Milan Ruins

Milan Ruins is located in Ruoqiang County of Xinjiang, which used to be an oasis city in the Silk Road, the intersection of Lop Nor and Altun Mountain Ranges. In the past, it was a trade center of Silk Road and vital communication line of entering and leaving Central Asia. To avoid crossing the Taklamakan Desert and Tarim Basin, the merchant caravan often chose to bypass from the north and south sides of Milan. Milan Ruins consists of ancient architectural complex site of Wei and Jin Dynasties, Gushu Castle of Tang Dynasty and irrigation works and Yixun Ruins of Han Dynasty.

Dongdasi Temple

The Dongdasi Temple is another representative building in the Milan Ruins. It is divided into two floors, with a higher courtyard wall on the periphery. There is a niche for a statue of the Buddha(12*0.6*2.4METER) in the Dongdasi Temple. Statues of Bodhisattva and Heavenly kings were put in the niche for a statue of the Buddha, and there are also floating sculptures of cirrus cloud stigmas around them, Under the buildings on the east side of the ruins of the Buddhist temple, there are still large statues of Buddha statues and a large Buddha head abandoned on the ground. Dongda Temple is the famous ancient Chinese monk Xuanzang who experienced the Buddhist temple in the ancient city of Ruogiang Milan on his way to Tianzhu in the west, and taught the Dharma and worshiped Buddha. Qiang Milan Ancient city Buddhist Temple, and preached the Dharma and worshiped Buddha.

Xidasi Temple(West Big Temple)

During the Milan Period, there are mainly two types of buildings, adobe masonry and rammed earth. The residual height of the pagoda is about 3-6 meters. The width of the basis is is about 4-10 meters. And the top of the pagoda is arched. Most of them have been broken. A mural of a Winged Angel has been unearthed at the site of Xidasi Temple of Milan Ruins. This site is a relatively well-preserved important relic of Han and Tang Dynasties in Xinjiang. The site of Milan was announced as an autonomous region-level cultural relics protection unit in 1984. In 2001, it was unearthed around the Xidasi Temple. In 1906, the British explorers Stein found many exquisite Buddha Heads, Brahmi Remnants and other precious cultural relics. The frescoes of Winged Angels found from the outer walls of the cloisters of M3.




 

Fortress Ruins

The ancient Fortress Ruins in Tang Dynasty are near Milan River. It is an irregular square with a width of 56 meters from north to south and a length of 70 meters from east to west. There are watchtowers in the four corners and gates in the west. The ancient Fortress Ruins are low in the middle, with a large step slope in the north. Houses are built from the bottom of the slope to the top of the slope in turn. The houses are flat-topped, the lower part is dug in the soil, and the upper part is made of adobe. A large number of Tibetan wooden slips, Tibetan documents and Tang Dynasty pottery pieces have been excavated here, leaving a lot of historical research materials for modern archaeology.



 

How to Get to Milan Ruins

To get to Milan Ruins from Ruoqiang, you can take a taxi to Milan Ruins, which takes about 1.5 to 2 hours.