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Mogao Caves

Also known as Caves of the Thousand Buddhas

The Mogao Caves are a complex of nearly 500 Buddhist cave temples cut into a cliff south-east of Dunhuang in Gansu, China, from the 4th to the 14th century. They hold some of the finest Buddhist murals and sculptures in Asia. In 1900 a sealed library cave was found there containing tens of thousands of manuscripts, the Dunhuang manuscripts, and the site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Mogao Caves
Image: xiquinhosilva · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Guiyi Circuit

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Mogao Caves. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mogao-caves
MLA
“Mogao Caves.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mogao-caves. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Mogao Caves.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mogao-caves.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Mogao Caves’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mogao-caves (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