Out of Norm Travels - Longmen Grottoes @ Luoyang
Flying out from Beijing to Luoyang (simplified Chinese: 洛阳; traditional Chinese: 洛陽; pinyin: Luòyáng) is certainly not high on the travel itineraries of many - quite a few not having even heard or visited this place, not even those hailing from China.
It is thus with much anticipation that I took an internal flight to this city located in the Henan province which was once 1 out of the 4 Great Ancient Capitals of China (other 3 are Beijing, Nanjing and Changan (Xian)) to spend the night. My main aim was the visit to Luoyang Grottoes, which was listed by UNESCO in 2000 as a World Heritage Site.
Luoyang Grottoes simplified Chinese 龙门石窟 traditional Chinese 龍門石窟 pinyin Dragon's Gate Grottoes - I can only say "MAGNIFICENT".....I have never seen so many thousands of Buddhist statues carved into limestone caves. One advice to travelers is to start early in the morning and spend more time at the biggest statue at the end of the gate as it makes all the other caves look dwarfed in size and stature.
According to wikipedia, there are as many as 100,000 statues within the 1,400 caves, ranging from an 1 inch (25 mm) to 57 feet (17 m) in height. The area also contains nearly 2,500 inscriptions whence the name “Forest of Ancient Stelae", as well as over sixty Buddhist pagodas. Situated in a scenic natural environment, the caves were dug from a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) stretch of cliff running along both banks of the river. 30% date from the Northern Wei Dynasty and 60% from the Tang, caves from other periods accounting for less than 10% of the total. Starting with the Northern Wei Dynasty in 493 AD, patrons and donors included emperors, Wu Zetian of the Second Zhou Dynasty, members of the royal family, other rich families, generals, and religious groups.
Will let the photos tell the rest.
Till the next time, onto the world and beyond!
Luoyang Grottoes simplified Chinese 龙门石窟 traditional Chinese 龍門石窟 pinyin Dragon's Gate Grottoes - I can only say "MAGNIFICENT".....I have never seen so many thousands of Buddhist statues carved into limestone caves. One advice to travelers is to start early in the morning and spend more time at the biggest statue at the end of the gate as it makes all the other caves look dwarfed in size and stature.
According to wikipedia, there are as many as 100,000 statues within the 1,400 caves, ranging from an 1 inch (25 mm) to 57 feet (17 m) in height. The area also contains nearly 2,500 inscriptions whence the name “Forest of Ancient Stelae", as well as over sixty Buddhist pagodas. Situated in a scenic natural environment, the caves were dug from a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) stretch of cliff running along both banks of the river. 30% date from the Northern Wei Dynasty and 60% from the Tang, caves from other periods accounting for less than 10% of the total. Starting with the Northern Wei Dynasty in 493 AD, patrons and donors included emperors, Wu Zetian of the Second Zhou Dynasty, members of the royal family, other rich families, generals, and religious groups.
Will let the photos tell the rest.
Till the next time, onto the world and beyond!
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