Mogao Caves

A fierce guardian figure on an exposed wall near the entrance to the Mogao Caves outside Dunhuang, in China's Gansu Province, where the cave front that once sheltered it has crumbled away. The caves on this Silk Road cliff hold Buddhist art made from the 4th century to the 14th, and 492 decorated caves survive with about 45,000 square meters of murals between them. Where most murals in this gallery are a single wall or room, Mogao is a whole cliff of painted rooms spanning a thousand years. This weathered guardian is one you can see in open daylight, a taste of the color waiting in the caves behind it.