Jottings from the Granite Studio

Facing increased pressure from tourists with flashlights tramping through the Dunhuang caves in search of frescoes and murals, officials in Mogao have begun a project to digitally scan 54,000 square yards of fresco and 10 statues. The digital images will be used to form a multimedia display so that visitors can see the full detail of the images without lingering for too long in the sensitive environment of the caves themselves. Excess light, dampness, carbon dioxide, and even insects can damage the paintings.

The location of Dunhuang along the trade route between Central Asia and China made it a kind of way station for religious travelers. Between the 4th and 14th centuries C.E., monks at the site collected manuscripts and allowed pilgrims to paint large murals and frescoes on the walls of the complex. By the 12th century, most of the complex was sealed, though portions of it were still used for the storage of old or damaged manuscripts. Occasionally documents from Dunhuang would emerge, and stories of treasure troves in the caves abounded. But for the most part, the extent of the treasures buried in the Mogao caves would remain a secret for another five centuries.

In 1890, A Daoist monk named Wang Yuanlu settled in the caves. As he and a team of workers was renovating one of the outer caves, they discovered a secret door leading to an inner chamber stuffed with ancient documents, manuscripts, and texts.

Prior to that, stories, and even some manuscripts, filtered down from Xinjiang into the hands of European officials, explorers, and traders all participating in the Great Game to control Central Asia. By the late 19th century, more and more documents emerged from the desert sands, prompted in no small part by Wang Yuanlu’s discoveries. In the early 20th century, British, German, French, Chinese, and Japanese scholars flocked–sometimes risking life and limb–to the Mogao caves to study (and abscond with) hundreds of manuscripts, paintings, statues, and other relics.

The caves not only contained invaluable Buddhist texts (in some cases the only extant copies of certain sutras), but also old Chinese manuscripts, bills of sale, contracts, and other documents of daily life. For historians, the importance of the Dunhuang discovery cannot be overstated.

During the Cultural Revolution, researchers and caretakers at the site boarded up the caves to protect them from the ravages of the Red Guard, warning that Zhou Enlai himself had said that Mogao was to be protected. The Mogao Caves were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

There is a wonderful online resource about the caves, the International Dunhuang Project website which is the source for much of this post which is definitely worth checking out.
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Picture upper right: A fresco from the Mogao Caves showing Han Wudi worshipping “Men from the West.” I googled it and Wikipedia described it as “Han Wudi worshipping the Buddha” which would be a little shocking (and anachronistic). Does anybody have any other information or background on this painting?