Yungang Grottoes — Localization and Secularization of Buddhist Cave Art

The Yungang Grottoes were built in the period from 460 to 524, by some Buddhists supported by the current government, and was mended in some following dynasties in the history of China. 

Yungang Grottoes is located on a 1 km long mountain, which includes about 300 caverns and over 51,000 stone statues.

It originally was purely Buddhism figures, then many royal family statues were embodied; at last, smaller monuments of lower officials and civilians were included as well.

Therefore, it is a representative of the localized Buddhism art in Chinese culture. 

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Among all the stone statues, the biggest one is over 17 meters tall, while the smallest is only about 2 centimeters.

Sculptures and buildings of the Yungang Grottoes have great values in regard to history, religion, art, music, dance, calligraphy, architecture, and customs, etc.