This episode is unusual for the series in that it focuses on just one subject, the magnificent Mo-gao caves at Dun-huang in the Gobi desert. In this complex, which stretches for more than 2 kilometres along a cliff wall, there are 500 caves and over 3,000 statues and murals. It is counted as the longest art gallery in the world.
The caves were started in 366 AD, and developed over a period of 1,000 years as the various dynasties rose and fell around it. The documentary shows many of the statues and murals from the various caves, including Śākyamuni statues with Ānanda and Kaśyapa on either side; a 26-metre high Maitreya Buddha; and some beautiful murals depicting Amitābha and the Pure Lands.
I have high hopes of visiting and photographing the complex one day, though I met and spoke to one Chinese visitor when I was at Angkor recently and he told me that many of the caves are still not open to the public.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8766403308994751293
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In June 2010 a long article on these caves with many pictures appeared in the National Geographic magazine. The reason why not all the caves are open is to preserve the artwork. Tourists are limited to a rotating set of 40 caves. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the caves each year and the moisture from their breathing damages the murals. All 492 decorated caves are being digitized (as well as the scattered scrolls from Cave 17 that were found and taken by Stein). There are plans to use the digital pictures to 3-dimensionally recreate all the caves in a nearby visitor’s centre.
The article can be viewed on the NG website, there is a link (for which my internet connection is too slow at the moment) to an interactive page where one can visit the cave galleries: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/06/dunhuang-caves/larmer-text
Bh Nt
Dear Bhante, thanks very much for that information, the link is well worth following up, and has extra photographs not found in the printed edition as well as the ability to scroll along the caves and see photos of some of the highlights.