Architectural Decorations and Other Finds from the Excavations of the Fengxiansi Monastery in Longmen

The remains of the Buddhist monastery Fengxiansi lie southwest of the celebrated Longmen Caves, 12 km south of the present town of Luoyang, in the Chinese province of Henan.

The archaeological survey and stratigraphic excavation of the site were carried out thanks to the agreement signed in March 1997 between the Istituto Universitario Orientale (Naples), the IsIAO (Rome), the Italian School of East Asian Studies (Kyoto), the Longmen Grottoes Academy and the Bureau for Cultural Relics of Luoyang.

From 1997 to 2004, the Chinese-Italian Mission conducted seven excavation campaigns, opening trial trenches in different areas of the site to obtain as much information as possible about its stratification. Additional campaigns were conducted in 2003 to consolidate building remains and in 2004 to study, draw, and photograph the finds.

The Fengxiansi complex is one of the few Chinese Buddhist monasteries to have been extensively excavated. The Italian and Chinese teams' efforts to gain the broadest possible understanding of the site and the surrounding area have already led to the publishing of several studies. Even before the beginning of the excavation, Wen Yucheng (1992) and Antonino Forte (1996) carried out studies of the monastery based on epigraphic sources. Wen Yucheng, who at the time was the director of the Longmen Grottoes Academy, had already published the results of the first survey of the site (Wen Yucheng 1986).
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