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CategoriesRock-cut sites
Temples, tombs and churches carved directly from living rock.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Western Jin to Yuan (300 – 1300 CE) · Buddhist Hexi nomad to Tang imperial
Lower cliffs with 420 CE earliest inscribed cave 169 of 169 caves at Liujia Reservoir.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms → Qing 420–1911 · Buddhist (Hexi Silk Road)
Yellow River gorge sanctuary of 183 caves and 694 statues cut into 60 m yellow sandstone cliff above reservoir since 420 CE (Western Qin) to Qing, famous for 27 m Maitreya Buddha (Tang) carved from…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Later Qin to Song (384 – 1279 CE) · Buddhist Hexi to Central Plains transition at Wei River gap
East face stacked 90 caves 142 m hill with 16 m Buddha and plankway tiers.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Satavahana to Rashtrakuta 100 BCE–950 CE · Buddhist Hinayana → Mahayana → Vajrayana
Largest Buddhist cave-university in western India with 109 basalt caves spanning 1st c. BCE–10th c.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Shunga–Satavahana Early Buddhism · Hinayana (Theravada) Buddhist
One of India's earliest rock-cut Buddhist complexes (220 BCE–300 CE) on Sahyadri scarp above Indrayani River, with 22 caves.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms Northern Liang 412–439 · Northern Liang Buddhist (Xiongnu–Han)
Hexi Corridor prototype grottoes where Northern Liang Buddhism seeded Yungang's later scheme.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Gupta Classical Golden Age 320–550 CE · Brahminical Hindu (Vaishnava) with Jain retain
Gupta imperial rock-cut shrine cluster (4th–5th c. CE) on Vidisha sandstone ridge, 20 caves including Cave 5 — colossal 4 m monolithic Varaha (boar) avatar rescuing Bhudevi, symbolising Gupta king…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Eastern Han to Tang (200 – 800 CE) · Tocharian Buddhist Kucha with Gandhara influence
Central 30–80 of 339 Kizil caves with 3.2 m diamond-vault Buddha of Tocharian Kucha 3rd–8th c.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Tang to Southern Song ~650–1252 CE · Chinese esoteric Buddhist (Tang–Song)
50,000 Tantric cliff sculptures — China's last Buddhist rock-cut synthesis at Baoding.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Satavahana early historic · Hinayana Buddhist
Twin-cave-cluster Buddhist refuge (100 BCE–100 CE) on forested Sahyadri spur between Bhaja and Karla, celebrated for best-preserved early rock-cut chaitya hall besides Karla — daylight-illuminated…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (397 – 1368 CE) · North Asian Buddhist with Tibetan Yugur later
Thousand Buddha northern cliff with 30 caves and horse-hoof imprint 397–1368 CE.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Maurya to Gupta, 3rd c. BCE–5th c. CE, Great Stupa Ashoka 260 BCE expanded 2nd c. BCE · Buddhist (Maurya, Shunga, Satavahana, Gupta)
Ashokan hemispherical stupa with four sculpted torana gateways - genesis of Buddhist architecture.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang ~384–907 CE · Chinese Buddhist Northern Dynasties
Stacked-cliff wheat-plant-shaped grotto city with 7,200 sculptures on bolted plank galleries.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Eastern Wei to Tang (534 – 750 CE) · Buddhist Northern dynasties under Gao Qi and Tang
Cave 8 Manshan Buddha 3.6 m of Northern Qi–Tang on western slope.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (366 – 1368 CE) northern cells 960–1300 · Buddhist monastic Dunhuang oasis international
North cliff austere monastic cells 1000–1300 CE opposite southern painted scripture halls.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Sixteen Kingdoms to Ming ~420–1644 CE · Northwestern Chinese Buddhist (Western Qin to Tibetan)
Yellow River cliff grotto accessible only by boat, bearing China's earliest dated 420 CE inscription.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Late Gupta to Early Chalukya 5th–8th century CE · Hindu (Shaiva) and Buddhist under Kalachuri/Chalukya patronage
Rock-cut Shaiva cave complex on Elephanta Island with colossal Trimurti sculpture, 5th–8th c. CE.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Pallava dynasty 630–700 CE · Hindu (Shaiva) under Pallava
Pallava seaside rock-cut trials: Shore Temple surviving tsunami and 27-m bas relief.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Wei to Liao (453 – 525 CE peak) · Buddhist Tanyao imperial under Emperor Wencheng
Western 5 caves 40–45 with Tanyao Buddhas 15 m of Northern Wei Pingcheng capital.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Wei to Tang (493 – 750 CE) · Buddhist imperial Luoyang under Empress Dowager Hu
Central Binyang 11 m Buddha of Northern Wei Emperor Xuanwu at Yi Gorge.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Late Tang to Southern Song (892 – 1178 CE) · Chinese Buddhist with Song gentry patron
Beishan 264 caves with 10k slender Song statues 892–1178 at Dazu north hill.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Early Chalukya, 6th–7th century CE · Hindu and Jain under Early Chalukya dynasty
Four 6th-c. Chalukya sandstone cave temples at Vatapi with Nataraja and Vishnu iconography.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Hinayana Buddhist, Satavahana period 2nd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE · Buddhist (Theravada) merchants and Satavahana dynasty
India's largest Buddhist chaitya hall (45 m) with original timber ribs, 1st c. BCE–CE.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock-cut
Old to Middle Kingdom (2600–1650 BCE) · Egyptian (Hare Nome)
Nomarch tombs and quarry road with colossus-on-sledge painting (1900 BCE).
