Visitors admired the beauty of art from ancient China as a digital exhibition of the Tianlongshan Grottoes kicked off in Athens, Greece on Saturday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Visitors were inspired by the beauty of 1,500-year-old art from Chinese grottoes, as a digital exhibition of the Tianlongshan Grottoes kicked off in Athens, Greece on Saturday.

The grottoes are situated on the cliffs of the east and west peaks of Tianlong Mountain in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. Twenty-five caves and 500 statues are spread over a distance of 500 meters.

With carving begun during the Northern Dynasties Eastern Wei period (534-550), the grottoes stand among the most exquisite artifacts from China's Tang Dynasty (618-907). Large-scale looting from 1922 to 1926 took the vast majority of relics out of the country.

The exhibition in Greece used high-tech to digitally recreate more than 100 Tianlongshan sculptures scattered across nine countries and nearly 30 museums, unveiling the splendid spirit of craftsmanship that runs through the history of Chinese civilization and the beauty of artistic exchange and integration between China and the world.

The international touring exhibition of the Digital Restoration of the Tianlong Mountain Grottoes launched in Athens, Greece, on Saturday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A copy of a Buddha head statue repatriated from Japan in 2021 was also displayed at the event.

Xiao Junzheng, Chinese ambassador to Greece, noted at the opening ceremony that cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Greece have been brilliant and fruitful, seetting an example for others.

"It is believed the exhibition will help strike more sparks from the collision of the two ancient civilizations of China and Greece," Xiao said.

Wei Tao, secretary of the Taiyuan Municipal Party Committee, said the event aims to actively promote mutual learning through cultural exchanges and jointly build a platform for communication and cooperation for cultural heritage protection.

Visitors admired the beauty of art from ancient China as a digital exhibition of the Tianlongshan Grottoes kicked off in Athens, Greece on Saturday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

According to Liu Yuwei, director of the Taiyuan Culture Relics Bureau, the organizer, the exhibition is the first of its kind integrating through comprehensive virtual means the precious cultural relics that were separated from their original environments.

Since 2019, the exhibition has toured France, Egypt, Beijing, Nanjing and other places, attracting high attention both domestically and internationally.

The China-Greece Cultural Heritage Protection, Utilization, Exchange, and Cooperation Academic Forum opened the same day.