Hall of Echoing Caves: Re-imaging the Ancient Buddhist Caves of Xiangtangshan

FAIN: MC-50065-07

University of Chicago (Chicago, IL 60637-5418)
Anthony G. Hirschel (Project Director: September 2006 to July 2008)

Consultation and early planning for an exhibition exploring a cave complex of sixth-century Buddhist tombs and temples created during China's Northern Qi dynasty (550-577 A.D.).

"Hall of Echoing Caves: Re-imaging the Ancient Buddhist Caves of Xiangtangshan" is a major traveling exhibition that explores the past, present, and future of the Xiangtangshan caves, an elaborate complex of sixth century Buddhist temples that have suffered a century of despoliation and dispersal. The caves were created during the Northern Qi dynasty (550-577), an overlooked period in China's history that recent archeological finds have shown was characterized by remarkable cultural exchange and artistic innovation. As the crowning cultural achievement of the period, the caves reveal how the Northern Qi set the stage for the flowering of a truly cosmopolitan Chinese culture traditionally associated with later dynasties of China's "Golden Age." Reconstructing the caves through traditional and innovative digital displays, the exhibition will increase understanding of the Northern Qi's rich visual culture and introduce the new technologies being used to capture an otherwise lost past.