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Frontispiece of the Diamond Sutra, printed 868 CE, found in the Library Cave (Cave 17), Mogao; now in the British Library. Photo: The colophon, at the inner end, reads: Reverently [caused to be] made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong [i.e. 11th May, CE 868 ]., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jingangjing.jpgDownload 1920px
Library Cave (Cave 17)
Dunhuang, China, Sealed early 11th century
lostreconstruction, imagined
Mogao Caves UNESCO site; Cave 17 manuscripts dispersed (1907–08) to London, Paris and elsewhere
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A reconstruction, imagined
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- visitedGenerated image, not a photograph. Based on the Dunhuang Academy record (a near-square cave facing south, a truncated-pyramid ceiling with no murals, a platform and seated Hongbian statue on the north wall, a two-tree mural, a stele of 851 set into the west wall, no antechamber) and Stein's account of bundles heaped nearly ten feet high. The image shows the platform with a seated monk, the two-tree mural with an attendant and a nun, a stele, a door and a stack of bundles. Its ceiling is flat, not a truncated pyramid. The stele stands free beside the door, not set into the west wall. The door is on the wall next to the platform wall, where the record puts the opening opposite, on the south. The stack is tidy and does not fill the room to ten feet. The door opens on a long corridor. A lit lamp stands at the lower left, which no source gives. The painted wall wraps across the image seam. Wall colour, bundle wrapping and light are guesses
Mural of two trees
Object, in an imagined viewThe Dunhuang Academy records a Late Tang painting of two trees on the north wall of Cave 17. Under one tree stands an attendant with staffs and a towel, under the other a nun with a fan, with a cloth bag and a water vessel hung from the branches. The image shows both figures, the bags and the trees. A third tree and a figure appear at the left edge of the image. They are not in the record.
This view is imagined. The thing described was found on the ground, and the source below says by whom.
excavated primary Source
Low platform on the north wall
Object, in an imagined viewA low rectangular platform of meditation-bed type fills the foot of the north wall. A seated stucco statue of the monk Hongbian stood on it, since the cave began as his memorial chamber. The image shows a seated monk on a plain platform. The statue was moved elsewhere when the cave was used to store manuscripts, so the face, robe and pose are guesses.
This view is imagined. The thing described was found on the ground, and the source below says by whom.
excavated primary Source
The manuscript heap
Shelf, in an imagined viewAurel Stein described bundles heaped in layers, a solid mass nearly ten feet high that left floor room for about two people. Around 50,000 documents are estimated, among them about 1,100 bundles of scrolls. The image has neat stacks about waist to shoulder high against one wall and plenty of open floor. That is tidier and far emptier than Stein's account. How the bundles were wrapped when the cave was closed is not known.
This view is imagined. The thing described is in the written record, and the source below says where.
attested wikipedia Source
The doorway
Object, in an imagined viewCave 17 faces south and has no antechamber or corridor of its own. It opens off the north wall of the corridor of Cave 16 and was walled up in the early eleventh century. The image has a framed door on the wall beside the platform wall, where the record puts the opening opposite the platform, on the south. A long corridor runs beyond the door. Both the door position and the corridor are wrong.
This view is imagined. The thing described was found on the ground, and the source below says by whom.
excavated wikipedia Source
Flat ceiling, a mismatch
Object, in an imagined viewThe Academy record gives the cave a truncated-pyramid ceiling (覆斗形顶) with no murals. The image has a flat, rough, unpainted ceiling. The bare surface agrees with the record. The flat shape does not.
This view is imagined. The thing described is a guess. No source records it for this library.
invented primary Source
Bare plaster walls
Object, in an imagined viewThe east and south walls of Cave 17 carry no murals. The image has bare rough plaster there. The plaster colour, the roughness and the warm light are guesses; nothing in the record says how the cave looked inside when it was sealed.
This view is imagined. The thing described is a guess. No source records it for this library.
invented primary Source
Stele of 851
Object, in an imagined viewThe Academy record lists a stele of 851 set into the west wall, carrying the text of the imperial edict honouring Hongbian. The image shows a carved stone stele on a base, standing free beside the door. The characters on it are not real writing and are not the edict.
This view is imagined. The thing described was found on the ground, and the source below says by whom.
excavated primary Source
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- Digital Library Cave ↗
Dunhuang Academy and Tencent · Official source · Interactive digital twin
Official announcement and access route for the proprietary interactive reconstruction, with historical figures and time travel. Not a reusable capture. Checked 2026-11-13
Where the books are now
Surviving items, by the institution that holds them today. Each line has its source and how well it is proven.
- British Library London, United Kingdom
Stein collection of Dunhuang manuscripts
- Bibliothèque nationale de France Paris, France
Pelliot collection, mostly Chinese and Tibetan texts Count: 7,000
- National Library of China Beijing, China
Manuscripts brought to Beijing in 1910 Count: 16,000
- Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences Saint Petersburg, Russia
Oldenburg collection of fragments, plus 365 scrolls Count: 19,000
- Tokyo National Museum Tokyo, Japan
Dunhuang manuscripts in the museum collection
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The record
Worth knowing
Library Cave (Cave 17), worth knowing: After the cave was found, Wang Yuanlu fitted a locked door to the entrance of Cave 17 and kept the key, so nobody could get in without him.
Library Cave (Cave 17), worth knowing: The British Library's International Dunhuang Project says Wang emptied Cave 17 and put the bundles back, so he alone ever saw the whole of its contents.
Library Cave (Cave 17), worth knowing: The Diamond Sutra of 868 is seven sheets of paper glued into a scroll about 16 feet long.
