Niche with three standing buddha statues, Qianfo zhai (千佛寨)

This niche is located in Qianfo zhai 千佛寨, Anyue xian 安岳縣, Sichuan sheng 四川省. It is situated next to the cultural management office (Ch. Wenwu guanli chu 文物管理處) of the site. The original roof of the niche has collapsed and the urernt roof is a contemporary renovation. There are three standing buddha statues in the centre of the niche. The original heads of these statues are missing and the current heads are cement replacements. The lower part of their bodies is probably original but badly worn . According to the style of the drapery, the bodies might have been created in the Southern Song Dynasty. It is hard to tell where these statues were originally buddhas. The left sidewall of the niche contains small thousand Buddha motifs (approx. 23 rows) in the style of the Tang Dynasty. On the right outside the niche, there is a record of renovation work carried out in 1995, titled "A Record of the Restoration of the 'Three-Buddha Grotto" (Ch. Sanfo ku xiufu xiaoji 三佛窟修復小記) . The current name of this niche, the Three-Buddha Grotto, was probably devised and passed on by local people. The photographs show: An overview of the niche from the left [1]. A close-up of the three statues from the left [2]. A close-up of the three statues from the left [3]. The thousand buddha motifs [4]. Metadata created by: Sau Ling Wendy Yu.Non UBCUnreviewedAuthor Affiliations: Ghent UniversityFacult