用英語說中國旅游華北地區(qū)11：大同云岡石窟自然概況1

大同云岡石窟

Natural Features

自然概況

Yungang Grottoes was carved on the north cliff of Wuzhou Mountain 16km west cf Da}ong City.Shanxi Province. The caves were carved in the mid-5th century，North Wei Dynasty，stretching about 1 km from east to west as one of the largest clusters of grottoes in China. With an enormous size and rich contents，Yungang Grottoes ranks side by side with Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang of Gansu Province and Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang of Henan Province as the three great cluters of cave temples in China.

大同云岡石窟坐落在山西省大同市以西16公里處的武周山北崖，開鑿于公元5 世紀(jì)中葉的北魏時期。洞窟依山開鑿，東西綿延一公里，是中國最人的石窟群之一，其規(guī)模之巨大、雕刻內(nèi)容豐富，令人嘆為觀。與甘肅敦煌莫高窟、河南洛陽龍門石窟并列為中國幾大石窟。

On the three，Yungang Grottoes stands out for its rich contents and refined carving. Preserved to the present in the Grottoes are 53 caves and over 51 000 statues. Yungang grottoes consists of three sections，the east，the west，and the central，with caves of all sizes pleasantly scattered half way on Yungang Mountain.Caves in the east section feature in pagodas，thus called pagoda caves. Those of the central section were all structured with a front and a rear chamber,with the Buddha in the center and relief carving all over the walls. Caves of the west section are mostly medium or small sized，or small niches added in later times，actually，in most cases，carved after the capital of North Wei Dynasty was moved from Datong to Luoyang.

在中國三大石窟中，石岡石窟以內(nèi)容豐富、雕刻精細(xì)而著稱。云岡石窟現(xiàn)存洞窟充 53個、造像5. 1萬余尊，規(guī)模宏大。云岡石窟分為東、中、西三部，大、中、小窟疏密有致地嵌貼在云岡半腰中。東部的石窟多以造塔為主，故又稱塔洞;中部的石窟每個部分為前后兩室，主佛居中，洞壁和洞頂布滿了浮雕;西部石窟則以中小窟和補(bǔ)刻的小佛龕為最多，修建的時代略晚，大多是北魏遷都洛陽之后的作品。

On the interior and exterior walls as well as the Buddha's halos and the caisson ceilings of the caves，there are vividly carved groups of apsaras to manifest the world of ultimate happiness pursued by Buddhists. All the statues are modeled with marvelous personification that gives the Buddha a human nature and expression as well as infinite vigor as the ancient treasure of Chinese culture

石岡石窟的內(nèi)壁、外壁、佛光、藻井等都刻有刻有成群的“飛天“形象，非常生動活潑，展示了佛教徒所幻想的極樂世界。這里的佛像，都采用擬人的高超于法，富于人的大性和表情，具有尤限的活力，不愧為重華文明的古老珍寶。

In December of 2001，World Heritage Committee of UNESCO inscribed Yungang Grottoes in its World Heritage List.

2001年12月，聯(lián)合國教科義組織遺產(chǎn)委員會將云岡石窟作為文化遺產(chǎn)列入《世界遺產(chǎn)名錄》。