Longmen Grotto Cave and Temple Complex
China, 12 km south of Luoyang.
Description:
Longmen Grottoes is a Buddhist cave temple complex located 12 km south of Luoyang. The caves are carved in the limestone rocks of the mountains on both sides of the Ihe River. At the beginning and end of the complex, the banks are connected by bridges. The length of grottoes on each of the banks takes about 1 km.
The tradition of carving grottoes with Buddha statues in the rock came to China from India along with Buddhism. Longmen Grotto is one of the largest such complexes in China. The construction of this monastery began in 494. Sculptures and reliefs were carved in the rock for almost four centuries.
Despite numerous natural and socio-historical cataclysms, amazing grottoes have survived - today the complex has 2,345 caves and niches, about 2,800 inscriptions, 43 pagodas and over 100,000 different Buddhist images. The tallest statue reaches 17 meters, and the smallest sculpture of the saint is only 2 centimeters in height.