Mogao Grottoes is a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with exquisite Buddhist art and Manuscripts. Situated at a strategic point along the Silk Road, at the crossroads of trade as well as religious, cultural and intellectual influences, the 492 cells and cave sanctuaries in Mogao are famous for their statues and well paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art. The traveler finds the Mogao Grottoes, a shrine of Buddhist art treasures, 25 km (15.5miles) from downtown Dunhuang on the eastern slope of Mingsha Shan (Mount Echoing Sand). A network of plank reinforced roads plying north to south 1600 meters (5, 249 feet) long lead to the cave openings, which are stacked five stories high some reaching up to 50 meters (164 feet). By the way, Mogao means high up in the desert. [Photo/Official Wechat account of Dunhuang Library]