Longmen Grottoes

 Overview

Located in the bank of Yi River, the southern suburb of Luoyang, Longmen Grottoes were first built in the 18th year of Emperor Xiaowendi’s reign called Taihe (494 AD), the endeavor is characterized by the longest building time (from 494AD in Northern Wei Dynasty to 907AD in Tang Dynasty) and the grandest project scale among all cultural relics in China.

Longmen Grottoes are distributed mainly along the cliff of Longmen and Xiang Hills in two banks of Yi River, Luoyang suburbs, about 1000m long in length. There are 110,000 statues of Buddha and 3600 pieces of inscription kept intact among 2000 caves, with about 70 Buddha Towers. Fengxian temple is well worth recommendation; it is the largest and typical open stone inscription art.

Longmen Grottoes visualize the profound and abstract Buddhism culture by their caves, various sized sculptures ranging from 2cm to 17m, exquisite paintings and the largest number of ancient inscriptions in China. Thus, Longmen Grottoes, together with Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi and Maijishan Grottoes in Gansu have enjoyed the reputation as the top four Grottoes in China since ancient times.

Due to its historical, religious, aesthetic value, it was listed as the national key protectorate of cultural relics in 1961 and in 1982 it was listed as the national scenery spot. The world heritage committee remarked “the Longmen Grottoes’ caves and niches embody the grandest and most outstanding art form during 493 to 907, and the artworks devoted to Buddhism theme represent the peak of stone carving art in China.” The year 2000 saw it was inscribed upon the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Must See

Grottoes

Among all the grottoes, 30% were built in North Wei Dynasty, 60% in Tang Dynasty, and 10% in other periods. On the west hill cliffs, there are fifty grottoes constructed during North Wei, Sui, and Tang Dynasties, and on the east hill, the three main grottoes were dug during the Tang Dynasty. The representative Grottoes on the west hill are Guyang,Binyang, Lianhua, Yaofang Grotto built during North Wei Dynasty and Qianxi, kanjing, Wangfo, Fengxian, Dawangwufo Grottoes built during Tang Dynasty. Few grottoes are built on east hill, because the geological construction is not suitable for digging carves, and the statues in them are moving constantly.

Binyang Grottoes, the oldest Grotto

Binyang Grottoes comprising three caves, among them, Binyang Middle Grotto located in the north of the Longmen Hill enjoys the longest history and was built for 24 years, now it is the representative works of North Wei Dynasty (386-512). You can see the relics and 11 breathtaking Buddhism statues in it. Among them, the main statue is Sakyamuni statue with high nose, big eyes and dignified carriage is a representative work of stone carving art in middle time of North Wei Dynasty. Legend has it that there was a relief sculpture masterpiece named ”the Scene of the emperor and his queen worship the Buddhism Buddha” in it before, but was stolen and now displayed by New York Museum.

Buddha Statue	Lushena Statue 's bewildering expression

Lushena Buddha Statue,built from 650-684, protype from China's only female Emperor: Wu Zetian

Wang Fo Dong boasts 15,000 statues

Wan Fo Dong sits south of Binyang Grotto, housing more than 15，000 Buddhism Buddha statues inside. It was built in 680 by emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian. The main Buddha statue sits on lotus and its background is carved with 54 lotuses each engraved with Buddha statues on it. The smallest one is just 2cm in height. Above the dome of the grotto, there are a lot of graceful dancers carved by relief sculpture techniques, with vivid expression.

Wan Fo Dong (means cave with ten thousand Buddha statues)

The King Kong Statue(right), King kong has superpowder to destroy all evil forces

Calligraphic Inscriptions

Longmen Grottoes contain nearly 2,850 stelae and inscriptions scattered among Guyang Grotto ,Binyang Grotto, Lianhua Grotto, and enjoy the reputation as “Forest of Ancient Stelae"
Among them, Guyang Grotto (Guyang Dong),which is located in the south of Longmen Hill and was built in North Wei Dynasty, is the oldest grotto with most rich content, and is the best place to see the calligraphy inscriptions. It houses “Longmen 20 calligraphy inscriptions” which is renowned as the peak of calligraphy art typical of Wei and Tang dynasties and provide clue to researchers who strive to study them. Kang Youwei, scholar in the Qing Dynasty praised highly of the calligraphy here.

Copy of Longmen 20 Inscriptions	the King Kong statue

►Longmen Grottoes in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longmen_Grottoes