Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum

Special Exhibition of Maijishan Grottoes

The Buddha Museum has meticulously curated large-scale annual exhibitions. Since 2019, it has successively presented the “Four Great Grottoes of China,” all inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List—beginning with the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, followed by the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang and the Yungang Grottoes in Datong. In 2025, the final installment will feature the last of the four: The Maijishan Grottoes.

Located in Tianshui, Gansu Province, the Maijishan Grottoes were first excavated during the Later Qin of the Sixteen Kingdoms, flourishing in the Northern Dynasties. Resembling a stack of wheat sheaves, the mountain rises sheer on three sides, surrounded by forested slopes, springs, drifting clouds, and mist—like a Buddhist realm on earth. Walking along the plank roads suspended on the cliffs, visitors encounter honeycomb-like caves filled with exquisite sculptures and murals, forming a world-renowned artistic treasury. Together with the Mogao Caves, Longmen Grottoes, and Yungang Grottoes, it is celebrated as one of the “Four Great Grottoes of China.”

For more than a thousand years, camel bells echoed along the ancient routes, and pious devotion lingered on the towering cliffs. Merchants paused here, devotees came in pilgrimage, artisans carved tirelessly, and generations of guardians poured their efforts into preservation. Human footprints intertwined with the traces of mountains; ancient paths and sacred landscapes reflected one another. In 2014, as part of the “Silk Roads: The Routes Network of Chang’an–Tianshan Corridor,” the Maijishan Grottoes were inscribed on the World Heritage List, becoming a cultural treasure cherished by all humankind.

This exhibition traces Maijishan’s thousand-year journey through four thematic chapters: “Pearl of the Silk Road, Marvel of Maiji,” exploring the origins of its sacred legacy and why these cliffs became a Buddhist sanctuary; “Buddhist Kingdom on the Cliff, Masterpiece of Nature and Art,” revealing the extraordinary engineering and artistic ingenuity of the ancients; “The Oriental Smile, Sublime Sculptures and Murals,,” appreciating the refinement of this “Sculpture Gallery of the East” and the masterpieces of early Chinese mural art; and “Devoted Guardianship, Spanning Millennia,” recounting the moving stories of generations who have safeguarded the grottoes and carried forward their cultural lineage.

As we conclude this series of exhibitions on the Four Great Grottoes of China, we warmly invite you to step into the world of Maijishan—to experience its profound artistic resonance and spiritual power, and to honor the enduring legacy of grotto preservation and cultural transmission.