Longmen Grottoes
One of China's three great grottoes, with 100,000 Buddhist statues.
The Longmen Grottoes, also known as the Longmen Caves, are a complex of Buddhist cave temples located 12 kilometers south of present-day Luoyang in Henan province, China. They are considered some of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art, housing tens of thousands of statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples, carved as outside rock reliefs and inside artificial caves excavated from limestone cliffs. The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 for its artistic creativity and encapsulation of Tang China's cultural sophistication.
- location
- 12 km south of Luoyang, Henan province, China
- period_of_creation
- 493 AD to 1127 AD
- number_of_caves
- approximately 2,345
- number_of_statues
- as many as 100,000
- largest_statue_height
- 57 feet (17 m)
- number_of_stelae
- nearly 2,500
- number_of_pagodas
- over 60
Lore & Background
The earliest history of the Longmen Grottoes traces to the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei dynasty, when he shifted his capital to Luoyang from Datong in 493 AD. The first cave temple, Guyang-dong or the Shiku Temple, was built at the center of the southern floor of the West Hill. Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei excavated three more caves, known as the Three Binyang Caves, built over 24 years in memory of his parents. About 30% of the caves date from the Northern Wei period.
Reader's Guide
The Longmen Grottoes represent a critical period in the evolution of Chinese Buddhist sculpture, with 60% of the caves dating from the Tang dynasty. The site was subjected to significant vandalism after the fall of the Qing dynasty, with major artifacts removed by Western collectors and souvenir hunters in the early 20th century. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese looted the site, taking many statues to Japan. The Cultural Revolution destroyed the heads of many statues. Since 1949, the grottoes have been declared a protected area, with the Longmen Relics Care Agency established in 1953 and the site declared a national cultural monument in 1961. The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.
Did You Know?
- The Longmen Grottoes contain as many as 100,000 statues, ranging from 1 inch to 57 feet in height.
- 30% of the caves date from the Northern Wei dynasty and 60% from the Tang dynasty.
- The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.
- Two stone reliefs taken from the grottoes are reported to be displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
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