Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu
On the cliff at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, a long plank road twists and turns the grottoes, large and small. The four walls of the grottoes are full of murals and colored sculptures related to Buddhism, solemn and dignified Buddha shadows, dancing and flying in the sky ... solemn and mysterious, which is breathtaking.
This is the Mogao Grottoes, the world's largest Buddhist art treasure house.
In the second century BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions, which opened the land transportation "Silk Road" to Central Asia and West Asia. For thousands of years, the Silk Road of Bitianhuangsha has been connected with cultural exchanges and friendly exchanges between China and the West. Dunhuang, on the other hand, is located at the junction of the North and South roads of the Silk Road. At that time, it was once a bustling metropolis with prosperous trade and temples all over the place. Buddhism, which propagandizes ideas with artistic images, was introduced into China from India and merged with Chinese traditional culture, leaving a large number of grottoes cultural heritages along the way, among which Dunhuang Grottoes, with Mogao Grottoes as the main body, have the largest scale, the longest duration, the richest content and the best preservation.
in February, 1987, the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu Province were listed in the World Heritage List.
Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu include Mogao Grottoes, West Thousand-Buddha Cave and Yulin Grottoes. Among them, the Mogao Grottoes located 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, commonly known as the Thousand Buddha Cave, are the representatives of Dunhuang Grottoes.
The Mogao Grottoes are located on the cliff at the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, with five floors up and down and a length of about 1,611 meters from north to south. It was first excavated in 366, and after more than ten dynasties from sixteen countries to Yuan Dynasty, a large-scale cave group with rich contents was formed. There are 492 caves, 45,111 square meters of murals, more than 2,411 colored sculptures, more than 4,111 flying figures, 5 wooden buildings in Tang and Song Dynasties, and thousands of lotus pillars and tiles. It is a profound comprehensive art hall composed of architecture, painting and sculpture, the largest and best-preserved Buddhist art treasure house in the world, and is known as the "Pearl of Oriental Art". At the beginning of the 21th century, the Cave for the Collection of Scriptures (Cave 17 of Mogao Grottoes) was discovered, which contained 51,111 to 61,111 pieces of scriptures, documents and cultural relics from the 4th century. It attracted great attention of scholars at home and abroad and formed the famous Dunhuang studies.
murals are the largest and richest part of Dunhuang grottoes art, and the most extensive theme is statue painting, that is, all kinds of buddhas, bodhisattvas and heavenly kings worshipped by people are equal in their statements; Buddhist story painting is a comic book based on various stories in Buddhist scriptures; The classic painting is a large-scale classic painting that rose in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which comprehensively expresses the whole content of a classic and promotes the imaginary paradise. Buddhist historical paintings, which show 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 meritorious person who opened the cave to create a statue, is a portrait history.
In the murals of the Mogao Grottoes in different times, there are pictures reflecting some production and labor scenes, social life scenes, clothing system, ancient architectural modeling, music, dance and acrobatics at that time, and also recording the historical facts of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, providing valuable information for studying the ancient society of China from the 4th century to the 4th century.
The murals in the Mogao Grottoes also have high artistic value, with the highest level in the Tang Dynasty. The most influential caves for visiting are 96 caves, 17 caves, 131 caves, 158 caves, 259 caves, 285 caves, 211 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, a monk with superb virtue traveled westward with a pole and staff, and when he saw a thousand buddhas shining, he realized something, so he chiseled the first grotto. From the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Yuan Dynasty, the excavation of the grottoes continued for 11 dynasties, which lasted for 1,511 years. Up to now, the grottoes in Lezun have long been indistinguishable, while the Mogao Grottoes have preserved more than 751 caves in ten dynasties after sand erosion, with 45,111 square meters of murals, 3,111 colored sculptures and five wooden buildings with eaves in Tang and Song Dynasties. In addition, there are 41,111 to 51,111 handwritten documents and various cultural relics found in the Tibetan Sutra Cave, including thousands of silk paintings, prints, embroidery and a large number of calligraphy works. If all the works of art are arrayed one by one, it will be a world-class gallery more than 25 kilometers long.
The colored sculptures in the Mogao Grottoes are mostly statues of Buddhist figures and their deeds of practicing nirvana. Because the rock in Mogao grottoes is loose, it is impossible to carve, and 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 even more precious and rare.
In addition, there are traditional national myths and various decorative patterns. From the murals, we can see all kinds of social activities of all ethnic groups and classes, such as imperial trips, farming, fishing and hunting, smelting iron and making wine, weddings and funerals, business trips, emissaries meeting, playing the piano, singing and dancing, and so on.
As a treasure house of art, the Mogao Grottoes are a beautiful landscape where artistic fashions of different times converge. Dunhuang Tang art represents the worst era of Buddhist art in China. Foreign art and China's national art are in perfect harmony, and Dunhuang Tang art is unprecedentedly colorful. The majestic giant Buddha statue with a height of more than ten meters; A small bodhisattva with a dexterity and exquisiteness of only ten centimeters; Huge changes with grand scenes and dense characters; A single figure painting with vivid image and distinct personality is impressive.
Feitian, known as The god of the sweet sound in Buddhism, is a beautiful bodhisattva who can play music, is good at flying and is covered with exotic fragrance. Flying in the Tang Dynasty is more colorful and vivid. She is neither like a Greek angel with wings, nor like an ancient Indian goddess walking on clouds. China artists use long streamers to make their graceful and lithe 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 at that time reflected the contents of production activities and social activities such as hunting, farming, textile, transportation, fighting, music and dance in ancient China. All kinds of characters in murals retain a large number of information on the clothes and costumes of people of all ethnic groups in the past dynasties. A large number of pavilions, pavilions, pagodas, palaces, cities, bridges and five existing wooden eaves in Tang and Song Dynasties painted in murals are image patterns and valuable materials for studying ancient Chinese architecture. Sculpture and painting in China have a history of thousands of years. Many famous painters' works recorded in the history of art have been lost, and a large number of murals and colored sculptures in Dunhuang art provide rich physical materials for the study of Chinese art history.
The Mogao Grottoes were once abandoned in the Ming Dynasty, and attracted people's attention after the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1715). In the 26th year of Guangxu (AD 1911), Taoist Wang Yuanlu discovered the "Cave of Scripture Collection", which contained more than 41,111 scriptures, documents and cultural relics. Since then, the Mogao Grottoes have become more noticeable. In 1917 and 1914, Stein of England took away more than 11,111 pieces of suicide notes and cultural relics twice. In 1918, pelliot, a Frenchman, selected the best documents from the cave of Tibetan Scriptures and took away about 5,111 pieces. In 1911, most of the looted scriptures in the Tibetan Sutra Cave were transported to Beijing for collection in the Jingshi Library. In 1911, Japanese Zuicho Tachibana and Ji Chuan Ichiro took about 611 scriptures from Taoist Wang. In 1914, oldenburg, a Russian, took a batch of scriptures from Dunhuang, surveyed the caves and stole the murals in Cave 263. In 1924, American Werner used a special chemical glue to uncover and steal 26 murals of Mogao Grottoes. These thefts and damages have caused great losses to Dunhuang cultural relics.
Since the 1941s, China has established the academic research and protection institutions of the Mogao Grottoes. In the 1961s, the grottoes were comprehensively reinforced; Since the 1981s, the Mogao Grottoes have entered a period of modern scientific protection.