The Mogao Caves or Mogao Ku is one of five Buddhist cave temple complexes located along the Silk Road that collectively make up Dunhuang caves. The Dunhuang Caves are often called the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. Mogao Ku has the largest known collection of Buddhist art in China, including more than 45,000 square meters of murals and more than 2,000 painted statues, dated from the 4th through fourteenth centuries AD. When the caves first were being made, they were used mostly for meditation but as time went on the caves became a place to teach and convert others to Buddhism and offered an extensive library of parable and sutras.
Creating these beautiful caves did not come cheap and the sponsors of the excavation often had more personal motives in mind. For example, the largest statue, which is a 100-foot White Buddha, was sculpted in 695 for the Tang Dynasty Emperor Wu Zetian, the only female Emperor in Chinese history. The face of this Buddha was made in her image and was used as way to show her legitimacy as an Emperor by showing her dedication to the Buddha.
Sources:
http://imperialtours.net/attractions/mogao-cave-murals
http://archaeology.about.com/od/religionandmagic/fl/Mogao-Caves.htm
Hayley's Silk Road 
It’s interesting to read that there are so many cherished historical art pieces in one place! I also think it’s fascinating to see how the sculpture of Wu Zetian is so large and detailed, to honor her and bring light to her former title in Chinese history. I was surprised to read that there was a female emperor at all considering men typically dominated back in earlier time periods. Thank you for writing this blog!
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This is very interesting to see the amount of history in a single location! Everything seems so well detailed and beautiful. It also was very interesting to know that a female was an empire during this time period! If I were to be in this part of the world, I would definitely want to stop by this place because it is like a museum without being a museum. Especially to see that statue of Wu Zetian! Great find!
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