Tianti Mountain Grottoes are located on the northwestern slope of Tianti Mountain in Dengshan village of Zhonglu township, which is 40 kilometers south of Wuwei city, situated at the heart of Zhangyipu Basin of the hinterland of Qilian Mountain.

First built in the DzjuicjuiMensju? period of the Northern Liang Dynasty about 1,600 years ago, Tianti Mountain Grottoes have undergone restoration or construction across dynasties including the Northern Wei, the Western Wei, the Northern Zhou, the Sui, the Tang, the Song, the Western Xia, the Yuan, the Ming, and the Qing dynasties.

As the earliest carved grottoes in China, representatives of China's early-stage grottoes art, and sources of Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes, Tianti Mountain Grottoes are highly recognized for their role in Chinese history of Buddhism and reputed as the "founding grottoes".

In 1958, Huangyanghe Reservoir was scheduled to be constructed before Tianti Mountain Grottoes. A joint surveying and relocation taskforce staffed by members from the former Dunhuang Cultural Relics Research Institute and Gansu Provincial Museum was formed to prevent the grottoes against the impact of the reservoir construction, after the report submitted by Gansu Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Publicity Department of Gansu provincial Party committee received the approval from Gansu provincial government and the Administration of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture of China.