Who dug out Longmen Mountain?
Longmen Grottoes is a famous cave group in China, located on Longmen Mountain in the southwest of Luoyang. It is one of the treasure houses of stone carving art in China, with a history of 1500 years, and is known as the "Oriental Sculpture Art Exhibition Hall". According to historical records, Longmen Grottoes began to be excavated around the time when Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang (AD 494). Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty was a famous reformer in the history of China. He devoted himself to promoting the sinicization of Xianbei people, including moving the capital to Luoyang and digging Longmen Grottoes.
The excavation of Longmen Grottoes was not completed overnight, but after several dynasties' continuous expansion and excavation. In addition to the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were large-scale constructions and sculptures in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, which lasted for more than 400 years.
Characteristics of Longmen Grottoes
During the excavation of Longmen Grottoes, not only royal nobles and Buddhist monks actively participated, but also a large number of folk artists and craftsmen participated. Based on Buddhist classics and traditional artistic styles, they created many exquisite Buddha statues and murals, which showed the superb skills and rich connotations of China stone carving art.
Longmen Grottoes is one of the most important grottoes in the history of China. Its excavation process spanned many dynasties and condensed the painstaking efforts and wisdom of countless artists and craftsmen. Longmen Grottoes, with its unique carving style and high historical, cultural and artistic value, is one of the treasures of stone carving art in China.
The above contents refer to Baidu Encyclopedia-Longmen Grottoes.