In 1029, the Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni burned the library and all the books found to be heretical.
Gansu Province is known as the western gateway to China. Dunhaung is an ancient town along the trade route known as The Silk Road. In 1900 a secret doorway was discovered. Documents dating from 406 to 1002 CE were found in what has become known as The Library Cave. Walled off in the early 11th century, up to 50,000 manuscripts were kept there. While some people think the cave was a storage room, others think it was a monastic library that was hidden from invaders.
The image on the right shows the Pelliot Cave 163.
Mostly written in Chinese, the silk, paper, and hemp scrolls focused on Buddhist content. However other words could also be found. Most of the documents were distributed to libraries around the world, but are coming together in the form of the International Dunhuang Project designed to make the documents available online at no cost.