#itookphotos

These are the photos I took at Longmen Grottoes.

A young restorer is using a special bamboo knife to clean the dust that has accumulated for thousands of years. They bend over and work for 8 hours a day. They need to repeatedly calibrate the color of the 0.1mm carving lines and build digital models of each statue.

The Longmen Grottoes stand alongside the Mogao Caves and Yungang Grottoes as China's Three Great Art Treasures. The Vairocana Buddha statue complex has been hailed by French sinologist Édouard Chavannes as the "Oriental Mona Lisa." Over 2,300 stone inscriptions form an "ancient stele forest," preserving authentic works by calligraphy masters like Chu Suiliang, making this the only World Heritage Site that simultaneously embodies sculpture, architecture, and calligraphy.