Detail: The Dunhuang Caves are home to Buddhist art relics of unparalleled beauty and intricacy as well as a vast repository of cultural information. Known as the "Encyclopaedia of the Middle Ages" and the "Library on the Wall", the collections in the caves preserve valuable materials from a variety of disciplines, including religion, art, history and ethnology. In addition to introducing the rich and diverse features of Dunhuang's grotto culture, this exhibition also relates how the Dunhuang Caves survived disaster and adversity in the 20th century and were transformed from a remote and deserted ruin to a sanctuary where medieval culture and art can be appreciated and studied in our modern era.

This exhibition showcases nearly 120 artefacts that represent all the core aspects of Dunhuang grotto art and fully demonstrate the vast diversity of Dunhuang culture. Highlights include three replica caves, a 13-metre-long statue of the Nirvāṇa Buddha, wooden movable type in Uighur script, Buddhist sūtras written in Tibetan script, The Book of Psalms written in Syriac script, the only extant printed copy in the world of Essential Mantras in Tangut script and copies of the cave murals produced by the founding pioneers of the National Dunhuang Art Institute (precursor of the Dunhuang Academy), including Mr Chang Shuhong and Mr Duan Wenjie.