Senmusem thousand Buddha cave

Senmusem thousand Buddha cave

Senmusem thousand Buddha cave, a national key cultural relic protection unit, is located in Kuqa County of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. It is a Buddhist grottoes site from Jin Dynasty to Song Dynasty (4th-10th century A.D.).

Regional distribution

Senmusem thousand Buddha cave is mainly distributed on the cliff within 800 meters in diameter of chaletage pass. Most of the Grottoes have been destroyed, and 57 of them are well preserved.

The caves are distributed in horseshoe shaped valleys, which can be divided into five areas: East, South, West, North and middle according to geographical location. There are 57 numbered caves.

In the center of the central area is a ground Temple site. There are various shapes of caves, which preserve the complete material materials of caves and murals of the ancient Kucha kingdom.

Murals are mainly based on karma and Buddhist stories, and figure paintings are mostly outlined in earth red. Halo dyeing is used to show light, shade and three-dimensional. In the late period, Han and Uighur painting styles appeared in the cave murals.

significance

Although the number of thousand Buddha Caves in senmusem is less than that in Kizil and kumtula caves, it covers the whole process of the development of Qiuci Grottoes art. It is of great significance to understand and study the introduction of Buddhism and its art, the development of Qiuci Buddhism, the evolution of Buddhist grottoes art and its social background.

cultural heritage

Senmusem Grottoes is a precious cultural heritage left over from the ancient "Silk Road". It is the crystallization of the ancient cultural exchanges between the East and the West. It has unique characteristics of locality, nationality, diversity and so on. It occupies an important position in the Buddhist art treasure house of China and even the world

Address: Kuqa County, Aksu Prefecture

Longitude: 83.181701660156

Latitude: 41.928298950195

Chinese PinYin : Sen Mu Sai Mu Qian Fo Dong