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.