extends more than 100 feet high and nearly 40 feet wide.]]> ensure access for the public and scholars?"]]> architect Cui Kai, the complex features two theaters that show state-of-the-art films of the grottoes, or small caves.]]> conserve, or protect, the caves.]]> survey the caves, examine them carefully and understand the materials used to make the paintings.]]> complex features two theaters that show state-of-the-art films of the grottoes, or small caves.]]> guidelines for conserving and managing important cultural heritage sites.]]> merchants, and Chinese government officials known as mandarins.]]> spectacular cache of Buddhist caves has endured countless assaults over the centuries - earthquakes and floods, plundering foreign explorers and even the smoky cooking fires of Russian soldiers, who sheltered in these beautifully painted quarters in the 1920s.]]> ensure access for the public and scholars?"]]> resembles the sand dunes of the surrounding landscape.]]> bulky backpacks and exhaling humid breath, tourists are arriving in ever-greater numbers each year, and slowly damaging the caves they come so far to see.]]> exhibition on the complex starting in May 2016.]]> decorated by monks, merchants, and Chinese government officials known as mandarins.]]> determine the threats - like damage from sand and high humidity.]]>