Art of calligraphy
By 20 14, there will be 2345 caves and more than 80 pagodas in Dongxishan. Longmen Grottoes is the place with the largest number of ancient steles in China, which is called the ancient forest of steles. * * There are more than 2,860 stone inscriptions, among which the long-standing Twenty Pieces of Longmen and the One Que Buddhist Shrine Monument by Chu are the models of Wei Bei Harmony respectively, which can be called the fine works of China calligraphy art. There are more than 1 1000 existing Buddha statues in Longmen Mountain. The largest Buddha statue is 17. 14 meters high, and the smallest Buddha statue with a head height of 4 meters is in Lianhua Cave, and each statue is only 2 cm long, which is called micro-sculpture. [2]
Longmen Grottoes are also the art history and treasures of calligraphy. The famous calligraphy masterpiece "Longmen Twenty" is the best calligraphy selected by later northern extension connoisseurs from many stone inscriptions in Longmen Grottoes. These inscriptions not only record the motive and purpose of the statue of the wishing man, but also provide a basis for the archaeological staging of the grottoes. Kang Youwei, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, strongly advocated writing with Wei Bei in the whole society, praising Wei Bei's ten beauties, such as jumping brushwork, natural structure and rich flesh and blood. Today, Wei Bei is widely used as a slogan and decorative text. It can be seen that twenty products occupy a decisive position in calligraphy. [2]
Buddhist culture
Longmen Grottoes is an artistic expression of Buddhist culture, but it also reflects the political, economic and cultural trends at that time. The grotto is a large stone carving art museum, because it preserves a large number of physical materials such as religion, art, architecture, calligraphy, music, clothing, medicine and so on.
Cultural significance
Longmen Grottoes is the most concentrated place where royal nobles made wishes and statues in the Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties. It embodies the will and behavior of the royal family and has a strong ethnic and religious color. The statues of the two dynasties reflect very different styles of the times. The statues in the Northern Wei Dynasty have lost the rough, majestic and vigorous features of the statues in Yungang Grottoes here, but the life atmosphere has gradually become strong and tends to be lively, delicate and gentle. These statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty have slender faces, thin shoulders and straight chests, and clothes lines are carved with straight knives, which are vigorous and simple. Among the numerous caves carved in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the most representative ones are Guyang Cave, Binyang Middle Cave, Lotus Cave and Cave Temple. Among them, Guyangdong concentrated a group of statues of royal aristocrats and court ministers in the early stage of the Northern Wei Dynasty's move to Luoyang, which typically reflected the historical model of the Northern Wei Dynasty's national worship of Buddhism. These magnificent stone carvings are precious records of the integration of China traditional culture and foreign civilization.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, people advocated thinness as beauty, so the Buddha sculpture also pursued the artistic style of showing bones and clearing images. People in the Tang Dynasty regarded fat as beauty, so the face of the Buddha statue in the Tang Dynasty was round, the shoulders were wide and the chest was bulging, and the lines of clothing were carved with a round knife, which was natural and smooth. The sculptures in Longmen Grottoes in the Tang Dynasty inherited the excellent traditions of the Northern Wei Dynasty, absorbed the culture of the Han nationality, and created a vigorous, vivid, simple and natural realistic style, reaching the peak of the carving art of Buddha statues. Among the key grottoes in Longmen Grottoes in the Tang Dynasty, the grand and magnificent statue of Dalushan is the most famous. This cliff-like Buddhist shrine carved according to Huayan Jing, centered on the elegant and extraordinary Lushena Buddha, expresses the ideal artistic conception of the Buddhist world full of peace with the image of an artistic group full of modal texture in a week. This group of statues embodies the powerful material strength and spiritual strength of the Tang Dynasty Empire, and shows the highest achievement of the Tang Dynasty sculpture art..
External evaluation
Evaluation by World Heritage Committee: The grottoes and shrines in Longmen area show the largest and best plastic arts in China from the late Northern Wei Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty (AD 493-907). These works of art describe the religious themes in Buddhism in detail and represent the highest peak of stone carving art in China.
Longmen Grottoes meet the following evaluation criteria for world cultural heritage:
(A) the outstanding performance of human artistic creativity.
(2) It is a perfect display of art forms with a long history and has played an important role in the cultural development of this region.
(3) It shows the high cultural level and mature society of China in the Tang Dynasty.