Mati Temple

Mati Temple is located 65 km south of Zhangye city, in the Sunan Yugu (Tibetan) Autonomous Prefecture. Temples and grottoes are carved into the side of a cliff in several zones spread over several kilometres. Several of these can be visited and climbed through, in some cases through tight vertical passageways using small footholds and handholds. Most of the statues were heavily damaged in the 1960s, but the buildings and passageways are in good shape. Mati Temple was first built in the Jin Dynasty, with the first cave dug about 1,600 years ago by a man named Guo and his disciples. It was originally a school and later it was converted to a temple when the Buddha statues were made. Mati Temple is divided into different attractions such as the South Temple, North Temple, Golden Pagoda Temple, Pagoda Forest, and Thousand-Buddha Temple. The main temple of the whole complex is the Thirty-Three Heavens Grottoes. It is a pagoda-shaped temple that climbs up over 60 metres of a cliff face, consisting of seven floors that houses 21 grottoes in total. The entire interior of the cliff face consists of elaborate tunnel mazes, steps and caves, which house many Buddha statues that were carved over hundreds of years ago. On the top floor of the grottoes, there is a Tibetan altar with a statue of Green Tara as its main image of worship.