Cave Temples of Mogao: Art and History on the Silk Road

by Neville Agnew, Roderick Whitfield, Susan Whitfield

Book Overview

The Mogao grottoes in China, situated near the oasis town of Dunhuang on the fabled Silk Road, constitute one of the world's most significant sites of Buddhist art. In some five hundred caves carved into rock cliffs at the edge of the Gobi desert are preserved one thousand years of exquisite murals and sculpture. Mogao, founded by Buddhist monks as an isolated monastery in the late fourth century, evolved into an artistic and spiritual center whose...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892365854
• ISBN13: 9780892365852
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

The best yet on Mogao

This book published by the Getty Trust is an invaluable record of the Magao Caves at Dunhuang, with stunning photos and a lively text. It's also a great introduction to the stories of such men as Xuanzang, Wang Yuanlu, Aurel Stein, Paul Pelliot, and all the other intriguing characters associated with this legendary site on China's Silk Road. The book lists Roderick and Susan Whitfield as authors, but clearly Roderick is the primary contributor. Susan's related book on Aurel Stein, "Aurel Stein on the Silk Road," has similarly great photos of Dunhuang's treasures but is accompanied by an unintelligible text. "Magao" contains not only the best photos available of the grottos, it's also a great read. If your appetite for Dunhuang's history goes beyond this lovely introduction, especially with regard to Stein and Xuanzang, you should try "Aurel Stein, Pioneer on the Silk Road," Annabel Walker's great biography of Stein, the remarkable British-Hungarian who recovered treasures from the caves and other sites 100 years ago for the British Museum. Another great book is Richard Bernstein's "Ultimate Journey," where this engaging New York Times reporter describes his recent trek down the Silk Road retracing the soletary journey of the famous monk who walked to India and back in 629-644 and brought back Buddhist sutras to Xian's Big Goose Pagoda so he could translate them into Chinese.