Visit the Thousand Buddha Grottoe - Mogao Caves
25 kilometers to the southeast from the downtown in Dunhuang on the eastern slope of Mingsha Shan houses an imposing system of hundreds of caves and temples known as Mogao Caves (the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas). The caves were dug into the side of a cliff which is approximately two kilometers in length. Located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Ancient Silk Road, the caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art including sculpture, carving and painting which have spanned over 1000 years. Having the co-influence of both Indian and Chinese Buddhist, the statues, the religious murals as well as the sidewalls and ceilings inside the caves all feature the colorful and flourishing Buddhist culture during the ancient time. The Mogao Caves are one of the three best ancient sites of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes along with two other great Buddhist sculptural places in Longmen and Yungang as well as a must-see tourist attraction in Dunhuang
