Yungang Grottoes

Brief Introduction

Yungang Grottoes, enjoying a long history of over 1,500 years, is one of the three leading grottoes in China together with Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang.

The Yungang Grottoes including 252 caves and 51,000 statues, represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China in the 5th and 6th centuries. The layout and design, constitute a classical masterpiece of the first peak of Chinese Buddhist art.

Listed in World Cultural Heritage sites. The Buddhist culture and art displayed involves many aspects such as history, architecture, and music.

Why Visit the Yungang Grottoes?
1.It’s one of China’s most supreme example of Buddhist cave art

As one of China’s most supreme example of Buddhist cave art, Yungang Grottoes is more than magnificent. Beyond all doubt, the Buddhist caves with statues are the biggest highlights of Yungang Grottoes. There are 254 caves – 45 major grottoes and 209 secondary caves which cover an area of more than 18000 square meters and house 1,100 niches and 5,100 statues. The biggest one reaches 17 meters tall and the smallest one is only 2 centimeters tall. Here we list the caves you can miss when you travel Yungang Grottoes.

2.It’s an enduring legacy of Chinese Buddhist art

Yungang is an enduring legacy of Chinese Buddhist art and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is renowned for its magnificently carved cave-temples and polychromatic sculptures. It demonstrates how various artistic traditions of South, Central, and East Asia (southern China) were integrated and remixed to create something new.  Yungang Grottoes were also an important venue for rulers to construct and communicate their political authority.

Highlights of the Yungang Grottoes

The 17 meters high sitting Buddha statue of Sakyamuni in the back cave of Cave No.5 is the largest statue of Yungang Grottoes.
Five Resplendent(Cave No.9 to No.13),The only colored sculptures in the Yungang Grottoes are in here.
Tan Yao Caves (Cave No.16 to No.20),The five caves are the earliest caves of Yungang Grottoes.
Best Time to Visit Yungang Grottoes

Generally speaking, it is available to visit Yungang Grottoes all the year around because its cultural beauty never be changed by weather. But if you want to enjoy the most comfortable climate during your travel in Yungang Grottoes and other attractions in Datong, we suggest you travel during April ~ October. Datong enjoys a continental monsoon steppe climate with four distinct seasons. In spring and autumn, the weather is very good. Compared some other cities in China, Datong’s summer is cool as well. It is quite cold in winter, but you get an opportunity enjoy many interesting winter activities in Datong.