The Kumtura Thousand Buddha Caves ( zh, t=庫木吐喇千佛洞, s=, p=Kùmùtǔlǎ Qiānfódòng) (also Qumtura; Uyghur: ) is a Buddhist cave temple site in the

Autonomous Region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, zone, entity, unit, region, subdivision, province, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or territory, internal territory of a sovereign state that has ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, China. The site is located some 25 km west of

Kucha Kucha or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; , Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; ) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of what is now the Taklam ...

Kuqa County Kuqa ( ) is a county-level city in Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. It was once the homeland of the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Kucha. History The archaeological excavation of Neolithic cultural sites, such as the ( z ...

, on the ancient

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

. Other famous sites nearby are the Kizilgaha caves, the

Kizil Caves The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; ; zh, s=克孜尔千佛洞, l=Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township ( zh, s=克孜尔乡, p=Kèzī'ěr Xiāng, labels=no) in Ba ...

Subashi Temple The Subashi Temple, also known in Chinese as Subashi Fosi Yizhi (苏巴什佛寺遗址) is a ruined Buddhist temple near Kucha in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road, in Xinjiang, Western China. The city was partly excavated by the Jap ...

and the

Simsim caves Simsim () was either a historical region or kingdom in the North Caucasus during the Middle Ages, existing in the 14th century. Predominantly localized roughly in eastern Chechnya ( Ichkeria), with some also connecting part of . Simsim is also l ...

. 112 cave temples survive, dating from the fifth to the eleventh centuries. Damaged by occasional habitation after abandonment of the site, Kumtura was visited by a number of the early foreign expeditions to Chinese Central Asia, including the

1902 Ōtani expedition The 1902 Ōtani expedition was a Japanese archaeological expedition to a series of Silk Road sites in the Taklamakan Desert, led by Count Ōtani Kōzui and lasting from 1902 until 1904. The expedition aimed to study the early transmission of Budd ...

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places * Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony * Ol ...

, and Le Coq. The last detached several wall paintings and took them back to Berlin (now at the

Museum für Asiatische Kunst The Museum of Asian Art () has been a part of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin since 2020. Before its relocation, the museum was sited in the neighborhood of the borough of , Berlin, Germany. It is one of the Berlin State Museums and funded by the Pr ...

). Construction of the Dongfang Hong Hydroelectric Plant in the 1970s caused the water level of the

Muzat River The Muzart River () or Muzat River (; ) is a river in Aksu Prefecture of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, a left tributary of the Tarim River. An early 20th-century source also gives an alternative name for this river ...

to rise and has increased the rate of decay of the wall paintings. Long-term preservation measures under the auspices of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

began in 1999 with extensive documentation and survey work and consolidation of the

conglomerate rock Conglomerate () is a sedimentary rock made up of rounded gravel-sized pieces of rock surrounded by finer-grained sediments (such as sand, silt, or clay). The larger fragments within conglomerate are called clasts, while the finer sediment surrou ...

from which the caves are excavated. The site was among the first to be designated for protection in 1961 as a Major National Historical and Cultural Site. In 2008 Kumtula Grottoes was submitted for future inscription on the

UNESCO World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

as part of the Chinese Section of the Silk Road.

Gallery

File:Kumtura Caves overview.jpg, Kumtura Caves overview File:Kuntula Grottoes 2, Kuqa.jpg, The Kumtura Grottoes are located along the

. File:Kumtura Caves plan.jpg, Kumtura Caves, sample plan File:Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 072.jpg, Headless statue from Kumtura at the

, Berlin File:Donors from Kumtura Caves.jpg, Donors in

Hephthalite The Hephthalites (), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit and Prakrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE, ...

style, Kumtura Caves. Similar donors can be seen in the

. Circa 500 CE. Group of donors, Kumtura Caves.jpg, Group of donors in

Tocharian clothing Tocharian clothing refers to clothing worn by the Tocharians. A series of murals from Kizil, Kizilgaha and Kumtura caves depicting Kuchean royalties, knights, swordsmen and donors have provided the best source of information on Tocharian cost ...

, Kumtura Caves. File:Dignitary seized by soldiers. Kumtura painting, 8th-9th century CE.jpg, Dignitary seized by soldiers. Kumtura painting, 8th-9th century CE File:Kumtura Devatas.jpg, Statuettes of

Devata ''Devata'' (pl: ''devatas'', meaning 'the gods') are smaller and more focused Devas (Deities) in Indian religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. The term "devata" itself can also mean deva. They can be either male or female. Every human ac ...

s, Kumtura File:Man in royal attire, Kumtura Caves.jpg, Man in royal attire, Kumtura Caves File:Kumtura deity (1).jpg, Kumtura deity (dome) File:Kumtura deity (2).jpg, Kumtura deity (dome) File:Kumtura Cave Painting 1.jpg, Fresco on the dome

References

External links

Kumtura Thousand Buddha Caves Conservation Project (UNESCO)
* ttp://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/2nd_silkroad.html Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road (2nd Conference) (GCI)br>Xinjiang Cultural Relics Bureau (search term: 库木吐喇千佛洞)

Xinjiang Travel: Reliable & Authentic Guide from Local Travel Experts
{{Authority control Central Asian Buddhist sites Buddhist grottoes in China Buddhist caves in Xinjiang Silk Road Religion in Xinjiang Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Xinjiang Buddhist temples in Aksu Prefecture

Gallery

See also

References

External links