Tiantishan Grottoes

Tiantishan Grottoes

Tiantishan grottoes, also known as Liangzhou grottoes, also known as Liangzhou Giant Buddha grottoes, is located in Dengshan village, Zhangyi Town, 50km south of Wuwei city. It was excavated by tanyao, a famous monk in Liangzhou. Beiliang, founded in the period of Sixteen States in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was successively built in the Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Xixia and Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a history of more than 1600 years. It is the representative of Chinese early grotto art. The successive construction and the layered distribution of cultural relics are the important characteristics of the murals and sculptures in TIANTI Mountain Grottoes.

Tiantishan Grottoes is one of the earliest Grottoes in China. It is also the representative of the early Grottoes art in China. It is the source of Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes. It has an important position in the history of Buddhism in China and is known as the "originator of grottoes" in the academic circles. It is a national key cultural relic protection unit.

TIANTI mountain is towering, steep and high into the sky. There are stone steps on the mountain. The road is rugged and the shape is like a hanging ladder, so it is called TIANTI mountain. The mountain top is covered with snow all the year round, commonly known as "TIANTI snow", which is one of the eight scenic spots in Liangzhou. In the grottoes, the Giant Buddha sits close to the mountain, with rippling blue waves at its feet and thin clouds winding around its body, forming a spectacular scene of mountain, water, Buddha and cloud. It is a famous tourist attraction in Liangzhou.

Development history

Tiantishan Grottoes was founded in Beiliang during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It was excavated from 412 to 439 a.d. by Mengxun, king of Beiliang. In October 412, the eighth year of Yuanxi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Mengxun, the king of northern Liang, moved his capital to guzang, which was called Hexi king. He set up an official office, repaired palaces, and built city gates. At the same time, he called on the eminent monk Tan Yao and skilled craftsmen of Liangzhou to cut through the mountains, cut down trees and forests, dig the TIANTI Mountain Grottoes and build the Buddha statues. Soon after his mother Che's death, he carved a 5-meter-high stone statue for his mother in the grottoes, which looked like a tearful one to show repentance;

After Beiliang, it was built in succession from the Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and rebuilt from the Xixia to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to the Ming Dynasty Zhengtong 13 years "rebuild Liangzhou Guangshan Temple inscription" records: Tiantishan Grottoes at that time, there were 26 caves, in front of the Buddha Grottoes built Temple Pavilion, cave top built a tower, magnificent.

In 1958, in order to solve the irrigation problem of ten thousand mu land in Huangyang River Basin, it was decided to build Huangyang river reservoir near Tiantishan grottoes. In order to save the precious cultural relics, Gansu decided to move and protect some cultural relics in Tiantishan grottoes. In addition to the Great Buddha grottoes, dozens of statues, more than 300 square meters of murals and 25 boxes of cultural relics in the small Grottoes tens of meters above the surface of the earth have been transported to the Gansu Provincial Museum for preservation. Dunhuang Research Institute, which was responsible for the relocation, said that due to the relocation and transportation conditions at that time, the cultural relics were inevitably damaged once they were moved. During the 40 years of preservation of Gansu Provincial Museum, some statues and murals have become fragmented due to the reconstruction and expansion of the museum and the man-made damage during the cultural revolution.

In 1992, the State Administration of cultural relics presided over an expert group meeting. After argumentation, according to the principle that immovable cultural relics should be protected in the original site and in situ as far as possible, it approved the restoration of Tiantishan Grottoes cultural relics in the original site and in situ;

In 1993, the general office of Gansu Provincial Government approved the restoration in the original site and in situ. With the concern of Gansu provincial government and the coordination of Gansu Provincial Bureau of cultural relics, Gansu Provincial Museum, Wuwei City and Liangzhou District reached an agreement on the transfer of Tiantishan Grottoes cultural relics;

In 2006, with the approval of Gansu provincial government, Gansu Provincial Museum transferred most of the grottoes cultural relics to Tiantishan Grottoes Management Office of Liangzhou District, Wuwei City for protection and management, except for a small amount;

In 2014, with the active efforts of Gansu Provincial Bureau of cultural relics, the State Bureau of cultural relics approved the project of protecting and restoring the murals and colored sculptures of Tiantishan grottoes, and provided financial support. The project plans to restore 359 square meters of murals and 76 painted sculptures. The restored cultural relics will be displayed in the new Wuwei Museum.

Art and culture

Religious culture

The prosperity of Buddhism is a major feature of Liangzhou cultural development in the Wuliang period. The excavation of the cave attracted the attention of the Buddhist community, and made the eminent monks from the western regions come one after another. They preached and translated Buddhist scriptures in Liangzhou, which made the Tiantishan Grottoes more famous.

According to historical records, the Mogao Grottoes were founded in 366 of the 10th year of Shengping in Qianliang. The inscription of No. 169 of Bingling Temple Grottoes is 420 ad. the Tiantishan grottoes were founded in 412-439 ad. In terms of age, Tiantishan grottoes and Binglingsi grottoes are basically the same. However, in the Northern Wei Dynasty, mogao grottoes were not well-known, nor did they have a direct impact on Yungang and Longmen. On the contrary, they were Liangzhou monks and Liangzhou grottoes, which had a significant reputation and had a certain impact on the development of Buddhism in Mogao Grottoes and Dunhuang.

