Luban Kiln Grottoes

It is unknown when the Luban Kiln Grottoes were created. Legend has it that the skilled craftsmen who excavated the Yungang Grottoes once lived here, hence the name "Luban Kiln". From the analysis of the style of the existing grotto statues, it should be a relic of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The Grottoes face west to the east, across the river from the Yungang Grottoes, facing each other and echoing each other. There are only two caves here. The first cave is 4 meters deep, 6 meters wide, and 6 meters high. The seated Buddha is 50 centimeters high, and the clothes are partial to the right shoulder. Thirty-seven Buddha statues still exist on the north and west walls, and twenty-four Buddha statues in three rows on the south wall. The Buddhist niches in the upper northeast corner can be seen painted in ocher red, which was painted by later generations. A jagged curtain is carved around the junction of the cave wall and ceiling. The second cave is 5.27 meters away from the first cave, with a depth of 4.17 meters, an inner width of 6.1 meters and a height of 4 meters. There are neat thousand-Buddha niches carved on the walls around the cave. There are sixty-six Buddha statues in existence, and the clothing has two forms: open shoulders and partial to the right shoulder.

The Luban Kiln Grottoes are small in scale, but they still have certain reference value for the study of the creation history of the Yungang Grottoes and the history of the rise and fall of Buddhism in the Northern Wei Dynasty.