World Heritage Identification Number: 440
World Heritage since: 1987
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇨🇳 China
Continent: Asia
UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific
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Mogao Caves: A Journey Through Time Along the Silk Road
The Mogao Caves, officially recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, stand as a testament to the rich cultural exchange that took place along the ancient Silk Road. Located approximately 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang, an oasis town in Gansu Province, China, these caves serve as a unique repository of Buddhist art spanning over a millennium.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Situated at a strategic point along the Silk Route, at the crossroads of trade as well as religious, cultural and intellectual influences, the 492 cells and cave sanctuaries in Mogao are famous for their statues and wall paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art.
Encyclopedia Record: Mogao Caves
The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves; however, this term is also used as a collective term to include other Buddhist cave sites in and around the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years.Additional Site Details
Area: 23,392 hectares
(ii) — Significant interchange of human values
(iii) — Unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
(v) — Outstanding example of traditional human settlement
(vi) — Directly associated with events or living traditions
Coordinates: 40.13333 , 94.81667
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© Zhangzhugang, CC BY-SA 4.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
