Who can tell me about the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang?

Attraction introduction:

Longmen Grottoes, together with Shanxi Yungang Grottoes, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and Tianshui Maijishan Grottoes, are known as the four major grottoes in China.

It is located 13 kilometers south of Luoyang City. Here is the confrontation between Xiangshan Mountain and Longmen Mountain. The Yi River flows through it. From a distance, it looks like a natural gate, so it was called "Yique" in ancient times. In the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty climbed Mang Mountain to the north of Luoyang, saw Yique to the south of Luoyang from a distance, and said to his attendants, isn't this the portal of the True Dragon Emperor? Why didn't the ancients build their capital here? A minister replied flatteringly, "The ancients were not ignorant, but they were just waiting for you, Your Majesty." Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was very happy after hearing this, so he built the eastern capital of the Sui Dynasty in Luoyang, and put the main entrance of the palace facing Yique. From then on, Yique was habitually called Longmen.

Longmen Mountain has beautiful clear water, pleasant scenery, and hot springs. Since ancient times, the scenery of Longmen Mountain has been listed as the top of the eight scenic spots in Luoyang. Bai Juyi, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, once said: "In the suburbs of Luodu, the mountains and rivers are the most beautiful, and Longmen is the first." The Longmen Grottoes were excavated among the cliffs dependent on the mountains and rivers. It was first excavated around the time Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital from Pingcheng (today's Datong City, Shanxi) to Luoyang. At that time, Emperor Xiaowen felt deeply that the capital was too far to the north, which was not conducive to rule, and Luoyang, located in the Central Plains, had superior natural conditions, so he moved the capital to Luoyang in 493 AD and kicked off the construction of the Longmen Grottoes. The Longmen Grottoes went through the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang and Northern Song dynasties, and were carved intermittently for 400 years. Large-scale construction took place in the Northern Wei and Tang dynasties for more than 140 years. Therefore, among all the caves in Longmen, the Northern Wei Grottoes are the best. Accounting for about 30%, the Tang Dynasty accounted for 60%, and other dynasties only accounted for about 10%. According to statistics, there are 2,345 cave niches and more than 70 pagodas in the east and west mountains. Longmen Grottoes is one of the places with the most ancient inscriptions in my country, and is known as the Forest of Ancient Steles. There are more than 2,860 inscriptions in the Longmen Grottoes. Among them, the prestigious Longmen Twenty Pieces and Chu Xiliang's Yique Buddhist Shrine are in Wei stele style and Tang Kai style respectively. A model that can be called the finest work of Chinese calligraphy art. There are more than 110,000 statues in the whole mountain of Longmen. The largest Buddha statue, the Lucena Buddha, is 17.14 meters high, with a head height of 4 meters and an ear length of 1.9 meters. The smallest Buddha statues are in the Lotus Cave, each only 2 centimeters, and are called miniature sculptures.

Longmen Grottoes is the place where the royal family and nobles of all dynasties have made the most vows and statues. It is the embodiment of the royal will and behavior. The statues of the Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties reflect completely different styles of the times. The statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty lost the rough, majestic and vigorous characteristics of the Yungang Grottoes here, and the atmosphere of life gradually became more lively, delicate and gentle. These statues of the Northern Wei Dynasty have long and thin faces, thin shoulders, and straight chests. The clothing patterns are carved using a straight knife method, which is strong and simple. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, people advocated thinness as beauty, so Buddhist statues also pursued an artistic style of graceful bones and clear figures. People in the Tang Dynasty liked to think that fatness was beautiful, so the Buddha statues in the Tang Dynasty had round faces, broad shoulders, and bulging chests. The carvings of the clothing patterns used the round knife method, which was natural and smooth. The Tang Dynasty statues in Longmen Grottoes inherited the excellent traditions of the Northern Wei Dynasty and absorbed the culture of the Han nation, creating a vigorous, vivid, simple and natural realistic style, reaching the pinnacle of Buddhist sculpture art.

Longmen Grottoes is also a treasure of the history of calligraphy art. The famous calligraphy masterpiece Longmen Twenty Pieces is the best calligraphy selected by connoisseurs of later generations from the numerous stone carvings and statue inscriptions in Longmen Grottoes. These inscriptions not only record the motivation and purpose of making the statue, but also provide a basis for the archaeological staging of the grottoes. Kang Youwei, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once strongly advocated that the whole society should use Wei stele style for writing, and also praised Wei stele for its ten beauties, such as: jumping brushwork, natural structure, rich flesh and blood, etc. Today, Wei stele style is also widely used as slogans and decorative characters. It can be seen that the 20th grade plays an important role in calligraphy.

The Longmen Grottoes are an artistic expression of Buddhist culture, but they also reflect the political, economic and cultural fashion of the time. The grottoes retain a large amount of physical materials on religion, art, architecture, calligraphy, music, clothing, medicine, etc. Therefore, it is a large-scale stone carving art museum.