Travel · 2
Which Silk Road cave complex in China was found in 1900 to contain 50,000 Buddhist manuscripts sealed inside a wall for 900 years?
Answer
The Mogao Caves at Dunhuang
A Taoist monk named Wang Yuanlu, while clearing sand from the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, discovered a hidden library cave containing tens of thousands of manuscripts that had been sealed since around 1000 CE.
💡 Did you know?
The Dunhuang Caves contained 50,000 Buddhist manuscripts sealed in a wall for 900 years, undiscovered until 1900 by a wandering monk seeking shelter.
Other options people guess
- The Bamiyan Caves in Afghanistan
- The Kizil Caves in Xinjiang
- The Ajanta Caves in India
Topics
- silk-road
- china
- archaeology
- buddhism
Know your travel trivia?
Play a free Travel quiz and see how many you get right — no signup needed to start.
More Travel facts
Travel
Which historic Silk Road oasis city's Sunday bazaar nearly vanished after China paved modern highways around 2000, ending centuries of camel caravan trade almost overnight?
Kashgar's famous Sunday bazaar nearly disappeared after 2000 when China paved modern highways, making camel caravans obsolete overnight after 2,000 years of continuous trade.
Travel
Beneath Venice's wooden foundation pilings, archaeologists have found remnants of what earlier civilization's discarded material and vessels?
Venice's foundations rest on wooden pilings driven into Roman-era trash heaps and shipwrecks, naturally preserved by saltwater and anaerobic conditions.
Travel
What did brickmakers secretly inscribe on materials used to build the Ming-era sections of the Great Wall of China now protected as a UNESCO site?
The Great Wall of China's UNESCO sections hide thousands of workers' names carved secretly into bricks—a hidden protest against erasure.
Travel
The Trans-Siberian Railway's track along which lake must be rebuilt every few decades because the ground beneath it keeps thawing?
The trans-Siberian Railway's Lake Baikal section was built on permafrost that is thawing so rapidly, the line must be relocated every few decades to avoid collapse.
Travel
What specific behaviour did Venice ban in 2022, making tourists liable for fines of up to €500?
Venice issues fines up to €500 to tourists eating while walking or sitting on bridges; the city banned public eating in 2022 to reduce litter.
Travel
Which city is home to the Sagrada Família, the unfinished basilica designed by Antoni Gaudí?
Gaudí was so devoted to the Sagrada Família that he lived on-site in his final years — when he died in 1926, he was initially unrecognised and mistaken for a beggar.