Exhibition of renowned Buddhist grottoes' cave art opens in Los Angeles

An exhibition on Buddhist art at the world-renowned Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Northwest China opened to public on Saturday in Los Angeles.

The exhibition at the Getty Center, titled "The Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road," features three full-scale hand-painted replica caves transported from China, an immersive 3D tour experience, and three exhibit halls showcasing some of the most prized artifacts from international collections, many of which have never traveled to North America before.

A temporary building houses three replica caves, Cave 275, 285 and 320, which are filled with exquisite Buddhist paintings and sculptures. Wandering in the building, people would feel like they are visiting the remote Mogao Grottoes in the deep Gobi Desert in Northwest China.

Over 40 objects discovered at Mogao in 1900 in Cave 17, known as the "Library Cave," reflect the diverse ideas, beliefs, and artistic styles of China and the Silk Road between the 8th and 10th centuries. Meanwhile, 3D stereoscopic immersive technology will enable visitors to examine in detail the magnificent Cave 45 from Tang Dynasty.

The Mogao Grottoes are home to a huge collection of Buddhist artworks -- more than 2,000 colored sculptures and 45,000 square meters of frescoes -- in 735 caves carved along a cliff by ancient worshippers. They were China's first UNESCO world heritage site, inscribed in 1987.

"This Getty exhibition will make the magnificent cave temples of Dunhuang Mogao world heritage site much better known in the United States," said Mimi Gardner Gates, chairperson of Dunhuang Foundation. "We never dreamed there will be such magnificent treasures on view."

Timothy Whalen, director of the Getty Conservation Institute, said: "The scale and quality of the wall paintings and their location in this unspoiled and stark desert setting is what I find most remarkable about the Mogao Grottoes."

"It is one of the world's most impressive and complete cultural heritage sites and it bears witness to a millennium of human artistic achievement and cultural exchange."

Emerged as a global hub of art, culture, and trade along the Silk Road at the remote edge of the Gobi Desert, Dunhuang was a place where major world cultures from Greece and Rome, the Persian Empire, the Middle East, Central Asia and China came together centuries ago.

The exhibition will last till September. Endi