Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu include Mogao Grottoes, West Thousand Buddha Cave and Yulin Grottoes. Among them, the Mogao Grottoes, commonly known as the Thousand Buddha Cave, located 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, are the representatives of Dunhuang Grottoes. There are also five wooden structures built in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
The Mogao Grottoes is located on the cliff at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province. It has five floors up and down and is about 1600 meters long from north to south. First excavated in 366 AD, after sixteen countries and more than ten generations in Yuan Dynasty, a large-scale and rich cave group was formed. The art of Mogao Grottoes is a comprehensive art integrating architecture, painted sculptures and murals. There are 49 caves, 45,000 square meters of murals, more than 2,400 colorful sculptures, more than 4,000 flying figures, five wooden structures built in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and thousands of lotus columns and floor tiles. It is a huge and exquisite comprehensive art hall composed of architecture, painting and sculpture. It is the largest and most complete treasure house of Buddhist art in the world, and is known as the "Pearl of Oriental Art". At the beginning of the 20th century, the Buddhist Scripture Pavilion (CaveNo. 17 of Mogao Grottoes) was discovered, which contained 50,000 to 60,000 scriptures, documents and cultural relics from the 4th to10th centuries. It has aroused great concern of scholars at home and abroad and formed the famous Dunhuang studies.
Among the Dunhuang grottoes, frescoes are the most abundant and rich in content, and sculpture painting is the most extensive theme, that is, all kinds of buddhas, bodhisattvas, kings and their statements are equal; Buddhist story painting is a cartoon adapted from various stories in Buddhist scriptures; Classic painting is a large-scale classic painting that rose in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which comprehensively embodies all the contents of a classic and promotes the imaginary fairy world. Buddhist historical paintings embody the theme of combining Buddhist legends and stories with historical figures in India, Central Asia and China. The portrait of the benefactor, that is, the portrait of the hero who made the hole, is a portrait history.
In the murals of the Mogao Grottoes in different periods, there are some pictures reflecting productive labor, social life, clothing system, ancient architecture modeling, music, dance, acrobatics and other scenes, and also record the historical facts of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, which provides valuable information for the study of ancient China society from the 4th century to14th century.
The murals in Mogao Grottoes also have high artistic value, with the Tang Dynasty as the highest level. The most influential caves are 96 caves, 17 caves, 130 caves, 158 caves, 259 caves, 285 caves, 200 caves and 428 caves. Western scholars call Dunhuang murals "the library on the wall".
The excavation of the Mogao Grottoes began in 366 AD. According to records, there was a monk with excellent virtue who went west with a stick and saw a thousand buddhas shining, and he had an epiphany, so he chiseled the first grotto. From the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Yuan Dynasty, the excavation of grottoes lasted for ten dynasties, 1500 years. Today, the grottoes in Lezun have long been indistinguishable, while the Mogao Grottoes have been eroded by wind and sand, and more than 750 caves in ten dynasties have been preserved, with 45,000 square meters of murals, more than 3,000 colored sculptures and 5 wooden eaves in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In addition, 40,000 or 50,000 handwritten items found in the cave of Tibetan scriptures are specially used for various cultural relics, including thousands of silk paintings, prints, embroidery and a large number of calligraphy works. If all the artworks are arranged one by one, it will be a world-class gallery spanning 25 kilometers.
The colored sculptures in Mogao Grottoes are mostly Buddhist figures and their deeds of practicing nirvana. Because the rocks in Mogao Grottoes are loose and cannot be carved, craftsmen use clay sculptures. Clay sculptures before the Tang Dynasty are rarely preserved in other places, so a large number of colored sculptures in Mogao Grottoes are priceless and hard to find.
In addition, there are national traditional myths and various decorative patterns. From the murals, we can see various social activities of all ethnic groups and classes, such as emperor trips, farming, fishing and hunting, smelting iron, weddings and funerals, business trips, emissaries meeting, playing the piano, singing and dancing ... There are many things in society.
