Bezeklik Caves

Bezeklik Caves
Bezeklik caves
Location of Bezeklik Caves in China
Coordinates	42°57′21″N 89°32′22″E / 42.95583°N 89.53944°E / 42.95583; 89.53944

The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves (Chinese: 柏孜克里克千佛洞; pinyin: Bózīkèlǐkè Qiānfódòng, Uyghur: بزقلیق مىڭ ئۆيى ) is a complex of Buddhist cave grottos dating from the 5th to 14th century between the cities of Turpan and Shanshan (Loulan) at the north-east of the Taklamakan Desert near the ancient ruins of Gaochang in the Mutou Valley, a gorge in the Flaming Mountains, in the Xinjiang region of western China. They are high on the cliffs of the west Mutou Valley under the Flaming Mountains,^[1] and most of the surviving caves date from the West Uyghur kingdom around the 10th to 13th centuries.^[2]