Mati Temple Grottoes Travel Guide

Located on the west bank of Mati River in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, the grottoes are cut among cliffs and consist of seven sites such as South Temple, North Temple, Golden Tower Temple, Kwan-yin Temple and Thousand-Buddha Cave. In front of most grottoes there are temples at entrances and later built eaves, making the grottoes look splendid. Mati Temple, which means house’s hoof, gets the name because there is a print of horse’s hoof in the No. 9 grotto, which is said to be left by a heavenly horse. Inside the temple there are a saddle and an imperial robe that were bestowed by an emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The Golden Tower Temple is well conserved, with unique clay statues of flying Apsaras that are lifelike and therr-dimensional and never discovered in other grottoes.