Louyang Longmen Grottoes

Never a dull moment around here.  Three other teachers and Kim and I caught the fast train on Saturday and took the 1 1/2 hour ride to the Longmen Grottoes or "Dragon's Gates Grottoes" along the Yi River.  Here carved into the side of the mountain in the limestone are thousands of caves of every size.  Inside the caves are carvings of Buddha and his disciples.  The Buddhas range from 1 inch to 57 feet.  There are also many pagodas carved into the mountain rock as well.  They were carved from about 490 AD to 1120 AD.  During the Japanese War between the years of 1937-45, the caves were looted and many destroyed.  Many of the statues were taken back to Japan where they remain still in Japanese Museums.  It is sad to me to see the art work that was destroyed.  There are many that are still intact but even more that have at least their faces chiseled away.  The sad effects of war.  Here are some pictures of the day.  The first one I got off the internet.  haha.

We finished the day by eating at a local restaurant.  When you're ordering just by looking at pictures you never know for sure what you're going to get and if it's really going to be eatable but we did okay.  Rice noodle soup and a soup dumpling and some regular dumplings.  



A Buddha Temple on the east side of the river.  Most of the caves are on the west side.

You can see that the fingers are broken off.  You can also just a little bit of paint still left.  Apparently at one time they were all colorfully painted.  There are very few left with any paint.


Most of the Buddhas sit on a flower blossom pedestal like this one. The city is known for their beautiful peony flowers.  They weren't quite blooming when we were there.
So many Chinese stopped and wanted their pictures taken with us. 5 Americans in one place was pretty amazing!  Haha!
This stone is a natural stone in the area.  I think they called it a peony blossom stone.
Have you ever seen anything so cute?!

This was the largest Buddha...
...and his "disciples".
Going across the bridge to the east side looking back at the west.
These young adults were so cute.  University students out "traveling".

When Kim gave these boys one of our "business" cards, it drew quite a crowd.
One of the pagodas on the west side.  

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