Yungang Grottoes
China
Date of Inscription: 2001
Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv) Property : 348.7500 ha Buffer zone: 846.8100 ha Datong City, Shanxi Province N40 6 34.992 E113 7 19.992 Ref: 1039 |
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Brief Description
The Yungang Grottoes, in Datong city, Shanxi Province, with their 252 caves and 51,000 statues, represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China in the 5th and 6th centuries. The Five Caves created by Tan Yao, with their strict unity of layout and design, constitute a classical masterpiece of the first peak of Chinese Buddhist art.
Yungang Grottoes
| Ian Whitfield
© Ian Whitfield
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Justification for Inscription
Criterion (i): The assemblage of statuary of the Yungang Grottoes is a masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art.
Criterion (ii): The Yungang cave art represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under Imperial auspices.
Criterion (iii): The power and endurance of Buddhist belief in China are vividly illustrated by the Yungang grottoes.
Criterion (iv): The Buddhist tradition of religious cave art achieved its first major impact at Yungang, where it developed its own distinct character and artistic power.
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