The Longmen Grottoes or Longmen Caves are some of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art. Housing tens of thousands of statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples, they are located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of present-day Luoyang in Henan province, China.

In 2000 the site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as “an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity,” for its perfection of an art form, and for its encapsulation of the cultural sophistication of Tang China.

One of the major achievements in this direction is the recognition given to the monuments by UNESCO in declaring the Longmen Grottoes a heritage monument, after due evaluation over a period, and inscribing it in the World Heritage List. 

- Wikipedia