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Kizil Cave 188 Digitization

Kizil Cave 188 is located in the eastern valley zone and was probably excavated in the 7th century, belonging to the late phase of the Kizil caves. The chamber is a longitudinal rectangle with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, three tiers of recessed courses, and an entrance facing slightly west of north; it belongs to the square-cave type. In the early 20th century, the German Royal Turfan Expedition surveyed the cave and numbered it "Cave 3 in the main sequence"; Grunwedel, referring to its mural program, called it the "Cave of the Twelve Buddhas". The cave originally had twelve life-size standing Buddhas encircling the chamber, of which nine remain relatively complete. Within the Kizil cave group, this is the only known example organized around full-height Buddha figures surrounding the chamber. On both sides of the barrel vault are jataka and avadana scenes in diamond-shaped compositions, interspersed with stupas and mountain landscapes, showing the influence of vault imagery from nearby central-pillar caves. The front wall has collapsed, and the western ends of the left and right side walls also show varying degrees of damage.