| | |
| 493 | start of the construction of the grottoes. |
| 2000 | inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List. |
The grottoes and niches of Longmen contain Buddhist sculptures created from the
Northern Wei Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty (493-907).
The grottoes depict Buddhist subjects overwhelmingly.
There are 2,345 caves and niches, 2,800 inscriptions, 43 pagodas and over
100,000 Buddhist images.
The grottoes are located along the Yi River, especially in an area where the
river cut into the two mountains Xiangshan to the east and
Longmenshan to the west.
The wide gorge is called Yique (The Gate of the Yi River).
Longmen Grottoes are one of the three most famous ancient sculptural sites in
China, the other two are Mogao and Yungang.
The caves are not really developed, and it is not possible to enter them.
On the other side the site is well developed, there are paths and - as the caves
are pretty shallow - it is sufficient to see them from the paths and from special
viewing platforms.
Binoculars might be a good idea though.
Cave Church,
Buddhist cave temples
