Caves
The caves were cut into the side of a cliff which is close to two kilometers long. At its height during the Tang Dynasty, there were more than a thousands caves, but over time, many of the caves were lost, including the earliest caves. 735 caves currently exist in Mogao, the best-known ones are the 487 caves located in the southern section of the cliff which are places of pilgrimage and worship. 248 caves have also been found to the north which were living quarters, meditation chambers and burial sites for the monks. The caves at the southern section are decorated, while those at the northern section are mostly plain.
The caves are clustered together according to their era, with new caves from a new dynasty being constructed in different part of the cliff. From the murals, sculptures and other objects found in the caves, around five hundred caves were determined to be built in the following era (list from the 1980s, more have been identified since):
- Sixteen Kingdoms (366-439) - 7 caves, the oldest dated to Northern Liang period.
- Northern Wei (439-534) and Western Wei (535-556) - 10 from each phase
- Northern Zhou (557-580) - 15 caves
- Sui Dynasty (581-618) - 70 caves
- Early Tang (618- 704) - 44 caves
- High Tang (705-780) - 80 caves
- Middle Tang (781-847) - 44 caves (This era in Dunhuang is also known as the Tibetan period because Dunhuang was then under Tibetan occupation.)
- Late Tang (848-906) - 60 caves (This and the subsequent periods until the Western Xia period are also known collectively as the Guiyijun period (歸義軍, Return to Righteousness Army, 848-1036) when Dunhuang was ruled by the Zhang and Cao families.)
- The Five Dynasty (907-923) - 32 caves
- Song Dynasty (960-1035)- 43 caves
- Western Xia (1036–1226) - 82 caves
- Yuan Dynasty (1227–1368) - 10 caves
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