UNESCO World Heritage SiteNational 5A Scenic AreaNorthwest China
Mogao Caves, Dunhuang
敦煌莫高窟 · Gansu, Dunhuang
The greatest treasure house of Buddhist art on the Silk Road, with 492 cave temples of murals and statues.
The Mogao Caves near Dunhuang are cut into a cliff along the ancient Silk Road and contain 492 decorated cave temples spanning 1,000 years, filled with wall murals, painted sculptures and the celebrated Library Cave of manuscripts. It is among the world's most important repositories of Buddhist art and Silk Road cultural exchange.
Carving began in 366 AD and continued for a millennium through dynasties of heavy Silk Road traffic, as merchants and monks commissioned devotional art. The sealed Library Cave (cave 17) yielded tens of thousands of medieval manuscripts rediscovered in 1900. The Mogao Caves were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987.
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