and the Silk Road. Related research has not only discovered the echoes of different civilizations for thousands of years, but also enhanced the exchanges and interactions between scholars at home and abroad. From academic research to a broader world, the contemporary value of Dunhuang is being further expanded.
In March this year, the Guimet National Museum of Asian Art in Paris, France, held the Dunhuang Restoration Costume Exhibition of "Meeting Across Time and Space-International Fashion Communication of Traditional Chinese Costumes". The "Tang Dynasty Woman" wearing a pomegranate skirt, a shawl on her shoulders, and a hutou shoe on her feet walked slowly, as if walking towards people through history.
"Dunhuang culture is a representative of multicultural exchange and integration. The open and inclusive Dunhuang culture is more likely to resonate with the French." Cui Yan, executive director of the Dunhuang Costume Culture Research and Innovation Design Center of the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, said that he hopes that designers at home and abroad can draw nourishment from Dunhuang costume culture and help enrich and develop the global fashion industry.
The establishment of platforms such as the Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo, the "East Asian Cultural Capital" event, the Dunhuang Culture Global Connection, and the "Let the World Enter the Hexi Corridor-Diplomats Visit China Gansu Tour" will allow more foreign friends to understand Dunhuang, communicate with the people in cultural exchange activities, and spread Dunhuang culture around the world.
"The exchange and mutual learning of civilizations is the core of the human story. No civilization can exist alone. Without each other, we cannot cope with many problems in the world." Hussam Husseini, the Jordanian ambassador to China, who visited Dunhuang in June, said that exchanges have enriched the cultural level of Dunhuang. The magnificence of Mogao Grottoes is the result of China's open embrace, active exchanges and interactions with different civilizations. This is a magnificent example of civilizational openness. In the next step, they will continue to focus on major needs in the field of international frontiers and national cultural heritage protection, take the scientific protection and effective utilization of cultural heritage as their mission, and continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with countries participating in the construction of the “Belt and Road”.
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