The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas

3 units

Since the turn of the century, the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas at Tun-huang (Dunhuang) have become well known as the pre-eminent repository of the visual culture of medieval Chinese Buddhism. The seminar explores this cave-chapel site, its murals and sculptures, as well as the portable painted scrolls and manuscripts recovered from a cache and carried away as loot by European adventurers. Prerequisite: any 300-level course in Asian art or permission of instructor.