Mati Temple West Thousand Buddha Cliff
马蹄寺 西千佛崖 孙南 · Thousand Buddha West Cliff Mati · Qianfo West
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang·Hexi Buddhist (Xiliang, N Wei, Sui, Tang)·🇨🇳 Gansu, Sunan County, Linsong Mountain west spur, Qianfo Dong West cliff, Mati scenic west fork, China
About
About Mati Temple West Thousand Buddha Cliff
West fork thousand-Buddha cliff 1.2 km west of the central Mati conglomerate group, with 31 caves (c.420–900 CE) on a 45-m high west-facing cliff hosting 1200+ small Buddha niches (Qianfo — thousand Buddhas) in vertical stacked rows, rather than the large colossus style of south grotto. The west cliff's highlight is Cave W-12 with 512 contiguous 18-cm Buddha niches plus attendant bodhisattva murals in early Tang colour palette (malachite green, azurite, ochre) documented 1983 Lanzhou University pigment study — the richest Tang mural set in Hexi outside Dunhuang.
Why it mattersThousand-niche vertical merit display illustrating Hexi collective donor Buddhism vs colossus elite caves.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Donor collective vs individual attribution
- 02Pigment import route — Sichuan vs Hexi
Theories
- 01Thousand-Buddha mass merit economy
- 02Hexi painting school linked to Dunhuang
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.420–900 CE (N Liang to late Tang)
- Period
- Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang
- Culture
- Hexi Buddhist (Xiliang, N Wei, Sui, Tang)
- Builders
- Mati cave ateliers
- Purpose
- Thousand-Buddha merit accumulation and Hexi donor-collective grottoes
- Rediscovered
- 5th c. founding; 1983 pigment study
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.420 CE
Earliest N Liang niche rows
c.700 CE
Tang 512-niche cave W-12 peak
1983
Lanzhou pigment study
On the ground
Structures & features
38.4800° N · 100.3950° E · 2650 m · 2 mapped features
West Cliff — Cave W-12 512-Buddha Hall
niche gallery512 contiguous 18-cm seated Buddhas with malachite/azurite murals, Tang peak
38.4810° N · 100.3960° EWest Cliff — Tang Mural Corridor (Cave W-19)
mural corridor12-m corridor with attendants, donors and flower garlands, early Tang palette
38.4790° N · 100.3940° E