莫高窟【英】

Mogao Grottoes

定义

俗称千佛洞，敦煌石窟群中的主要代表窟群。位于今甘肃省敦煌市东南二十五公里处的鸣沙山东麓的断壁上。莫高窟始建于前秦建元二年（366），是世界上现存规模最大、连续修建时间最长、内容最丰富的佛教石窟群。窟区全长1600余米，分南北两区。现存洞窟492个，窟内有壁画45000多平方米，彩塑9000余身，唐宋木构窟檐五座。1987年12月联合国教科文组织第十一届全体会议批准将敦煌莫高窟列入“世界文化遗产名录”。

It is a group of representative grottoes among the grottoes in Dunhuang, commonly called Thousand Buddha Caves. The grottoes are constructed on the eastern cliffs of Mount Mingsha, 25 km southeast of the city of Dunhuang in Gansu Province; the Mogao Grottoes, started in the 2nd year of the Jianyuan era of the Former Qin (366 AD), extend 1600 meters long and are divided into the southern section and the northern section. The group is the largest collection of grottoes with the longest duration of construction and the most valuable contents among the existing Buddhist grottoes in the world today. There are still 492 caves, in which there are over 45,000 square meters of frescoes and more than 9000 painted sculptures, and there also exist five wooden structured grotto eaves built in the Tang and the Song dynasties. In December 1987, the eleventh plenary session of the UNESCO approved that the Mogao Grottoes be included in the “World Cultural Heritage List”.