Five temples and grottoes

Five temples and grottoes

Wugemiao Grottoes is one of the small and medium-sized Grottoes around Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in ancient Gua and Sha areas (today's Guazhou and Dunhuang areas). It is located on the cliff on the west side of Danghe River, about 100 km south of Mogao Grottoes and 20 km northwest of Subei Mongolian Autonomous County. The cave is excavated on the sand cliff formed by the erosion of Danghe river. The height of the sand cliff is about 30 meters. The cave is suspended on the half cliff, about 12-15 meters from the ground. There are 19 caves on the cliff, which is about 300 meters long from south to north. Only the five caves in the middle can be accessed, so they are called "five temples", one of which was destroyed in the early years. On the East Bank of Danghe river opposite to the five Temple grottoes, there are four remnant caves. About 5 kilometers from the five temples, there is a grotto, commonly known as "a temple".

Mural content

Most of the murals in the five temples and grottoes were painted by smoke, and some were dug. The well preserved cave No. 1 has a central pillar, with pagoda shaped niches painted around the pillar, in which one Buddha and two Bodhisattvas are painted. The contents of the murals are similar to those of Mogao Grottoes, Yulin grottoes and other Dunhuang Grottoes, but there are also many unique features. In the middle of the main wall (North wall), the Buddha statue has been denuded. On the left side, six arm Avalokitesvara is painted, and on the right side, eleven side Avalokitesvara is painted. Maitreya Sutra changes are painted in the middle of the west wall. Maitreya Buddha sits in the middle of the west wall, surrounded by Bodhisattvas, disciples, heavenly kings and generals. On the left and right sides, there are scenes of seven harvests, clothes on trees, sutra writing, marriage and funeral. There are images of farmers driving cattle and plowing and harvesting from real life. In the picture, several farmers are wearing pointed caps of ethnic minorities. The picture of mandala is painted on the left, and the picture of Shui Yue Guan Yin is painted on the right.

Guanyin sits down in front of a bright moon, and the water behind him is rippling; nearby, there are rugged mountains, tall and straight green bamboos, blooming lotus, and waterbirds playing; in the distance, Tiangong pavilions are resplendent, with clouds flying and fog moving, reflecting each other. The east wall is painted with a Buddha of blazing light, holding a golden wheel. The upper two sides are painted with the 12th and 28th houses of the ecliptic. The 12th houses of the ecliptic are respectively painted in 12 circles. The drawing method is similar to that of the 12th houses of the ecliptic in cave 61 of Mogao Grottoes.

28 Su is the image of 28 heaven and man standing in the sky. Cave 2 is divided into front and back chambers. The front chamber has been destroyed, and the back chamber is square with a herringbone slope top. The "concave" Buddha platform built in the middle has no Buddha statue, and the murals are seriously smoked and cannot be identified.

The front room of cave 3 has also been destroyed. There is a large Buddha statue in the center of the cave, which was destroyed later. Although the murals on the four walls and caisson are relatively complete, they are heavily smoked. The contents of the murals include the changes of pharmacists, Maitreya, VIMA, laoduchadousheng, sixteen arm Guanyin, etc. Besides, there are inscriptions in Xixia and Uighur that are later than the murals. Cave No. 4 has only a back room. In the murals, there are images of monks of ethnic minorities.

artistic value

According to the shape of the five Temple grottoes and the existing murals, cultural relic experts judge that one of the four existing Grottoes was excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty and rebuilt in the Western Xia dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty; the other three were excavated in the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty (i.e. the period of Cao's Guiyijun), and the murals were drawn in different dynasties and overlapped in many layers. The bottom layer is the works of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the surface murals are mostly painted in the Five Dynasties, Northern Song Dynasty, Shazhou Huihe, Xixia, yuan and other periods. The murals of the five temples and grottoes enrich the content of Dunhuang Grottoes art, and are also valuable materials for studying the history and culture of Hexi area. In 2006, Gansu Provincial Bureau of cultural relics arranged special funds to entrust the Provincial Institute of cultural relics protection and maintenance to implement the safety protection of five temples and grottoes.

Address: in Subei Mongolian Autonomous County, Dunhuang City (in the cliff about 20km northwest of the county)

Longitude: 94.781860351562

Latitude: 39.650993347168