A selection of exhibits from the Dunhuang Caves will be open to the public at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, starting August 24. The exhibition, titled The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Dunhuang: Enchanting Tales for Millennium, will feature 50 exhibits, more than 100 murals from over 60 Dunhuang Caves, and a replica of a Yulin Cave.
The Dunhuang Caves are known for murals and sculptures that provide a glimpse into spiritual and everyday life in ancient China. The 1:1 replica of Yulin Cave 25 features an array of styles, from that of the high Tang to Tibetan culture. The Yulin Caves come second to the Mogao Caves in terms of scale among the Dunhuang Caves.
Other highlights of the exhibition include illustrations of the Sutra of the Medicine Buddha of Mogao Cave 148, a painted gilt-bronze head of Mahavairocana and the reproduction of silk painting Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara and Ksitigarbha with the Ten Kings of Hell.
There are also several art-tech elements, including an immersive digital programme featuring the illustration of the Sutra of the Profundity of Filial Love, a silk painting dated from the Northern Song dynasty and discovered in Mogao Cave 17. The immersive digital display Somewhere Out There allows visitors to take a closer look at a selection of landscape scenes extracted from classic murals.
This is the third exhibition in the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Dunhuang series held in collaboration with the Dunhuang Academy. The first was the Dunhuang: Untold Tales, Untold Riches exhibition in 2014, which was followed by the Digital Dunhuang — Tales of Heaven and Earth exhibition in 2018. The current exhibition ends on November 21, 2022.
Header image credits: Hong Kong Heritage Museum
