Yonggu Mausoleum

When her husband died in 465, Empress Dowager Wenming became regent until her stepson, Emperor Xiaowen, attained his adulthood.

While Emperor Xiaowen assumed the imperial powers upon adulthood, she remained highly influential until her death in 490.

[1] Around this time, Buddhism became a state religion and Empress Dowager Wenming was responsible for the imperial shrines at Yungang Grottoes.

However, the roof of the burial chamber in the back had a coffer ceiling that, although vaulted, had a flat wooden beamed top.

A wall enclosed the whole funerary area with the entrance marked by free standing gate towers (que).