The land and sea routes on the Silk Road allowed for religions such as Buddhism and Christianity to spread throughout Asia and become established religions in places far from their origin. The Yungang Grottoes are Ancient Buddhist temples, located in Datong, China, formed from caves. These magnificent examples of ancient rock cut architecture portray the power of trade on the silk road perfectly because they are a shrine to Buddhism located thousands of miles away from the religion’s origin. The 492 caverns that form the Mogao Caves represent and house the greatest achievements in Buddhist art and, like the Yungang Grottoes, are located in China. In addition to Buddhist treasures, the caves also contain many murals representing Chinese culture
