places
Cave 17 at Dunhuang: The Library Cave
An evidence-based introduction to the Mogao Library Cave, its manuscript cache, and the complex history of dispersal and study.
A sealed archive rediscovered
Cave 17, often called the Library Cave, contained tens of thousands of manuscripts, paintings, and other objects. The materials span languages and subjects, offering evidence of religious, administrative, and everyday worlds connected to Dunhuang.
The collection’s dispersal across institutions is also part of the story, tied to unequal encounters and early twentieth-century collecting. The International Dunhuang Programme helps reunite many materials digitally for research and public access.
Approach the cave as an archive with contested histories, not a chamber of invented secrets.
Sources & further reading
- International Dunhuang Programme — British Library