Maijishan Grottoes (Chinese: 麥積山石窟) are a series of 194 caves cut in the side of the hill of Majishan in Tianshui (天水), Gansu (甘肅) , China. Maijishan is a mountain formed of purplish red sandstone that literally translates as ‘Wheatstack Mountain’.
All grottoes are cut on the southwest, southwest and south of the mountain, the grottoes are connected by walkways and stairways.
Some of the caves are covered by mesh wire so you cannot see inside clearly, the local guide says that the local government has no money, so they use such backward facilities to protect these antiques.
Nearly all statuaries at Maijishan are made of clay with the addition of some sort of binding agent (wood) to help preserve the sculpture, only very few sculptures are made of stone.
Although Maijishan Grottoes had been destroyed by earthquake and fire many times, it still contains over 7,200 Buddhist sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of murals nowadays, some of the grottoes are even well preserved.
For Choumeizai, the Bodhisattva sculptures at Maijishan are the most impressive, the facial expressions are lively and the textures of their clothes are incredibly exquisite.
It was said that the quality of the rocks of Maijishan was inferior, so the worshippers used clay to make the sculptures, after the accumulation over 1600 years, it became a well known Buddhist treasure.
