More than 180 artifacts are on Dunhuang and the Forbidden City are displayed in the Palace Museum to showcase glamour of the ancient Silk Road.[Photo by Wang Kaihao/China Daily]

Over 180 exhibits are displayed at the exhibition, including 35 hand-drawn facsimiles of murals, six copied sculptures and 70 replicas of other works of art in the Mogao Caves with the help of digital techniques.

Some exhibits are on loan from 10 other museums in Gansu province to demonstrate how the Mogao Caves influence other grotto temples in the region.

Lou Jie, a researcher with Dunhuang Academy, said the exhibited murals also demonstrated multiculturalism in Dunhuang through a mixture of different religions and showed how Buddhism became localized in China after it was introduced from India.

A good example is Guanyin, a Buddhist bodhisattva which first appeared as a masculine image but gradually became a goddess of mercy in traditional Chinese culture. The juxtaposition of Dunhuang murals and the artworks from later periods clearly showed that transition.