Mogao Grottoes

introduce

Mogao Grottoes, also known as Thousand Buddha Caves, are located in the southeast of Dunhuang City. The grottoes were first built during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Sixteen Kingdoms period. The grottoes were excavated for thousands of years until the end of the Yuan Dynasty. With a large number of murals, grottoes, cultural relics, etc., it is a world-renowned Buddhist art resort. Here you can enjoy the large-scale and rich grottoes and mural art, and you can also learn about the thousand-year development history of Buddhism in Dunhuang through explanations and film shows. It is a must-see for tourists to visit Dunhuang.

The current Mogao Grottoes Scenic Area consists of two parts: the Mogao Grottoes Digital Exhibition Center and the Mogao Grottoes Grottoes. The two adopt a combined ticket system and are not sold separately. From September 11, 2014, the scenic spot implements an appointment visit system. Tourists must first book tickets by phone or online, and visit according to the reserved time period. A limit of 6,000 people can enter each day.

After making an appointment and picking up tickets, tourists need to go to the Mogao Grottoes Digital Exhibition Center (you can’t go directly to the grottoes, otherwise you will not be able to enter), and watch two movies about Mogao Grottoes, each 20 minutes. A "Millennium Mogao" is an introduction to the history and culture of Mogao Grottoes, helping tourists have a deeper understanding of Mogao Grottoes. Another "Fantasy Buddha Palace" is a dome movie, showing many grottoes that are not open now, which is very exciting.

After watching the movie, take the shuttle bus of the scenic spot to go to the grottoes. The scenic spot provides explanations. Under the guidance of the explanations, enter the scenic spot in batches and visit the grottoes one by one. Generally, you can only visit 8-10 caves at a time, and the visit time is about 1 hour. . The Mogao Grottoes are famous for their murals and statues, which are very wonderful. Looking around the caves of Mogao Grottoes, there are paintings of Buddha statues, flying Apsaras, dancers, fairies, etc., there are seated statues as high as nine floors, and there are also small Bodhisattvas more than ten centimeters in number. Lead the next one to understand. After the visit, you need to take the scenic shuttle bus and return to the digital exhibition center near the railway station to end the tour.

opening hours

April 1st-November 30th 08:00-18:00 (Ticket sales end 15:30); December 1st-March 31st of the following year 09:00-17:30 (Ticket sales end 15:00)

Preferential treatment policy

Service Facilities

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