Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves

Bezeklik holds some seventy cave temples cut into a cliff above the Murtuk river in a gorge through the Flaming Mountains, decorated between roughly the fifth and fourteenth centuries and representing a meeting of Indian, Persian, Chinese and Uyghur artistic traditions. In the early twentieth century German expeditions led by Albert von Le Coq sawed large sections of mural from the walls and shipped them to Berlin, where many were destroyed in bombing during the Second World War; other fragments went to museums across Europe and Asia. What remains on site is therefore partial, with cut marks visible where paintings were removed.

The main sights

• The cliff caves - around seventy chambers cut above the river gorge.
• The surviving murals - fragments of painting in several open caves.
• The removal scars - cut edges where sections were sawn from the walls.
• The gorge setting - green river valley through the red Flaming Mountains.

When to go

April to May and September to October; summer heat in the Turpan basin is extreme. Mornings are cooler and the gorge light better. The site is quiet outside holidays.

What to expect

Much of the best painting is not here but in museums abroad or lost. Photography inside caves is prohibited. Only a few caves are open at any time and the visit is short.

Nearby

The Flaming Mountains surround it; Gaochang lies south.

Key facts