Kizil Caves
Cave complex in China / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; Uyghur: قىزىل مىڭ ئۆي, lit. 'The Thousand Red Houses'; Chinese: 克孜尔千佛洞; lit. 'Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas') are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township (克孜尔乡; Kèzī'ěr Xiāng) in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The site is located on the northern bank of the Muzat River 65 kilometres (75 km by road) west of Kucha.[1][2] This area was a commercial hub of the Silk Road.[3] The caves have an important role in Central Asian art and in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, and are said to be the earliest major Buddhist cave complex in China, with development occurring between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE.[3] The caves of Kizil are the earlier of their type in China, and their model was later adopted in the construction of Buddhist caves further east.[4] Another name for the site has been Ming-oi (明屋; 'The Thousand Houses'), although this term is now mainly used for the site of Shorchuk to the east.[5]
 Kizil Caves on the edge of the Tarim Basin. The Western Group of caves (caves 1–80) is seen at the forefront in perspective, while the Eastern Group (caves 136–201) appears far right in the background. The modern structures at the center approximately correspond to Caves 1 to 30. | |
.png)  Shown within Continental Asia  Kizil Caves (China)  Kizil Caves (Xinjiang) | |
| Location | Xinjiang, China |
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| Coordinates | 41°47′04″N 82°30′17″E |
| Kizil Caves | |||||||||
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| Uyghur name | |||||||||
| Uyghur | قىزىل مىڭ ئۆي | ||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 克孜尔千佛洞 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 克孜爾千佛洞 | ||||||||
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The Kizil Caves were inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site.[6]