In a word, Tiantishan Grottoes play an important role in the spread of Buddhism and the development of Buddhist art, and play an important role in the development history of Chinese grottoes and even the whole history of Buddhism.

Appreciation of Art

Experts agree that although the Mogao Grottoes are the earliest places for the creation of grotto art in mainland China, the time for the official opening of the grottoes and the construction of the temple should be counted from 420 when Northern Liang destroyed Western Liang. In the history of Mogao Grottoes, the peak period of excavation was when Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei Dynasty (516-528). At this time, with the entry of a group of officials, monks and craftsmen in Luoyang, the Han style of the Central Plains began to be popular here. This is 100 years after the Tiantishan grottoes were excavated. From the above simple description, we can clearly see that the process of the influence of Chinese Grottoes should be: Tiantishan grottoes, Yungang Grottoes, Longmen Grottoes and Dunhuang Grottoes. Tiantishan grottoes are the only ones that can really influence the style of the Central Plains grottoes.

Tiantishan grottoes are precipitous but rich in resources. Due to the wars and frequent natural disasters, the grottoes were seriously damaged, especially the great earthquake in 1927, which caused devastating damage to the Tiantishan grottoes. The nine story building and most of the grottoes were destroyed in an instant. Many statues were lost. Eight of them survived completely, and the seated statues of the great Buddha were intact. In the grottoes, there are handwritten scriptures of Han and Tibetan in the Northern Wei, Sui and Tang Dynasties, silk paintings of Bodhisattvas in the early Tang Dynasty, statues, murals and scriptures of Tang, Five Dynasties, Xixia (song), yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Features of scenic spots

architectural style

Tiantishan Grottoes is not only one of the earliest Grottoes excavated in China, but also the representative of the early Grottoes art in China. It has far-reaching influence, high historical status and artistic value, and is praised as "the source of grottoes and the ancestor of grottoes" by historians.

At present, the Great Buddha grottoes are built in the Tang Dynasty. They belong to China's national treasure level Grottoes as well as the most valuable Beiliang grottoes. Large scale murals are painted on the north and south walls of the Great Buddha grottoes. The whole mural has fresh strokes, bright colors and vivid images. Walking forward, the 17 small caves on the left and upper part of the Great Buddha Grottoes have been in the state of natural caves due to serious erosion. There are still some statues and murals in the grottoes, including the head of stone Buddha in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Bodhisattvas in the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties, and Buddha statues in the Tang Dynasty. There are not many murals preserved, but most of them overlap. Some of them have five layers. Among them, Beiliang, Beiwei, Tang and other remnant paintings are exposed in the stripped heavy layer murals. Among them, Beiliang murals have straight nose, big eyes, thick lips, white bridge of nose, Baoguan curly hair, half naked upper body and long skirt around waist. The murals in the early western regions have obvious characteristics and simple beauty.

Artistic influence

Tiantishan grottoes are the representative of the early grotto art in China. In the process of digging Tiantishan grottoes, a group of skilled craftsmen, sculptors and painters were trained. After the completion of Tiantishan grottoes, with the change of political situation and the eastward movement of Buddhist Center, tanyao and others went down to Pingcheng (today's Datong in Shanxi Province) and began a new digging life, becoming an important technical force of Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes, while tanyao became the leader of Buddhism in the Northern Wei Dynasty. According to historical records, in 439, the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed Beiliang and moved 30000 clan officials from guzang to Pingcheng, including more than 3000 monks. This is a very large number, which not only reflects the large population of Liangzhou, but also shows the prosperity of Buddhism. In fact, these 3000 monks were the creators of the "Liangzhou model", which promoted the prosperity of Buddhism worship in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The extermination of Beiliang in the Northern Wei Dynasty ended the prosperity of the Hexi area after more than 140 years of separatist rule. Liangzhou Buddhism and its art, which once flourished for a time, were severely damaged. The monks of Liangzhou fled one after another. In addition to Pingcheng, some of them moved westward to Dunhuang and other places, which also promoted the prosperity of Dunhuang Buddhism, made Dunhuang become the Hexi Buddhist Center after Liangzhou, and promoted the development of Hexi Grottoes culture The second peak in the process -- the rapid development of Dunhuang Grottoes culture. The Grand Buddha of Tang Dynasty (cave 130) in Dunhuang Grottoes is similar to the Grand Buddha of TIANTI mountain in artistic style. It is said that the excavation of TIANTI Mountain Grottoes and its artistic style and architectural style will directly affect Dunhuang and Hexi grottoes.

Among the craftsmen and monks who moved to Pingcheng, there were many eminent monks and masters. According to the records of Shi Lao Zhi, Shizu Ji and Gaozu Ji, Shixian, a monk from Liangzhou, took up the post of daorentong (official position in charge of Religious Affairs) after he arrived in Pingcheng. In 452 ad, he proposed and personally presided over the construction of imperial Buddhist stone statues. In 460 A.D., Shi Xian passed away, and Tan Yao, an eminent monk in Liangzhou, took up his post and changed his way to the samurai. He continued to take charge of the sculpture work and excavated Yungang Grottoes in the suburb of Pingcheng. It took him only a few years (460-465 years) to complete the construction of tanyao grottoes, the representative work of Yungang Grottoes. Later, the Yungang Grottoes became one of the largest Grottoes in China after being excavated in successive dynasties. It is one of the most beautiful Grottoes in China. According to Wei

Chinese PinYin : Tian Ti Shan Shi Ku