Longman Grottoes in Luoyang City
龙门石窟
Natural Features
自然概况
Longmen Grottoes is located at the foot of Yique Mountain 12km south of Luoyang City proper,where Yi River traverses northward between two mountain peaks which are just like a pair of Chinese gate towers. Indeed,Yique, the name of the mountain,actually means "gate of Yi River" in Chinese,and Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty,when enjoying the beauty here,exclaimed with admiration,"Isn't this the Dragon Gate!" and that is the origin of the name:Longmen,he "dragon gate" in Chinese.
龙门石窟位于洛阳市南郊12公里处的伊阙山下。当年隋炀帝在此游玩时,望着整齐的伊阙山口,脱口说出“此乃龙门耶”,故被称之为龙门。
The rocks of the mountain are hard and tough,quite ideal for stone sculpture,and Longmen Grottoes are the third cluster of cave temples commissioned by the imperial court,after Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu and Yungang Grottoes in Datong of Shanxi. The carving began in North Wei dynasty,and went on through East and West Wei Dynasties,then the dynasties of North,North Zhou,Sui,Tang,and the Five Dynasties Period,lasting for over 400 years. During this long period,the full scale and efficient carvings account to about 150 years.
这里两山对峙,伊水中流,山上石质坚硬,适合雕刻。 龙门石窟的开凿是继甘肃的敦煌石窟、山西大同的云冈石窟之后由皇室开凿的又一个大型石窟寺群。它于北魏太和年间开始营建,历经东西魏、北齐、北周、隋唐、五代,前后有计划的开凿长达400多年,其中大规模、有效率的营建约计150年左右。
Preserved in the grottoes are over 2 100 cave shrines sheltering 97 300 statues or more as well as over 3 600 epigraphs or steles and 40 Buddhist stupas or pagodas.
龙门石窟现保存下来有窟完2 100多个、造像9.73万尊、题记和碑竭3 600余品、佛塔近40座。
Longmen Grottoes is truly a large museum of stone sculpture. Both an artistic ex- pression of Buddhist culture and a reflection of the politics,economy,and social culture of the time,the caves have pre- served for today a huge wealth of physical data of religion, fine art,architecture,calligraphy,music,costume,and medicine.
龙门石窟堪称、座大划石刻艺术博物馆。它不仅是佛教文化的艺术表现,同时也折射出当时的政治、经济和社会文化石窟书中至今仍然保留着大量的宗教、美术、建筑、法、音乐、服饰、医药等方面的实物史料。
The landscape,mountain,and river of Longmen are grandiose and pretty, delightfully scenic as the first of the eight beauties of Luoyang. Bai Ju-yi,the celebrated poet of Tang Dynasty,wrote that“The landscape around Luoyang is wonderful,and Longmen is the best",which is still true for the present. Its ancient art,its splendid environment,and its convenient transportation,all attract groups of scholars and visitors from home and abroad.
龙门山河壮丽,风景宜人,自古即为洛阳八景之冠。唐代大诗人自居易有“洛都四郊山水之胜,龙门首焉”的佳句,今诵尤新。这里古老的艺术、优美的环境、方便的交通,吸引了众多的国内外学者和游人。
In 1961,Longmen Grottoes were brought under the state protection as a key cultural site,and in November of 2000 the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO inscribed the site in its World Heritage List.
1961年,龙门石窟被列为国家重点文物保护单位。2000年11月,龙门石窟被联合国教科文组织作为文化遗产列入《世界遗产名录》。