Maijishan Western Cliff Grottoes
麦积山 西崖 石窟 天水 · Maijishan West Cliff · Maijishan Xi Ya
Sixteen Kingdoms to Song·Later Qin, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song·🇨🇳 Gansu, Tianshui City, Maiji District, Maijishan National Park, western cliff of Maiji haystack hill 45 km SE Tianshui, China
About
About Maijishan Western Cliff Grottoes
Western sheer face 80 m high of the isolated Maijishan ('Wheat-Stack') pudding-stone hill, with 72 grottoes (Later Qin to Song, c.384–1279 CE): the famed 16-m Tang Thousand Buddha gallery on the west mid-cliff ( Cave 98), Western Wei naturalistic drapery west niches, and the accessible lower Cave 127–133 Song overpaint band with Song donor inscriptions. West cliff is the photogenic postcard face visible from the national park approach — distinct from the sheltered southern caves — with plank-way (zhandao) balconies 30 m above ground connecting hanging grottoes on sheer conglomerate. 194 of total Maijishan caves are concentrated here.
Why it mattersHanging western face of the iconic wheat-stack hill, classic Wei–Tang sculpture transition and Silk Road convergence type, UNESCO Silk Roads 1507.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Western Wei vs Tang dating of hanging niches
- 02Plank-way reconstruction chronology
Theories
- 01Cliff pilgrimage linking Chang'an to Dunhuang in Tianshui corridor
- 02Donor collective of Tianshui merchant guilds
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.384–1279 CE (Later Qin to Song, peak Western Wei to Tang c.550–900)
- Period
- Sixteen Kingdoms to Song
- Culture
- Later Qin, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song
- Builders
- Tianshui–Liangzhou Buddhist workshops (Maijishan atelier)
- Purpose
- Hanging cliff mandala and donor gallery high above Wei River valley — Silk Road east-west convergence grotto
- Rediscovered
- Later Qin/384 founding; 42 Stele Wei; 1951 Liang Sicheng western survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.384 CE
Later Qin founder Yao Xing patronage begins grottoes
c.550 CE
Western Wei naturalistic sculpture apogee at west cliff
c.700 CE
Tang 16-m colossus gallery campaign
On the ground
Structures & features
34.3490° N · 106.0000° E · 1450 m · 2 mapped features
Western Cliff — 16-m Tang Standing Buddha Gallery (Cave 98)
colossus16-m standing Shakyamuni with attendant disciples on west mid-cliff plank balcony, Tang c.700
34.3500° N · 106.0010° EWestern Cliff — Thousand-Buddha Niches West Band (Caves 127–133)
niche galleryHorizontal band of 220 Song donor cartouches and small niches at west lower cliff
34.3480° N · 105.9990° E
Gallery