MOGAO CAVE 158: This photograph by James Lo features a reclining Buddha in nirvana in Mogao Cave 158. This image is among the paintings, sculpture, and manuscripts in the “Sacred Caves of the Silk Road: Ways of Knowing and Re-creating Dunhuang” exhibit at the PU Art Museum. The exhibit aims to provide a greater understanding of the Silk Road site.

“Sacred Caves of the Silk Road: Ways of Knowing and Re-creating Dunhuang” is on view at the Princeton University Art Museum now until January 10. The exhibit brings together paintings, sculpture, and manuscripts from the Mogao Caves to provide a greater understanding of the Silk Road site.

Since their creation over 1,500 years ago, the Mogao Caves, located on the outskirts of the city of Dunhuang in northwestern China, continue to narrate the history of religious art and connect the Eastern and Western worlds through their once central location at the gateway to the Silk Road. The caves come to Princeton through a time capsule of objects dating from A.D. 270 to the 1960s. The exhibit explores the aesthetic and transcontinental nature of this World Heritage Site. 

The exhibition will be complemented by two installations: “Imaging Dunhuang: Artistic Renderings from the Lo Workshop” will be on view in the Museums Works on Paper Study Room, and the photography installation “Dunhuang Through the Lens of James and Lucy Lo” is currently on display in PU’s Department of Art and Archaeology, located in nearby McCormick Hall.

The PU Art Museum is located in the heart of the Princeton campus, a short walk from the shops and restaurants of Nassau Street. Admission is free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays.

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