Longmen Grottoes — Royal Stone Carving Caves on Cliff and Buddhist Art Wonders

What Are the Longmen Grottoes?

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History and Development.

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Important Data.

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How Did the Longmen Grottoes Connect to Royals? 

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What's Special with the Location Longmen?

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What Cultural Aspects that the Longmen Grottoes Show?

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Destructions and Protection.

What Are the Longmen Grottoes?

Longmen Grottoes or Longmen Caves, an invaluable artistic wonder of Buddhist stone carving, consists of many ancient royal caves constructed mainly during the Northern Wei (386 — 534) and Tang (618 — 907) dynasties.

As a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, Longmen Grottoes holds great religious, artistic, historic, and cultural values.

History of Longmen Grottoes.

In 493, the Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty migrated his capital to Luoyang city and built the first Buddhist cave there, to pray for blessing to the departed Empress Dowager Feng.  

Since then, more royals and nobles followed his step and opened more caves there.

During the early to mid-Tang Dynasty (618 — 907), the construction of grottoes in Longmen reached its peak, especially during Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu Zetian's reign (649 — 705).

Afterward, the grottoes had been constructed on and off in the next 1400 years, but also suffered big losses several times in history, by manual and natural causes. 

Until 1953, an agency was formed to preserve the Longmen Grottoes, which received national level conservations since then and was listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 2000.

Important Data of Longmen Grottoes.

• It is located in Luoyang city, Henan Province of China;

• Over 2300 caves and niches of the Longmen Grottoes are scattered on cliffs on two sides of Yi River and stretching for about 1000 meters long;

• There are over 110,000 Buddhist stone statues, varying from17.14 meters to 2 centimeters tall, and 2,800 carved stele inscriptions in those caves and niches;

• There is a Prescription Cave, or Yaofangdong, in which carved over 150 medical prescriptions with easily reachable herbs to cure ordinary diseases.

These are the earliest existing stone-carved prescriptions, and many of them are still in use today.

How Did the Longmen Grottoes Connect to Royals? 

Besides being a Buddhist stone carving wonder, the grottoes of Longmen also had close connections to royals. 

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Guyang Cave

Guyang Cave, the first cave of the Longmen, was constructed in 493 under the command of Emperor Xiaowen, to pray for blessing to departed Empress Dowager Feng. 

Central Binyang Cave

Central Binyang Cave was built from 500 to 523 by Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, to pray for blessing to departed Emperor Xiaowen and Empress Wenzhao. 

Northern Binyang Cave

Northern Binyang Cave, started in the year 500 by Emperor Xuanwu as well but was forced to pause after the Northern Wei Dynasty was ended in 534.

Later, this cave was completed in the early Tang Dynasty (618 — 907). 

Southern Binyang Cave

Southern Binyang Cave was firstly constructed in 500 by Emperor Xuanwu and later completed by prince Li Tai (620 — 652) to pray for Empress Zhangsun, the beloved queen of the Emperor Taizong of Tang.

Vairocana Buddha

The 17.14 meters tall Vairocana Buddha, or Lushena Dafo, built from 672 to 675, was supported and modeled by Wu Zetian when she was the queen.

A few years later in the year 690, she enthroned and became the only female emperor in the history of China. 

Longmen Stele

Longmen Stele was written by Emperor Zhenzong of Song (968 — 1022) when he was visiting Longmen.

Wanfo Cave

Wanfo Cave, or Ten Thousand Buddhas Cave, finished in 680 and supported by a female court official of the Tang Dynasty, has over 15,000 about 4 centimeters tall Buddha figures.

What's Special with Location Longmen?

Longmen Grottoes are carved in Longmen Mountains next to Yi River, in Luoyang City. 

• Longmen Mountains were cut into two parts to dredge the Great Flood by Yu the Great, founder of the Xia Dynasty (2070 BC — 1600 BC). 

Afterward, in local legends, a carp that could leap over the turbulent current there will incarnate into a Chinese Dragon or Loong. 

Therefore, it was named Longmen, which means the gate of dragons. 

In Chinese culture, fish leaping over Longmen has been a famous phrase that symbolizes achieving great success after intense competitions and diligent work. 

• The Longmen Mountains and Yi River area had been an ancient battlefield where general Bai Qi won a big war in 293 BC, which opened up the chapter of State Qin's annexing of other kingdoms and establishing the unified Qin Dynasty (221 BC — 207 BC). 

• Luoyang city had been the capital city of many dynasties in history, including Xia (2070 BC — 1600 BC),  Shang (1600 BC — 1046 BC), Zhou (1046 BC — 256 BC), Eastern Han (25 AD — 220 AD), Sui (589 — 619), and so on. 

The political, cultural, and geographical importance of this city were significant reasons for Emperor Xiaowen, the first cave builder, to migrate his capital city to Luoyang city. 

Wu Zetian, one of the most important patrons of the Longmen Grottoes and the only female emperor in Chinese history, set Luoyang as the capital city during her reign (690 — 705) for more complicated reasons. 

What Cultural Aspects that the Longmen Grottoes Show?

As an exceptional Buddhist wonder in the important ancient capital city of Luoyang, the artworks of the Longmen Caves show many cultural aspects of China mainly from the 4th to the 10th century.

Destructions and Protection

Throughout history, besides natural weathering, the Longmen Caves had suffered many destructions that were caused by man forces. 

• During Emperor Wuzong of Tang's reign (840 — 846), he implemented a Persecution of Buddhism that caused big destruction. Meanwhile, for political concerns, those royal-related caves and statues were preserved.

• In 1932, many caves were blown up for constructing roads by the government of The Republic of China.

• From the late Qing Dynasty (1636 — 1912) to the 1930s, some statues, reliefs, and stone inscriptions were cut off, sold for money, and dispersed abroad, during the chaos of endless wars.

In 1953, an agency to preserve the grottoes was constructed.

Since then, it has received national-level conservation and was listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 2000.

Nowadays, more efforts are being made to preserve and recover the Longmen Grottoes, including the returning of a statue of Arhat by the National Gallery of Canada in 2001 and restoring damaged relics using modern technologies.