 The
Longmen Grottoes or Longmen Caves are located 12 km
south of present day Luoyang in Henan province, China.
The grottoes, which overwhelmingly depict Buddhist
subjects, are densely dotted along the two mountains:
Xiangshan (to the east) and Longmenshan
(to the west). The Yi River flows northward between
them.
For this reason, the area used to be called Yique (The
Gate of the Yi River). From north to south, the distance
covered by grottoes is about one km. Along with the
Mogao Caves and Yungang Grottoes, the Longmen Grottoes
are one of the three most famous ancient sculptural
sites in China. |
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