Library Cave (Cave 17), worth knowing: The Diamond Sutra's colophon says it was made for universal distribution on behalf of the donor's two parents.
Volumes
Library Cave (Cave 17), volumes: Up to 50,000 manuscripts in the cave (est.)
Library Cave (Cave 17), volumes: IDP database: 154,919 catalogue entries, 114,332 digitised (1 Jan 2026); covers all Dunhuang/Silk Road holdings, not Cave 17 alone
Collection
Library Cave (Cave 17), collection: The 868 Diamond Sutra from Cave 17 — the oldest known dated printed book in the world — is held at the British Library
Status today
Library Cave (Cave 17), status today: Cave 17 walled up in the 11th century; discovered 25 June 1900 by Wang Yuanlu; re-sealed 1904; Stein 1907, Pelliot 1908
Reconstruction
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: Cave 17 is in the north wall of the corridor of Cave 16 and faces south (Dunhuang Academy, Digital Dunhuang).
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: Plan close to square, with a truncated-pyramid (fudou) ceiling. The ceiling and its four slopes carry no painted content. The cave has no corridor of its own and no antechamber (Dunhuang Academy).
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: A long rectangular low platform like a meditation bed stands in front of the north wall; a seated statue of the high monk Hong Bian sits on it (Dunhuang Academy).
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: North wall (behind the statue) is painted with a pair of trees. Under the west tree an attendant woman (holding a staff, with a cloth), a cloth bag hanging between the trees. Under the east tree a bhikkhuni with a round fan, a water flask hanging in the trees. East and south walls carry no painting (Dunhuang Academy).
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: The west wall has an inscribed stele embedded in it, dated 851, 1.5 m high and 0.7 m wide. Its text is a Tang appointment document for Hong Bian plus an imperial edict (Dunhuang Academy).
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: Cave 17 measures no more than 6 square metres (China Daily, a news report; not a survey report). Cave 17 is also described as off the entrance corridor to Cave 16.
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: 2.6 by 2.7 metres in plan, per a travel guide.
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: About 3 metres high, per the same travel guide (approximate, "barely 3 metres").
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: Hong Bian's portrait statue was moved elsewhere when the cave was sealed in the 11th century and has since been returned. The cave was therefore a shrine with the statue before it held manuscripts.
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: In 1900 a walled-up area was found behind one side of a corridor leading to a main cave; behind the wall was a small cave stuffed with manuscripts.
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: Manuscripts were found heaped in closely packed layers of bundles of scrolls, about 1,100 bundles plus paper books and shorter texts.
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: Aurel Stein, first to describe the cave in its original state, saw a solid mass of manuscript bundles heaped in layers without order, nearly ten feet high, about 500 cubic feet, leaving floor room for just two people to stand. Quoted on Wikipedia.
Library Cave (Cave 17), reconstruction: Many manuscripts were placed in wrapped bundles; Buddhist texts had been divided into sections, labelled and wrapped.
What happened here
1006Library Cave (Cave 17), sealed, 1006: Cave 17 walled up early 11th century; reason debated (Stein: waste repository; Khotan fell to Karakhanids 1006; fear of 'Age of Decline')
1900Library Cave (Cave 17), rediscovered, 1900: Wang Yuanlu finds the walled-up cave, 25 June 1900
1904Library Cave (Cave 17), closed, 1904: Wang re-seals cave on governor's order
1907Library Cave (Cave 17), lost, 1907: Dispersed: Stein 1907, Pelliot 1908, Otani 1911, Oldenburg 1914
Photographs
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Manuscript scroll of the Analects (Lunyu) with commentary, Tang dynasty, dated 890 CE; found at Dunhuang, now BnF Pelliot chinois 2510. Photo: anonymous, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manuscript_of_Lunyu,_text_by_Kong_Anguo_with_commentary_by_Zheng_Xuan.jpgDownload 1920px
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Page 129 of manuscript Pelliot chinois 4646 from Dunhuang, a text on the doctrine debated at the Tibetan court; Bibliothèque nationale de France. Photo: Wang Xi; 前河西觀察判官、朝散大夫、殿中侍御史王錫, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pelliot_chinois_4646.jpgDownload 1920px
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Manichaean text, recto of fragment Pelliot chinois 3884 from Dunhuang, its Chinese translation dated 731; Bibliothèque nationale de France. Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Texte_manich%C3%A9en_(BnF,_P._3884).jpgDownload 1920px
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Mogao Caves nine-storey tower, Dunhuang, China. Photo: Zhangzhugang, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunhuang_Mogao_Ku_2013.12.31_12-30-18.jpgDownload 1920px
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Caves 16 and 17 of the Mogao Grottoes; Cave 17, the Library Cave, lies inside Cave 16. Photo: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caves_16-17_of_Mogao_Grottoes_(20230918142815).jpgDownload 1920px
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The Mogao cliff and cave openings above the dry river bed, Dunhuang. Photo: Laika ac from UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mogao_Caves_(23603212609).jpgDownload 1920px
Books from this library
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Cave
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Dunhuang_Programme
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Sutra
- https://www.e-dunhuang.com/cave/10.0001/0001.0001.0017
- https://regional.chinadaily.com.cn/gansu/2025-05/08/c_1091241_2.htm
- https://audiala.com/en/china/dunhuang/mogao-caves-library-cave
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogao_Caves
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunhuang_manuscripts
- https://idpuk.blogspot.com/2023/06/shaping-stein-collections-dunhuang.html
- https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/the-diamond-sutra/