Yungang Grottoes
Posted by: 
Megrim1888
N 40° 06.609 E 113° 07.555
49T E 681183 N 4442149
The Yungang Grottoes are ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the province of Shanxi, PR China.
Waymark Code: WMF8F3
Location: China
Date Posted: 09/10/2012
Views: 2
The Grottoes are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture and one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. The others are the Longmen Grottoes and Mogao Grottoes.
All together the site is composed of 252 grottoes with more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes.
UNESCO discription
"The Buddhist tradition of religious cave art achieved its first major impact at Yungang, where it developed its own distinct character and artistic power. The Yungang cave art represents the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century AD under imperial auspices. At the same time it vividly illustrates the power and endurance of Buddhist belief in China.
Datong, known as Pingcheng in ancient times, became the capital of the Northern Wei dynasty between 398 and 494, and thus the political, economic and cultural centre of their kingdom. It kept its importance until 523, when it was deserted following a revolt. The statues of the Yungang Grottoes were completed in sixty years (460-525); this period marks the peak of development in Buddhist cave art of the Northern Wei dynasty. When the first emperor assumed the throne, Buddhism flourished and in 460 the monk Tan Yao started the carving of the Five Caves; since then, these grottoes have become the centre of Buddhist art in North China."
Type: Site
Reference number: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1039
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