Longmen Grottoes hosts heritage programme from 23 September
Published on 09/27/2026 at 08:27 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael MĂĽller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang hosts the Li Yue Longmen study and intangible heritage programme from 23 September to 6 October 2026. The site, known locally as ????, is being used for a programme that connects its Buddhist sculptures and carved inscriptions with living traditions.
Li Yue Longmen brings study and heritage shows to the grottoes
The programme was included in Luoyang’s autumn cultural tourism calendar, announced by the city’s culture, radio, television and tourism authority on 3 September 2026. Its listed venues are the worship terrace, Xiangshan Temple, Bai Garden and Dongshan Hotel within or associated with the Longmen Grottoes area.
The programme is designed around field-based study at the heritage site. Its stated content combines traditional music and ritual with Tang sancai ceramics, Lu embroidery, paper cutting and opera. The organisers describe the format as a way to connect fixed stone remains with live intangible heritage performances.
The programme’s period runs from 23 September to 6 October 2026, placing it across the Mid-Autumn and National Day travel period in China. The autumn programme listing names both the dates and the Longmen Grottoes venues.
Longmen Grottoes connects the programme with its carved landscape
The grottoes extend along both sides of the Yi River in southern Luoyang. Their main cultural focus is the surviving Buddhist art, including cave temples, statues and inscriptions created across successive periods of Chinese history.
Large-scale carving began after the Northern Wei court moved its capital to Luoyang. Contemporary reporting describes more than 400 years of sustained construction, while the complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in November 2000.
That history gives the autumn programme a specific setting rather than a separate city-centre stage. Study activities at the worship terrace, Xiangshan Temple and Bai Garden place traditional performance and craft demonstrations beside the wider landscape and buildings that form the Longmen heritage area. A recent report on the grottoes’ history and conservation records the site’s Northern Wei origins, long construction history and World Heritage status.
What the autumn programme adds to a Luoyang visit
For visitors in September and October 2026, the news is a temporary cultural programme at the grottoes, not a change to the permanent fabric of the monument. The published outline does not give a separate timetable for individual performances or workshops, so the programme’s confirmed information is its overall period, venues and subject matter.
The link between the stone carvings and intangible heritage is also practical for travellers: the listed content is spread across named parts of the site, rather than described only as a general Luoyang city event. Visitors can therefore place the programme in the context of the grottoes’ sculptures, temples and river landscape.
Visiting Longmen Grottoes: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- The Li Yue Longmen study and intangible heritage programme runs from 23 September to 6 October 2026 at the worship terrace, Xiangshan Temple, Bai Garden and Dongshan Hotel.
- The programme concerns the Longmen Grottoes heritage area itself and combines study activities with traditional music, crafts and opera; the published listing does not provide a separate daily schedule.
- Longmen Grottoes is in southern Luoyang, Henan, China. The site is reached from Luoyang by the city’s road and public transport network, with the named venues spread through the heritage area.
- The visit involves a historic grotto landscape on both sides of the Yi River, including hill-side areas, temples and outdoor paths. Comfortable footwear is appropriate for movement between the named locations.
- China’s official language is Mandarin Chinese and the national currency is the renminbi.
- Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.
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Frequently asked questions about Longmen Grottoes
When does Li Yue Longmen take place at Longmen Grottoes?
The programme runs from 23 September to 6 October 2026 at several named venues in the heritage area.
What is Longmen Grottoes?
It is a Buddhist grotto complex in southern Luoyang, carved on a large scale for more than 400 years after the Northern Wei capital moved to the city.
Where is Longmen Grottoes and how do you get there?
Longmen Grottoes is in Luoyang, Henan, China, on both sides of the Yi River. Visitors travel from Luoyang through the local road and public transport network.
