Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang has been inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO World Heritage Committee on November 30, 2000.

Longmen Grottoes is located 12 kilometers away from the south of Luoyang urban area and is known as one of the three grotto art treasure troves of China, alongside Datong Yungang Cave and Dunhuang Thousand-Buddha Grottoes.

Longmen is a town with gorgeous scenery. The green mountain in the east and the other green mountain in the west face to face. Yishui River flows to the north slowly and quietly. From a long distance, it looks like a natural gate; therefore, it was called ¡°Yi Gate¡± in ancient times. The ¡°Yi Gate¡± has been the first scenic spot for visitors who visit Longmen since ancient times. Bai Juyi, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty had once said that ¡°Luoyang City has a multiple of scenic spots nearby, among which Longmen is the No. 1¡±.

Longmen Grottoes was sculpted before and after Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei (493 A.D.) moved the capital to Luoyang. Afterwards, it had been sculpted on a large scale continuously from Eastern Wei, Western Wei, and Northern Qi to Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. The project lasted for more than 400 years. These stone carvings cover the cliff of the two mountains located on both sides of Yishui River, which is 1 kilometers long from south to north. There are something existing now, such as, 2,354 grottoes, more than 2,680 stone inscriptions and stone tablet, more than 70 Buddhist pagodas, and more than 100,000 Buddhist statues. The highest Buddhist statue is 17.14 meters and the smallest one is only 2 centimeters. They all embody the excellent artistic attainment of the ancient working people of China.