Mogao Caves

About this place

Hundreds of caves cut into a sandy cliff about two kilometres long in the desert south-east of Dunhuang; the first were dug in AD 366 and work continued for about a thousand years until the fourteenth century, when Dunhuang was a meeting point of caravans on the Silk Road, and the site has been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1987. It now counts 735 caves: 487 in the southern section, decorated with murals and painted sculpture whose wall paintings cover some 46,000 square metres and rank among the world's great treasures of Buddhist art, and 248 in the northern section that served as monks' living quarters, retreats and burial places, while a nine-storey timber façade in the middle of the cliff has become the emblem of the site. In 1900 a hidden library was found in one of the caves, sealed since the eleventh century and holding tens of thousands of manuscripts in many languages, most of them now scattered among the world's museums; today the site's story is told at a visitor centre that shows two digital films before a shuttle bus takes visitors to the cliff. The main ticket costs CNY 238 from April to October and CNY 140 for the rest of the year, covering the films and eight caves with a guide; booking opens about 30 days ahead with a daily cap on visitors, while the back-up ticket costs CNY 100 for four caves, per visitor guides. Photography inside the caves is not allowed, so book early in summer.