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Yugur Autonomous County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, China
A good place to admire grottoes buildings, murals, Buddha statue and other ancient relics
Mati Temple, also known as Horseshoe Temple, is located at the foot of Linsong Mountain in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Gansu Province, 60 kilometers away from Zhangye City. There is deep horseshoe footprint in a grotto, hence the name. At the Mati Temple, you can experience grotto art, religious culture, ethnic customs and natural scenery.
Mati Temple Cave Group was excavated during the period of the Northern Liang Dynasty in the Sixteen Countries, with a history of more than 1,600 years. It consists of seven places: Thousand Buddha Cave, Shengguo Temple, Puguang Temple, Upper Guanyin Cave, Middle Guanyin Cave, Lower Guanyin Cave and Jinta Temple. The Mati Temple is distributed in an area of more than 100 square kilometers.
Mati Temple Grottoes（Chinese name: 马蹄寺石窟） is one of the important Buddha grottoes in China. Located in Linsong Mountain which is about 80 km away from the South Yugur Minority Autonomous County of Gansu Province. The grottoes can be divided into north temple, south temple, thousand buddha cave, golden pagoda temple, upper/middle/lower Avalokitesvara caves etc.. Each part is away from another one less then 10km. Because the mountain was formed by coarse red sandstone which was not suitable for carving, most of the grottoes are clay sculptures.
Thirty-three Layers Heavens Grottoes was excavated in the Northern Dynasty, which lasted for hundreds of years. The grottoes were dug on the cliffs of the red sandstone of Puguang Temple with 43 meters above the sea level. The Thirty-three Layers Heavens grottoes were in the shape of pagoda, with seven floors and twenty-one grottoes. The structure of the grotto was unique. Tibetan Buddhism believes that people who reach Thirty-three Layers Heavens can be described as achieving perfect merits, and many believers come to visit the Mati Temple.
Standing Buddha Hall is located to the north of Thirty-three Layers Heavens Grottoes, which was excavated in Northern Wei Dynasty. The Grottoes at the Standing Buddha Hall is the largest grotto complex in Mati Temple, which is also the largest grotto complex in China. There used to be a statue of Standing Buddha with a height of 8 meters.
Taerliang is the best place to have a panoramic view of Mati Temple, which is also the best place to take pictures. And you can see the panoramic view of Linsong Mountain. There are two towering white pagodas on Taerliang, and both of them are stupas. Xixia Dynasty is a kingdom that pursues Buddhism, which has a great influence on Mati Temple. In Xixia Dynasty, many Buddhist temples were built. And many existing grottoes, stone pagodas and Buddha statues all have a strong artistic style of Xixia Buddhism.
Thousand Buddha Cave is a typical Buddhist temple of Han Dynasty. It is the nearest temple to the entrance of Mati Temple and an important part of Mati Temple grottoes. The existing grottoes are divided into three sections according to the cliff trend: south, middle and north. The southern and middle sections are dominated by Buddhist caves, while the northern section is a relief stone pagoda forest. Most of the pagodas were carved in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and there were also works by Xixia.
No an official record says when did Mati Temple build. According to a history material which is dated back to Eastern Jin Dynasty, a traveler family name Guo in that period described a grottoes in his travelogue “ Travel to Zhangye, and then live in Linsong Valley, and chisel a cave to dwell” Another record continue to describe the grottoes as following “After Guo chiseled the cave, posterity continued to enlarge it and then create buddha sculptures inside.”.
From the shape of the grottoes and the style of the buddha sculptures, some parts in Golden Pagoda Temple, North Temple, and Thousand Cave were built between 5th and 6th centuries. And some others may be built in early 5th century or even earlier than that. So generally, Mati Temple may be deeply related with the “South Mountain Grottoes of Liang Country” which was created by Ju Qu Meng Xun, the king of North Liang Country. Moreover, most caves were rebuilt or renovated between Northern Wei and Ming Qing dynasties.
The most well-preserved part will be in Golden Pagoda Temple. The caves are excavated on a 60-meter-high precipice which is about 15km from Mati Temple. There are two existing pagoda-shape central supporting cave.
Northern Dynasty grottoes are mostly in Thousand Buddha Cave. Located on the northwest side of Mati Temple, there are more than 10 grottoes. No. 2 and No. 8 caves are pagoda-shape central supporting cave, preserved sculptures and frescos of Northern Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties.
There are more than 30 grottoes in Northern Temple of Mati Mountain. Most of the grottoes were created in Northern, Western Xia, Yuan, and Ming dynasties. The No. 8 cave is the largest scale Buddhist palace with a depth of 33.5 meters and a width of 26.3 meters. It was built around Western Xia dynasty.
From the artistic values, the most precious ones are in Golden Pagoda Temple. With many times renovation, the sculptures inside it is still kept the original appearance. The rich expressions on sculptures’ faces, the elaborate decorations on the sculptures’ bodies, the Flying Apsaras art, all of these show the high triumphs of China early phase grottoes.
Mati Temple Grottoes includes Thousand Buddha Cave, Northern and Southern Mati Temple, Upper/Middle/Lower Avalokitesvara caves, and Golden Pagoda Temple 7 cave groups, totally more than 70 caves. Because of the long history of Mati Temple Grottoes, it ranks of one of the top three Hexi Buddhism culture grottoes in China, with the valuable position of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and Yulin Grottoes in Anxi.
Mati Temple is about 60 kilometers from Zhangye, and you can take a taxi to the Mati Temple from Zhangye. And the Mati Temple is also about 60 kilometers from Giant Buddha Temple. And you can take the taxi to Mati Temple from Giant Buddha Temple.
From $ 392
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