Ancient site · Temple
Mogao Caves
Also known as Thousand Buddha Grottoes, Dunhuang
The Mogao Caves, about 25 km southeast of Dunhuang in Gansu, are a system of some 500 Buddhist cave temples cut into a cliff on the Silk Road. The first caves were dug in 366 CE, and new caves were added for about a thousand years, until the 14th century.
Their wall paintings and clay statues show how Buddhist art travelled from India and Central Asia into China. In 1900 a walled-up 'Library Cave' was found, full of manuscripts, including the Diamond Sutra of 868, the earliest dated printed book. UNESCO listed the caves in 1987.
- Dates
- 366 CE – 14th century
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 40.04° N, 94.80° E
How we know
Inscriptions and later texts record the caves' founding and patrons, and the Library Cave held tens of thousands of manuscripts.
Nearby sites
- Dujiangyan built c. 256 BCE; still in use
- Sanxingdui c. 1700–1150 BCE (sacrificial pits 12th–11th centuries BCE)
- Jinsha c. 1200–800 BCE (Shi'erqiao phase)
- Shimao c. 2300–1800 BCE
- Banpo c. 4700–3600 BCE
- Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and the Terracotta Army 246–209 BCE