Nine-storied building

It is said that there was a monk of strong will and noble character, named Le Zun, in a worn out kasaya, with a monk's staff in hand, arrived at the Mingsha Hill in a day of 336 AD. He saw the majesty and magnificence of the hill and Daquan River in the sunshine.

Buddha Cave 130

He saw the hill seemed to be like a big Buddha sleeping there, and there was numerous golden rays shining over it. He was surprised and said "This is a Holy Land! A good place for practicing Buddhism!" And he decided to build grottoes, statues and fescoes in them there. The Grottoes were built one after another from then on.

Frescoes

Bodhisattva

Frescoes are the most important part of the Dunhuang art works. They are painted on the walls and ceilings of the grottoes. There are over 50000m2 of the frescoes kept in Dunhuang Grottoes. The largest among them is of over 40m2.

Frescoes

Bodhisattva

They show the Buddhist sutra's content and social look more widely and fully than the scultures and stone tablets do since they are made not so difficultly as the stone works and easy to show the details.

Frescoes

Cave 112

The frescoes were continuously made from the Later LIang Dynasty (907 A.D.) to the Yuan Dynasty (1368 A.D.). Often, they show the donors who built the grottoes.

Frescoes

Cave 465

Tantric art whose explicit sexual portrayals have been deemed too corrupting for the public to view.