Longmen Grottoes are located just south of the city of Luoyang, in Henan Province, China. As an important cradle of Chinese civilization, Luoyang served as the ancient capital for 13 dynasties. It was also the eastern end of the Silk Road.
Luoyang is about 500 miles southwest of China’s capital, Beijing.
The construction of Longmen Grottoes started in the late fifth century, when Emperor Xiaowen (467-499) of the Northern Wei Dynasty relocated the capital from Pingcheng (present-day Datong City) to Luoyang. Caves and niches of various sizes are carved into limestone cliffs stretching 1 kilometer (about 0.6 miles) from north to south on both sides of the Yi River.
Chinese Buddhists from all walks of life—from royal families, to monks, nuns, and common people—sponsored the addition of Buddhist statues and inscriptions to the site.
After undergoing intermittent construction spanning over four centuries, Longmen Grottoes currently preserves 2345 catalogued caves and niches, and over 100,000 individual Buddhist statues, ranging in height from a few inches to over 56 feet.
Around the year 500, Emperor Xuanwu (483-515) commissioned the Binyang Southern and Central Caves in dedication to his recently deceased parents, Emperor Xiaowen (467-499) and Empress Wenzhao (469-496).
During the Yongping era (508-512), Liu Teng, the major supervisor of cave construction at the time, suggested adding a third cave for Emperor Xuanwu himself, which became the Binyang Northern Cave. These three caves together are known as the Binyang Caves.
The Binyang Central Cave was completed by 523, while the other two were suspended due to political upheavals. The cave represents the pinnacle of Northern Wei Buddhist grotto architecture through its spatially unified design, sophisticated arrangement of Buddhist statues, and the finest stone relief carvings, which include two Imperial Procession Reliefs.
The Imperial Procession Reliefs, carved on the exit walls in the Binyang Central Cave, each 2 meters high, depict a grand scene of the Northern Wei imperial family worshiping Buddha.
The Longmen site was “discovered” by foreign scholars in the late 1800s. The publication of their studies with photos attracted international attention to the artistic quality of the sculptures. These publications ultimately led to the looting of much of the site in the early part of the twentieth century.
In Binyang Central Cave, several heads and large portions of the relief carvings were cut or burned out of the walls. Fragments from Binyang Central Cave now reside in museums in the U.S. and Japan, as well as in storage at the Longmen Grottoes Academy in China. Many shattered pieces are identifiable today with the evidence of historical photographs and rubbings taken of the reliefs before their removal.
Working in collaboration with partners in China, Japan, and the U.S., our Center is creating 3D digital restorations of Binyang Central Cave and its fragments, for research, preservation, and education.
