MAIJISHAN GROTTOES

甘肃天水的麦积山石窟是中国四大石窟之一。始建于后秦，历北魏、西魏、北周、隋、唐、五代、宋、元、明、清等十余个朝代的开凿与修缮。现存洞窟221个，造像1万余尊，壁画900余平方米，以北朝洞窟、彩塑和壁画最具特色。北朝窟檐雕刻精细质朴，形象宏伟，是我国建筑史的珍贵实物资料。造像初期古朴雄健，北魏秀骨清像，北周浑润饱满，隋唐丰满圆润，反映了我国佛教艺术从兴起到鼎盛的发展历程。壁画多精美之作，有国内现存最早的大型经变画、绘塑结合的“薄肉塑”壁画等艺术精品。麦积山石窟与河西、中原和四川地区的佛教石窟造像都有着密切关系，在中国石窟寺中具有重要的地位和作用。

The Maijishan Grottoes at Tianshui，Gansu，as one of the top 4 grottoes in China，were firstly built in Later Qin Dynasty，and then continued being chiseled from the Northern Wei until the Qing Dynasty.So far，221 caves with about over 10,000 sculptures and more than 900 square meters murals have survived，particularly charactized by caves，murals and colored sculptures of the Northern Dynasties.The grotto eaves of the Northern Dynasties are exquisite but unpretentious，and the magnificent image is considered as precious physical material for architectural history in China.The sculptures of Maijishan Grottoes tend to appear robust in the starting stage，slim and elegant in the Northern Wei，round and fully bodied in the Northern Zhou，and plump in the Sui and Tang Dynasties，reflecting the development of Chinese Buddhist art from the rise to the heyday.The murals include many elaborate works，for instance，the earliest extant large-scale Sutra paintings and“Thin Sculpturing”Murals as a portfolio of painting and sculpturing.Maijishan Grottoes have intimate connections with Buddhist grottoes and sculptures in Hexi Corridor area，the Central Plains and Sichuan，and play an important and vital role among the cave temples in China.