The Shock of a Millennium - The Longmen Grottoes

The pinnacle of Chinese stone carving art, dreaming back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty at the Longmen Grottoes|||In the fields around Luoyang, where the landscape is supreme, Longmen stands out. The Longmen Grottoes began to be carved during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and ended in the late Qing Dynasty. They were constructed over more than 1400 years during successive dynasties including the Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Ming, and Qing, with over 110,000 statues created. This article represents the representative caves of the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties, the niche of the Great Buddha Vairocana, which was the peak period of statue creation in the Longmen Grottoes. Among all the caves at Longmen, about 30% are from the Northern Wei Dynasty, 60% from the Tang Dynasty, and the remaining 10% from other dynasties. The main statue, Vairocana, means 'radiant light that shines everywhere.' Standing 17.14 meters tall, with a head 4 meters high and ears 1.9 meters long, it is famous for its mysterious smile and is known as the 'Eastern Mona Lisa' by foreign tourists. The face is full and round, with wavy hair on top, eyebrows curved like new moons, and a pair of beautiful eyes gently gazing downward, revealing a serene smile, wise and compassionate, inspiring respect without fear. On the day the niche of the Great Buddha Vairocana was completed, Empress Wu Zetian, who donated twenty thousand strings of cash for cosmetics, personally led civil and military officials to participate in the consecration ceremony of Vairocana and worshipped on the east bank of the Yi River with drumming and music. To this day, the drum platform still remains here. Centered around the generous and extraordinary Vairocana, a group of artistic figures with rich emotional texture vividly expresses an ideal realm filled with serene colors. This group of statues reflects the great material and spiritual power of the Tang Dynasty, showcasing the highest achievements of Tang Dynasty sculpture art.