Manjusri Grottoes

Manjusri Grottoes

Located in Qifeng Tibetan Township, Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Gansu Province, Wenshu Mountain Grottoes was built in the Beiliang period (401-433). It is a large-scale Buddhist grottoes group.

structure

According to the mountain situation, the caves are excavated on the cliffs of the front and back of the Manjusri mountains, and are distributed in the range of 1.5 km from north to South and 2.5 km from east to west. There are more than 100 caves and niches, including 8 early central pillar caves, 1 Zen cave and 28 temple sites in front of the caves. The existing important caves are Qianshan thousand Buddha cave, Wanfo cave, Houshan ancient Buddha cave and Thousand Buddha cave, all of which are domed and nearly square central pillar caves.

The Qianfo cave is 3.60 meters high, 3.94 meters wide and 3.80 meters deep. It is a central pillar building. Only niches are opened around the central pillar. The murals on the top and around the cave are colorful and simple in style. The well preserved west wall and south wall are painted with images of Qianfo. The center column is divided into three layers. The lower layer is a square platform, and the upper two layers are chiseled with round arch niches on each side. There is a Buddha statue inside the niches, and there are two flanks outside the niches to serve Bodhisattvas. The body of the statue is strong and simple. The murals on the four walls and the top of the cave are painted on the themes of Thousand Buddhas, allegorical figures, seven Buddhas, jiletian, donors, etc. The top of the cave is painted with flying music. The upper part of the cave wall is painted with thousands of Buddhas, the middle part is painted with one Buddha and two Bodhisattvas, and the lower part is painted with supporting figures. The mural adopts the western region halo dye painting method, emphasizing the light and shade contrast of colors and the three-dimensional effect of characters.

The Wanfo cave is 3.70 meters high, 3.55 meters wide and 3.80 meters deep. It has a central pillar with niches around it. The murals are rich in content. There are large-scale "Maitreya Sutra change" paintings drawn in the Western Xia Dynasty and the "four heavenly kings of the town cave".

significance

Wenshu Mountain Grottoes are the remains of early Buddhism in China. They are located in the scope of Liangzhou grottoes. They are valuable materials for the study of Buddhist art in the Sixteen Kingdoms period. They are of great value for the study of the relationship between Buddhist architecture and art in Hexi area and western regions. Some of the murals can make up for the lack of Mogao Grottoes, while others are the continuation and development of Dunhuang art. The existing murals of Xixia period are important materials for the study of Xixia Buddhism and its painting art.

On June 25, 2001, as a cultural relic from the Northern Dynasty to the Western Xia Dynasty, the Wenshu grottoes were approved by the State Council to be listed in the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Address: Qifeng Tibetan Township, Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Zhangye City

Longitude: 100.453002969

Latitude: 38.933200836182

Ticket information: market price: 42.0 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Wen Shu Shan Shi Ku