(ORDO NEWS) — Chinese archaeologists have discovered a grotto with two dozen Buddhist statues. The find is dated to the period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD).
According to the Xinhua news agency, an amazing grotto was discovered near the city of Shahe in the province of Hebei, in northern China.
The discovery was made by the mission of the city Institute for the Protection of Cultural Relics. According to a number of testimonies, scientists have found that the grotto was built in 1503.
It is located on a hillside in Beipengshui Village, on the outskirts of Shahe, at an altitude of 1200 meters above sea level.
The grotto is 5.8 meters wide and 2.8 meters high. Inside this structure, the mission found 20 stone statues depicting the Buddha in various positions and with different facial expressions.
Han Zhigang, director of the Shahe City Cultural Relics Protection Institute, said a rock tablet two meters high and 69 centimeters wide was found outside the grotto to the west of it.
The inscription on it has already been deciphered. She tells how the ancestors of a local family moved here from another village to take care of trees, cultivate fields and build Buddhist statues.
According to Han, archaeologists have come across a unique piece of historical evidence of how a public space was created during the construction of a village during the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, the grotto itself and the statues inside it are well preserved. They are very valuable artifacts to study.
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