Longmen Grottoes: Difference between revisions

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[[File:世界文化遗产 龙门石窟.JPG|thumb|Longmen Grottos UNESCO World Heritage site]]

The '''Longmen Grottoes''' ({{zh|s=龙门石窟 |t=龍門石窟 |p=Lóngmén Shíkū |l=Dragon's Gate Grottoes}}) or '''Longmen Caves''' are some of the finest examples of [[Buddhist art#China|Chinese Buddhist art]]. Housing tens of thousands of statues of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]] and his disciples, they are located {{convert|12|km}} south of present-day [[Luoyang]] in [[Henan]] province, China. The images, many once painted, were carved as outside [[rock relief]]s and inside artificial caves excavated from the [[limestone]] cliffs of the Xiangshan ({{lang|zh|香山}}) and [[Longmen Mountains|Longmenshan]], running east and west. The [[Yi River (China)|Yi River]] ({{zh|c=伊河|links=no}}) flows northward between them and the area used to be called '''Yique''' ({{zh|labels=no |s=伊阙 |l=The Gate of the Yi River}}).<ref name=China>{{Cite web|url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/kuaixun/75219.htm |title= Longmen Grottoes|access-date=18 May 2011|publisher=China.org.cn|date=September 12, 2003|author=Longmen Grottoes Management Office|location=Luoyang City, Henan}}</ref><ref name=List>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1003|title=Longmen Grottoes|access-date=17 May 2011|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref><ref name=Evaluate>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/1003.pdf|title= Longmen Grottoes (China) No 1003|access-date=17 May 2011|publisher=Unesco.org|author=ICOMOS|date=September 2000}}</ref> The alternative name of "Dragon's Gate Grottoes" derives from the resemblance of the two hills that check the flow of the Yi River to the typical "[[Paifang|Chinese gate]] towers" that once marked the entrance to Luoyang from the south.<ref name=Asian>{{Cite web|url=http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/china/luoyang/longmen.php|title=Longmen Grottoes (carved 480s–900 onward)|access-date=18 May 2011|publisher=orientalarchitecture.com|first=Robert D.|last=Fiala}}</ref>