Introduction to Longmen Grottoes

Longmen Grottoes, located in Luoyang City, Henan Province, is the largest treasure house of stone carving art in the world, with the largest number of statues. It was rated as "the highest peak of stone carving art in China" by UNESCO, ranking first among the caves in China. Now it is a world cultural heritage, a national key cultural relic protection unit and a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction.

2. The Longmen was dug by Dayu when he was controlling water, and the legend of fish jumping over the Longmen also happened here. Its grottoes began to be excavated during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty and finally ended in the late Qing Dynasty. After 10 dynasties and 1400 years of construction, it became the longest grotto in the world. A lot of paint is used in the building, but many of it has faded. Densely distributed on the cliffs of the east and west mountains of Yishui, with a length of 1km from north to south, there are 2345 existing grottoes and more than 1 1000 statues, which are called the three largest grottoes in China together with Mogao Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, and then the four largest grottoes together with Maijishan Grottoes.

Longmen Grottoes are mostly built by royal nobles and are the only royal grottoes in the world. After the news of the Lushena Buddha carved by Wu Zetian according to her appearance and manners and the construction of a paradise in Luo Yang Palace was introduced to Japan, Emperor Shengwu made a vow of "building for me" and established Dongda Temple in Nara.