The Silk Road was a historic trading network that linked East to West. But this trade network exchanged far more than objects, through this route came a trade of knowledge, culture and religion. One of its most important stopping points was the Chinese city of Dunhuang. This centre held an important secret until the 20th century…in 1900 Wang Yuanlu discovered a hidden set of caves that were filled with documents, paintings and artefacts that were over a thousand years old.
Dr Eleanor Janega visits a fascinating new exhibition at the British Library to explore some highlights of 40,000 treasures that lay inside the secret cave complex at Dunhaung.
The documents, paintings and sculptures reveal the vibrancy of Dunhuang as a settlement at the centre of politics, diplomacy, literature, medicine, astronomy, religious studies and art.
Eleanor with the guidance of Curator Melodie investigates some of the cave's biggest archeological finds, including the intricate Diamond Sutra, one of the first printed books ever.
Loved this and want to find out more? Check out Eleanor’s podcast all about the exhibition: ‘The Silk Road: Where Cultures Collided’ on Gone Medieval - https://shows.acast.com/gone-medieval/episodes/the-silk-road-where-cultures-collided
Visit the exhibition - A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang at the British Library, 27 September 2024 –23 February 2025 - https://silkroad.seetickets.com/timeslots/filter/a-silk-road-oasis-life-in-ancient-dunhuang
Up Next in Treasures Revealed
-
Gladiators of Roman Britain
History Hit’s Tristan Hughes heads behind the scenes at the British Museum to get a special look at items from their exhibition touring the UK in 2025-2026: Gladiators of Britain.
Taking visitors back nearly 2,000 years to the Roman province of Britannia and beyond, the exhibition brings togethe...
-
The Rollright Stones: Mind, Myre and ...
The Rollright Stones are some of Britain’s most remarkable and mysterious ancient monuments. They consist of three separate sites - a looming funerary monument built to contain dismembered corpses, a venerated stone circle, and a single monolith with an innominate purpose. Alice Loxton traces six...
-
The Lincolnshire Buffalo: With Dan Snow
In late April 2021, a team of volunteers from the Crowland Buffalo LVT group in Lincolnshire spent five days digging up and excavating a World War Two amphibious vehicle which has been buried 30 feet underground for the past 74 years. The Buffalo LVT was brought in to the area in 1947 to provide ...
5 Comments