rawak stupa under blue sky

navigate by keyword : 1901 april archaeologist are asian aurel autonomous blue buddhist central china chinann city colossal contained courtyard decorated desert expedition famous first form his hotan khotan kingdom known large located mandala millennium modern north now number originally other peoples rawak region relieves republic rim road route silk site sky smaller some southern statues stein structures stupa surrounded taklamakan temple terracotta there threedimensional trade visited wall wallpaintings was were which xinjiang

Rawak is a Buddhist stupa located on the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert in China, along the famous trade route known as the Silk Road in the first millennium Kingdom of Khotan. Around the stupa there are other smaller structures which were originally decorated with a large number of colossal statues. The courtyard of the temple was surrounded by a wall, which contained terracotta relieves and some wall-paintings. The stupa and other structures form a three-dimensional mandala. The site is now about 40 km north of the modern city of Hotan in Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the People`s Republic of China. The archaeologist Aurel Stein first visited Rawak during his First Central Asian expedition in April 1901.