As a treasure house of art, the Mogao Grottoes is a beautiful landscape, where artistic fashions of different eras gather. Dunhuang Tang art represents the worst era of Buddhist art in China. Foreign art and China national art complement each other, and Dunhuang Tang art is unprecedentedly gorgeous. Magnificent statue of the giant Buddha up to ten meters high; A small bodhisattva with dexterity and exquisiteness of only ten centimeters; Great changes with grand scenes and dense characters; One figure painting with vivid image and distinct personality is impressive.
Tian Fei is a beautiful bodhisattva, known as the god of nasal spray in Buddhism. She can play and dance, and her whole body is covered with different nasal sprays. Flying in the Tang Dynasty is more colorful and lifelike. She is neither like a winged Greek angel nor like an ancient Indian goddess walking on clouds. China artists use long streamers to make their elegant and light female bodies fly all over the sky. Flying is a gorgeous image of national art. When Dunhuang is mentioned, people will think of magical flying.
Some social life scenes depicted in Dunhuang murals reflect all aspects of production activities and social activities such as hunting, farming, textile, transportation, fighting, music and dance in ancient China. All kinds of figures in murals retain a lot of information about the costumes of people of all ethnic groups in the past. There are a large number of pavilions, pavilions, towers, palaces, cities, bridges and five existing wooden eaves in the murals, which are the image patterns and precious materials for studying ancient buildings in China. Sculpture and painting in China have a history of thousands of years. Many famous painters' works recorded in art history have been lost, and a large number of murals and colored sculptures in Dunhuang art have provided rich physical materials for the study of China art history.
The Mogao Grottoes were once abandoned in the Ming Dynasty, and it didn't attract people's attention until the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (AD 17 15). In the 26th year of Guangxu (A.D. 1900), the Taoist King discovered the Tibetan Sutra Cave, which contained more than 40,000 scriptures, documents and cultural relics. Since then, the Mogao Grottoes have become more noticeable. 1July 1990,191June 4, Stan in Britain took away more than 10,000 suicide notes and cultural relics twice. 1908, the Frenchman Pelliot selected the best documents from the Tibetan Sutra Cave and took away about 5,000 pieces. 19 10 Most of the scriptures robbed in the scripture collection cave were transported to Beijing and handed over to Shi Jing Library for collection. 1* * * years, drunkards Lihua and Yoshikawa Koichiro snatched about 600 scrolls from the Taoist king. 19 14 Russian oldenburg took another batch of scriptures from Dunhuang, surveyed the grottoes, and stole the murals of Cave 263. 1924, American Warner uncovered and stole 26 murals of Mogao Grottoes with special chemical glue. These thefts and damages have caused great losses to Dunhuang cultural relics.
Since the 1940s, China has established the academic research and protection institutions of the Mogao Grottoes. In the 1960s, the grottoes were fully reinforced; Since 1980s, the Mogao Grottoes have entered a period of modern scientific protection. Dunhuang Grottoes Cultural Relics Protection Research and Exhibition Center is the only research and exhibition institution in China. The center exhibition department has a video studio and three exhibition areas to show the essence of Dunhuang grottoes art and its development process, which provides a favorable premise for people to fully and deeply understand Dunhuang grottoes and Dunhuang Buddhist art.
Mogao Caves (English name: Mogao Caves) was selected into the World Heritage List (No.:200-004) in February of 1987 and 12 according to the World Cultural Heritage Selection Criteria C (I) (II) (III) (IV) (V).
Evaluation by World Heritage Committee: Mogao Grottoes are located in the strategic location of the Eurasian Continental Bridge. It is not only a transit point for East-West trade, but also a meeting point of religion, culture and knowledge. There are 49 small grottoes and grotto temples in Mogao Grottoes, which are famous for their statues and murals, showing the Buddhist art that has lasted for thousands of years. Holiday topic
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