By asad russel -
Mogao Grottoes Caves, Dunhuang, China
As the shrine of Buddhist treasures of art the visitors finds the Mogao Caves located on the Mingsha Shan (Mount Echoing Sand) eastern slope about 25 km away from the downtown of Dunhuang. 1600 meters long lead by a network of plank reinforced roads to the cave opening plying from north to south, some reaching up to about 50 meters (164 feet) five stories high which are stacked. The meaning of Mogao is ‘high up in the desert’.
Under the showers of the golden rays a vision of thousand Buddhas was witnessed onsite by a monk, according to the records of Tang Dynasty. Then he started the construction of the caves inspired by the vision and ten dynasties that work spanned. As the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas are commonly known the Mogao Caves. In India the art of Buddhist has its origins. Under their chisels where did not work well the rock surfaces improvised by the sculptors of Mogao. In front of the cave walls they placed the clay statues, as backdrops relief murals were carved, with art decors the ceiling and the sidewalls were painted. The height of the largest statue is 34.5 meters (113 feet) and the height of the small statue is 2 centimeters (0.79 inches).
In the earlier works the Indian art of Buddhist will note traces by the visitors. In a local setting the activities and all walks of life depict in the more recent works. There are 750 caves and while the visitors exploring the caves they will see the special event which captured by the artists and visitors can relive their daily routines. Over the centuries in the artistic quality there are ups and downs also, with available patronage of art on the fortunes of the Buddhism depending on. With the distinctive palette of them in each dynasty artists were painted. The artists painting works from the Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty visitors can see in these caves.
A Chinese Taoist which name was Wang Yuanlu as the guardian of some of these temples appointed himself in the early 1900s. Behind one side of a corridor which to a main cave leading a walled up area Wang discovered. Dating from 406 to 1002 A.D. stuffed with an enormous hoard of manuscripts was a small cave behind the wall. In Chinese these holds old hemp paper scrolls and also in many other languages, silk on paper, painting on hemp, Buddhist paraphernalia and Buddhas numerous damaged figurines. Covers diverse material in the scrolls is the subject matter. The expected Buddhist canonical works are the commentaries which are original along with workbooks, books of prayers, apocryphal works, Confucian works, Nestorian Christian works, Taoist works, works from the Chinese government, anthologies, dictionaries, administrative documents, calligraphic exercises and glossaries. For the paltry sum of 220 pounds to Aurel Stein Wang sold the majority of them which made him notorious in the minds of many Chinese to this day.
With the art work from Mogao can fill 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) of today’s gallery space and people believe that it’s possible. Between China and the other nations for over more than a thousand years the depository exchange of cultural and historical are the Mogao Caves.
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