Yulin Caves

View of the Caves
Pipa player, south wall of Cave 25 (Tang dynasty)

The Yulin Caves (Chinese: 榆林窟; pinyin: Yulin kū) is a Buddhist cave temple site in Guazhou County, Gansu Province, China. The site is located some 100 km (62 mi) east of the oasis town of Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves. It takes its name from the elm trees lining the Yulin River, which flows through the site and separates the two cliffs from which the caves have been excavated. The forty-two caves house some 250 polychrome statues and 4,200 m2 (45,000 sq ft) of wall paintings, dating from the Tang dynasty to the Yuan dynasty (seventh to fourteenth centuries).[1][2] The site was among the first to be designated for protection in 1961 as a Major National Historical and Cultural Site.[3] In 2008 the Yulin Grottoes were submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Chinese Section of the Silk Road.[4]

  1. ^ Fan Jinshi, ed. (1999). 安西榆林窟 The Anxi Yulin Grottoes (in Chinese and English). Gansu National Publishing House. pp. 6–9. ISBN 7542106465.
  2. ^ Dunhuang Academy, ed. (1997). 安西榆林窟 [Anxi Yulin Caves] (in Chinese). 文物出版社. ISBN 7501007748.
  3. ^ "国务院关于公布第一批全国重点文物保护单位名单的通知 (1st Designations)" (in Chinese). State Administration of Cultural Heritage. 3 April 1961. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  4. ^ "Chinese Section of the Silk Road". UNESCO. Retrieved 28 April 2012.