Cave 85, detail of wall painting of a dancing figure, Late Tang dynasty (848 -907 CE). Magao caves, Dunhuang, China. Photo: Lori Wong. © J. Paul Getty Trust.
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Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road
May 7–September 4, 2016
On the western edge of the Gobi Desert, near the ancient oasis town of Dunhuang, China, hundreds of cave temples were carved into a cliff face and decorated with Buddhist wall paintings and sculptures.
The caves are known as the Mogao (peerless) Grottoes. From the 4th to the 14th century, Dunhuang bore witness to intense religious, commercial, and cultural exchange along the trade routes linking the East and West, known collectively as the Silk Road.
The documents and artifacts discovered in the site’s famed Library Cave, along with the paintings and sculptures found in almost 500 other caves, focus primarily on Buddhism. They also tell tales of the merchants, monks, and ruling families who lived, worked, and worshipped in the Dunhuang region.
Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road explores the significance of the Mogao Grottoes and highlights the more than 25 years of collaboration between the Getty Conservation Institute and the Dunhuang Academy to protect and conserve this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
RELATED EVENTS
Dunhuang as Nexus of the Silk Road during the Middle Ages
Lecture by Victor H. Mair
Thursday, May 19, 2016, 7:00 p.m.
Cave Temples of Dunhuang: History, Art, and Materiality
Symposium
Friday, May 20, 9:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. (Getty)
Saturday, May 21, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (UCLA)
East and West of Dunhuang: Music Carried by the Wind
Concert
Friday, May 20, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
The Diamond Sutra: A Story of Printing, Piety, and Preservation on the Silk Road
Lecture by Susan Whitfield
Sunday, June 5, 2016, 4:00 p.m.
Family Festival
Saturday, June 11, 2016, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Cornelia Funke’s Voyage into the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas
Storytelling and Book Signing
Sunday, June 19, 2016, 11:00 a.m.
Heaven and Hell on the Silk Road
Lecture by John Kieschnick
Sunday, June 26, 2106, 4:00 p.m.
Dunhuang Inspired: An Evening with Tan Dun
Musical Performance and Conversation
Sunday, July 17, 2016, 5:00 p.m.
The World in the Year 1000: The View from Dunhuang
Lecture by Valerie Hansen
Sunday, July 24, 2016, 4:00 p.m.
Dunhuang Cave Art: Hidden Illumination in Dark Times and the Secret Ambrosia of Great Compassion
Conversation with Peter Sellars and Robert Thurman
Wednesday, August 10, 2016, 7:00 p.m.
The Cave of the Silken Web (1927)
Film screening with the Silk Road Ensemble performing original music
Wednesday, August 24, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
The Care of Time and the Dimensions of Conservation at the Mogao Grottoes
Lecture by Neville Agnew
Sunday, August 28, 2016, 4:00 p.m.