The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has raised a total of US$1.25 million to help protect grottoes in northwest China.
The repair of the Kucha Grottoes in the Aksu Prefecture of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will begin in September this year.
There are more than 600 grottoes, including Thousand Buddhas Cave in Kumutula and Kizil. Kucha Grottoes is the earliest-built grottoes in China.
UNESCO plans to use the money provided by Japan to protect the Thousand Buddhas Cave in Kumutula, 28 km north of Kuqa County, according to Yue Feng, director of the Xinjiang Regional Bureau of Cultural Relics.
The project will reinforce massif around the cave, repair some important grottoes and rescue the frescos, Yue added.
The cave, believed to be carved in the fourth century, is of great significance for the study of cultural exchanges between China and Western countries and the development of the Silk Road. It has been under state protection since 1961.
(People's Daily)
