Mògāo kū ( 莫高窟), or Mogao Grottoes.

June 2012

Mògāo kū is also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas (千佛洞). It is located about 25 km from Dunhuang and contains a system of 492 temples.

Mògāo kū is one of three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. The other two are Longmen Grottoes nearby Luoyang  and Yungang Grottoes in Datong.

Covered up for any eventual sand-storms

We arrived by taxi to the cave complex (fare: CNY200 return) from Dunhuang. It was summer and one should be a bit prepared with at least a pair of sunglasses, hat or umbrella and mask. The admission fee is CNY180/pax inclusive of an Englisg-speaking guide; CNY20 less without a guide.



Visit the museum first before going into the cave complex proper. Here you'd find some  information on how sculptures are produced and some replicas of paintings and scupltures in the caves.

Course 101 on how to produce a sculpture

Replica of cave wall mural

A serene sculpture

Documented photos of restoration works

An exhibit

Photos are allowed in the museum (free entrance), but is strictly prohibited in the cave complex area. You'd have to leave your cameras with the counter service just before the gate into the caves.

There are some structures seen around the this sandy desert area. I wonder what they are and their significance?

Mogao main cave as seen from the museum 

Here are some pictures of the caves; no pictures of the insides of the caves are posted because as earlier indicated, photograhy is strictly forbidden inside. In fact we were told that access to the caves would be regulated in future, where guided tourists will be allowed only a maximum of 5 minutes into each cave. Prior to entering the caves, they would be subjected to a couple of hours looking at documentaries in the museum. As a comparison, we visited about 12 caves and the duration was 3 hours; you can imagine the damage that could have been caused to the murals and sculptures by the water vapour and carbon dioxide that we breathed out ... and don't forget to include tourists with itchy kiasu hands trying to touch and dig every mural and sculpture within range!



The cave complex

The cave complex

Main cave

The cave complex

To round up the trip to Mogao Caves, we had this noodle soup (can add vinegar from the tea-pot) ...

noodle soup

and donkey meat.





donkey meat

How is Mogao Cave compared to Yunggang Cave and Longmen Cave? Basically, it's a matter of personal preferences; imho, the other two caves are better because you are given unlimited time to explore them, and weasels you get to touch and scratch snap the sculptures. Again, this may mean that the other two caves may just deteriorate faster. A Catch 22 situation indeed.