Maijishan Grottoes

The Maijishan Grottoes are a cliff-face series of Buddhist cave temples on Maiji Mountain in Gansu province, China, with sculptural and painted decoration begun in the late 4th century CE. The complex comprises numerous grottoes carved into sandstone cliffs and contains a large corpus of Buddhist sculpture and mural painting spanning many dynasties.

Visitors traverse stepped paths and timber-supported walkways to view hundreds of sculptures and decorated cave interiors; the site is notable for both the vertical arrangement of caves and the scale of carved groups. The grottoes contain sculpted Buddhas, bodhisattvas and narrative reliefs executed and conserved over roughly 1,500 years, illustrating stylistic changes from Northern Wei through Tang and later periods.

Initial grotto cutting began in the late 4th century during regional dynastic patronage, with continued carving, painting and restoration across successive Chinese dynasties. The site has been subject to archaeological study and conservation efforts in modern times to stabilize cliff faces and preserve sculptures and murals.

Maijishan sits near the modern city of Tianshui in Gansu province, in northwest China, the caves occupying a steep ridge of Maiji Mountain. The site is reached by road from nearby towns and is set within a rugged, loess-influenced landscape.

• Scale and dating: The complex includes close to 200 grottoes and thousands of Buddhist sculptures created from the 4th century CE onwards, so allow time to walk cliff paths and stairways.
• Visiting practicalities: Access involves stepped walkways along the cliff face that can be narrow; visit timing affects lighting on sculptures and murals, with morning light often better for east-facing caves.

What to See #

• Cliff caves: Cliff caves and niches numbering nearly two hundred, cut into the face of Maiji Mountain and linked by wooden walkways and staircases.
• Stone sculptures and groups: Large sculpted Buddhas and grouped figures carved at various periods from the Northern Wei through the Tang and later dynasties, forming the site's principal artistic corpus.
• Murals and interior decoration: Painted murals and architectural details inside selected caves, created and restored during successive dynastic periods over many centuries.