In 493 the people of Henan Province began sculpting them with only a chisel and a religious soul.

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• The Missing Heads of The Longmen Grottoes

How would you feel if someone came into your temple, yeshiva, church, synagogue – you get idea – and chopped off the heads of your religious idols? What if they desecrated the work of your ancestors? What if they encased these pieces of history in their museums and called it a treasure they acquired. No, I’m not talking about the Louvre.

I’m talking about the missing statute heads in the Longmen Grottoes. That’s exactly what the Japanese did during their invasion of China. It’s not written on any pamphlets and, surprisingly, not mention on the Internet (as far as I know).  It only appears in a single sentence on a board a few yards from the entrance gate. The Japanese chopped off the heads of many stone statues of Buddha and his disciples and are now probably sitting in Japanese museums.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site located near Luoyang, the Longmen Grottoes is populated from top to bottom in carvings, engravings and sculptures of Buddha and his disciples. It sits on the sides of two mountains – the Xiangshan (to the east) and the Longmenshan (to the west) – with the Yi River flowing between them. To get to the other side of the mountain, you have to cross a bridge.

Some of these stone statutes are massive. Some of them…not so much. It’s hard to imagine the painstaking work involved in carving these masterpieces by hand. What’s more astonishing is that these sculptures were made before the use of modern tools. In 493 the people of Henan Province began sculpting them with only a chisel and a religious soul. The carvings are meticulously detailed. The precision is jaw dropping. I cannot begin to comprehend the amount of devotion and dedication involved.

Now imagine how you’d feel if someone invaded your home and destroyed it.