Mogao Grottoes

Mogao Grottoes, also called Thousand Buddha Caves, is one of the four most famous caves in China. Mogao Grottoes is also the best preserved treasures of Buddhist art in the world. In 1987, it was listed as World Cultural Heritage.

Legend goes that when a monk travelled here, he saw golden light shining on Mingsha Mountain. It looked like that thousand Buddha stood there. Then the Mogao Grottoes was begun to build about in 366AD.

It is about 1600 meters high with five floors. The shape looks like a honeycomb loft. What a wonderful place! Mogao Grottoes is a wonderful art palace with ancient buildings, sculptures, murals, particularly famous for the colorful murals to the world. Among them, Feitian, an imagined flying god, and the Reverse Playing of the Lute are the most famous paintings. Mogao Grottoes’ sculptures enjoy high reputations for a long period of time. There not only stands 33 meters tall statue, and also ten centimeters of small Buddha. Nowadays, there exists 735 caves, 45,000 square meters murals, 2415 colorful sculptures.

However, nature and the tourist traffic become the threat to the grottoes. Although it is under good protection now, nothing can stop its deterioration. Maybe one day, it will disappear forever.

Best Travel Time:
From May to October, the average temperature of July is 24.7 ℃ (it is dry throughout the year, and great temperature difference between day and night.)