Qiuci Art of Mural Painting Kuqa

The Qiuci Art of Mural Painting Kuqa, formerly Known as Qiuci, was an important town on the north route of the Silk Road in ancient times and one of the Western Region's Buddhist centers in the Han and Tang Dynasties. The place is noted for the Buddhist cave temples which, built over a thousand years ago, contain a wealth of works of an. Of all the wealth of art preserved here in the caves, the most precious are the frescoes which, distinguishing themselves by their unique artistic characteristics, have attracted tourists and experts from all corners of the world. The Qiuci Buddhist caves, concentrated in Kizil ( now part of Baicheng County) and Kumtura, are all under the protection of law. The Qiuci grottoes, the construction of which began in the late years of the Eastern Han Dynasty and continued in the Jin Dynasty, the Epoch of Division between the North and the South, Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties, are considered the earliest and the most concentrated of all their kind in China. They are well-known for their colorful and beautiful mural paintings.