China: The Mingsha Shan (Mingsha Hills) above the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, Gansu Province. The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes (Chinese: Mògāo kū) (also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas and Dunhuang Caves) form a system of 492 temples 25 km ( miles) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years. The first caves were dug out 366 AD as places of Buddhist meditation and worship.

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