YUNGANG GROTTOES

The 'Yungang Grottoes' () are ancient Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the Chinese province of Shanxi. They are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture and one of the three most famous ancient sculptural sites of China. The others are Longmen and Mogao.
The site is located about 16 km south-west of the city, in the valley of the Shi Li river at the base of the Wuzhou Shan mountains. The grottoes were mainly constructed in the period between 460-525 AD during the Northern Wei dynasty. They are an outstanding example of the Chinese stone carvings from the 5th and 6th centuries. All together the site is composed of 252 grottoes with more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes. In 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site The Yungang Grottoes is considered by UNESCO a "masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art... [and] ...represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under Imperial auspices."^[1]

Contents

History

Gallery

Footnotes

References

External links

History

After the decline of the Jin Dynasty, the northern parts of China came under the control of the Northern Wei dynasty, emerging from a proto-mongolic tribe called Tuoba. They made the city of Pingcheng, nowadays known as Datong, their capital. Due to its promotion, Pingcheng saw also an increased amount of construction work. The Northern Wei early adopted Buddhism as their state religion. However, through the influence of two chinese bureaucrats, during the reign of emperor Taiwu Di a persecution of buddhism was started. It was not before his death in 452 AD, that the persecutions ended and his grandson and new emperor Wencheng Di reinstalled Buddhism as the state religion. Probably as a compensation for the persecutions, in 460 AD he allowed the monk Tanyao to construct five cave grottoes honoring in the same time Buddha and the first five Wei emperors. The work on this first period of carving lasted until the year 465 AD and the caves are nowadays known as the caves 16-20. Beginning around the year 471 AD, in a second construction phase that lasted until 494 AD, the twin caves 5/6, 7/8 and 9/10 as well as the caves 11, 12 and probably 13 were constructed under the supervision and support of the imperial court. The imperial patronage ended 494 AD with the move of the Wei court to the new capital of Luoyang. All other caves emerged under private patronage in a third construction period, lasting until 525, when the construction came to a final halt due to uprisings in the area. Since the end of the works, the sandstone of the grottoes is exposed to heavy weathering. The ensuing centuries therefore saw several attempts to preserve the status of the caves and to repair sustained damage. During the Liao Dynasty the caves saw some renewing of statues and the buildup of the "10 temples of Yungang" from 1049-1060, that were meant to protect the main caves. However, they were already destroyed again just some 60 years later in a fire. 1621, during the early Qing Dynasty, brought the construction of the wooden buildings that still can be seen in front of the caves 5 and 6. Since the 1950's cracks in the sandstone are sealed by grouting and there are efforts to reduce the weathering due to sandstorms by forestation.^[2]

Gallery

Footnotes

1. Yungang Grottoes
2. report of the UNESCO advisory board [1]

References

External links

★ UNESCO World Heritage page about Yungang Grottoes

★ Protecting the Yungang Grottoes from Air Pollution Damage