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History of Yungang Grottoes
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the excavation of Yungang Grottoes began at the beginning of Heping in Wen Chengdi (460) and lasted for more than 60 years, until the fifth year of Emperor Zheng Guangxiao's reign in Ming Di (524).

Since then, in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty, Pingcheng was changed to Heng 'an Town, Yunzhong County.

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During the period of Liao Jin, Liao Xingzong and Daozong, the royal family of Liao Dynasty carried out a large-scale renovation of Wuzhoushan Cave Temple, which lasted for ten years.

There are ten temples in front of the grottoes, namely Le Tong, Lingyan, Whale Worship, Zhenguo, National Protection, Tiangong, Chongfu, Tongzi, Huayan and Doulv, and more than 0/000 Buddha statues have been restored.

In the second year of Liaobao (1 122), the Jin soldiers captured Datong, and "the temple was burned and robbed, and the Lingyan Building was completely swept away" ("Dajin Xijing rebuilt the Huayan Temple Monument").

Modern 1949 People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded, and the main caves of Yungang Grottoes and the wooden structures in front of them (Caves 5, 6 and 7) were well preserved.

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The heritage value of Yungang Grottoes;

Yungang Grottoes are magnificent and rich in content. It is the crown of stone carving art in China in the 5th century A.D., and is known as the treasure house of ancient carving art in China.

According to the excavation time, it can be divided into three periods: early, middle and late, and the grotto sculpture styles in different periods also have their own characteristics.

The early "Tan Yaodong" was magnificent and had a rich and simple western flavor.

In the middle period, the grottoes were famous for their exquisite carvings and ornate decorations, showing the complex and magnificent artistic style of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Although the scale of the grottoes in the later period is small, the figures are slender and handsome, and the proportion is moderate. It is a model of grottoes art in northern China and the origin of "skinny and picturesque".

Yungang Grottoes vividly recorded the historical track of the development of Indian and Central Asian Buddhist art to China Buddhist art, and reflected the gradual secularization and nationalization of Buddhist statues in China.

A variety of Buddhist sculpture styles have achieved unprecedented integration in Yungang Grottoes.