In which city are the Mogao Grottoes located? What is the story behind the Mogao Grottoes murals?

Beautiful scenery outside the Great Wall, a good place to go - Mogao Grottoes. The construction of the Dunhuang Grottoes lasted for a thousand years, during an important development period after the long-term division and separatism of the Han Dynasty in the middle and upper part of the Chinese history, moving towards national integration, unification of the north and the south, reaching the peak of the Tang Dynasty, and then from the peak to the decline. During this period, it was the formation and development period of the procedures, schools, categories, and theories of Chinese art, and finally completed the period of sinicization. So which city is the Mogao Grottoes located in? What is the story of the Mogao Grottoes murals? Let's take a look at the introduction of the Encyclopedia Knowledge Network below!

Contents of this article

1. In which city is the Mogao Grottoes located?

2. What are the stories behind the Mogao Grottoes murals?

3. Information on the Painted Sculptures of Mogao Grottoes

In which city is the Mogao Grottoes located?

Mogao Grottoes, commonly known as Thousand Buddha Caves, are situated in Dunhuang at the western end of the Hexi Corridor. In 1987, Mogao Grottoes were listed as a World Cultural Heritage.

Mogao Grottoes, first built in the Former Qin Dynasty of the Sixteen Kingdoms, has been built up in successive dynasties such as the Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Western Xia, and Yuan, forming a huge scale with 735 caves, 45,000 square meters of murals, and 2,415 clay sculptures. It is the largest and most content-rich Buddhist art site in the world. In 1961, Mogao Grottoes was announced by the State Council of the People's Republic of China as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi, Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan, and Maijishan Grottoes in Tianshui, Gansu are known as the four major grottoes in China.

What are the stories behind the Mogao Grottoes murals?

The excavation of Mogao Grottoes was attributed to a monk named Le Zun.

It is said that in 366 AD, Le Zun traveled here and suddenly saw the golden light on Mingsha Mountain, which looked like thousands of Buddhas. He was enlightened and carved the first cave on the cliff. Since then, many merchants on the Silk Road have made wishes to carve caves here in order to pray for a smooth journey and prosperous business, and asked folk artists to paint the images of the gods they worshipped. From the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Yuan Dynasty, the excavation of Mogao Grottoes continued for 10 dynasties.

Mogao Grottoes Painted Sculptures

The Dunhuang colored sculptures are the main part of the Dunhuang Grottoes. Since the Dunhuang Grottoes were carved on gravel, most of them are wooden frame structures. Reeds are tied to the artificial wooden frames, and coarse mud is applied to the grass, then fine mud is applied, pressed and smoothed, and then white powder is applied, and finally painted. It started from the Sixteen Kingdoms, and went through the Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Uighur, Western Xia, Yuan and Qing Dynasties. At present, there are more than 3,000 colored sculptures, including more than 2,000 round sculptures and more than 1,000 relief sculptures. The number of ancient colored sculptures preserved, the long duration and the exquisite craftsmanship are seen by the world. The most prominent artistic feature of the Dunhuang colored sculptures is that the statues and murals of the whole cave are combined with each other, complement each other, and complement each other. The colored sculptures on the niches and altars echo with the paintings on the four walls, which not only achieve the unity and harmony of the art of the whole cave, but also set off the dominant position of the statues in the cave. Another feature is the richness and variety of their postures. The statues appear repeatedly in the caves, making them look the same.