The Silk Road: A Living History

The Silk Road: A Living History is an exhibition that was created by Christopher Wilton-Steer, a travel photographer, and Head of Communications at the Aga Khan Foundation (UK). The exhibition aims to celebrate the diversity found along this route, explore how historical customs live on today, and reveal connections between what appear at first glance to be very different cultures. Ultimately, the exhibition aims to help build bridges of interest and understanding between distant places and challenge perceptions of less well-known or understood parts of the world.

To complement the exhibition, our partner institution, the Aga Khan Foundation, is running a series of talks to explore the cultural, economic, and social heritage of the countries, cities and regions that lie along the Silk Road. In this framework, the webinar “Trade, Heritage and Landscape along the Silk Roads” will be held on Wednesday, June 16th, 2021.

During this webinar chaired by Professor Stéphane Pradines, Professor Roland Lin and Professor Michael Jansen, the Silk Roads and networks between Asia, Africa and Europe will be discussed. The experts will focus particularly on the land and maritime routes in Central Asia and the Indian Ocean. With some historical and archaeological examples, the discussants will show how Emporiums, city-States and thalassocracies were created around commercial networks. Along the Silk Roads, not only products were exchanged but people circulated bringing with them new ideas, cultures, and religions such as Buddhism and Islam. The panelists will develop the idea of intangible heritage along the Silk Roads, and they will share their long-time experience on how to preserve and promote heritage along the Silk Roads.

To register to the event please follow the link: https://www.akf.org.uk/events/trade-heritage-and-landscape-along-the-silk-roads/

You can watch the complete webinar “Trade, Heritage and Landscape along the Silk Roads” here