Matisi Grottoes main view
Culture·Verified Trust

Matisi Grottoes

Zhangye, Zhangye

4.5(2100 reviews)
Cliff TemplesGrottoesTibetan

A thousand years of cliff-carved temples, including the 33-tier sky cave that climbs inside the rock.

Matisi ('horse-hoof temple') is a complex of grottoes and temples built into a cliff over a thousand years, its centerpiece the '33 Heavens' - a cave stairway that climbs inside the rock itself, tier after dizzying tier.

The climb is not for the faint of heart or the claustrophobic, and the reward is a view over the Gansu plain. It combines Han and Tibetan Buddhism under one mountain.

Best for: A stairway inside the rock, a thousand years deep.

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