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Mogao Map

Mogao Caves

The Mogao Caves (or named the Mogao Grottoes) is one of the three well-known grottoes in China. Known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, Mogao Caves are the best known Buddhist caves in China and the place is always a destination of visitors from both home and abroad.

Location and topography of Mogao Caves

The Mogao Caves is located on the eastern slope of Echoing Sand Mountain and in the southeast of Dunhuang in Gansu Province.

Climate in Mogao Caves

The dry desert climate with few dramatic differences help retain much of charm of the Mogao Caves.

Transportation in Mogao Caves

Visitors can take buses in front of the Dunhuang Hotel or Silk Road Hotel in Dunhuang City to the Mogao Caves with a charge of CNY8 per person. Or, you can hire a taxi for the day to visit the Mogao Caves.

Travel & Sightseeing in Mogao Caves

The Mogao Caves is the largest, best preserved and richest treasure house of Buddhist art in the world. There are 492 caves with 45,000 square meters of murals, 2,415 colored statues and five wooden-structured caves in the Mogao Caves dating from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries. If joined together these murals would cover a length of 30 km. The caves and painted statues vary in size and style, which reflect the creation and imagination. The murals still remain their bright colors and visual looks after years of erosion. They seem together tell the story of Buddhism development in China as well as cultural exchanges between China and the world.

Mogao Map