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Dazu Grottos, 160 kilometers northwest of Chongqing, include over 60,000 figures scattered in more than 100 places within Dazu county. They are primarily Buddhist cave sculptures noted for unusual domestic detail as well as purely religious themes. They were carved during the times of the Tang (618-907), Five Dynasties (907-960), and Song (960-1279) dynasties. The collection of statures located at the foot of Baodingshan (Baoding Hill) and Beishan (North Hill) is the largest in scale and highest in artistic value.
The Beishan sculptures include over 10,000 figures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in various poses; they are famous for their elegance and exquisiteness. The development of Chinese grotto art is obvious as one compares figures from earlier and later periods. The figures carved during the Tang Dynasty are decorous, full and round in appearance, and simple and honest in temperament. The sculptures carved during the period of the Five Dynasties are ingenious, subtle, and dainty, with natural and unrestrained looks. The images from the time of the Song Dynasty are graceful in posture and well-proportioned in physical build; their garments are gorgeous beyond description. Human beings and deities are ingeniously and skillfully merged in the sculptures.
Baodingshan sculptures and inscriptions, located 15 kilometers northeast of Dazu town, were carved during the Southern Song Dynasty and are the only extant Boddhist Secret Sect Bodhimandala carved on stone in China.
Baodingshan figures are centered around a magnificent 100-foot reclining Buddha. More than 10,000 figures were carved and inscribed along a nearly 400-meter-long U-shaped cliff bend, very much like a long picture-story scroll. The overall structure is monumental; the composition is wonderful and ingenious. The sculptures demonstrate a skillful combination of scientific principles and artistic models, reflecting the rich social context and very flavor of life of ancient Chinese people.
In 1999, the Dazu Stone Sculptures was declared World Cultural And Natural Heritage by the UNESCO Heritage Committee.
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