Afterlives Along the Silk Road

Death was a fate suffered by everyone who lived and travelled along the Silk Road. What happened next, depended on...

Byzantium (1262-1453)

Between its reconquest in 1261 and its final capture by the Ottomans in 1453, Constantinople remained the capital of the...

Byzantium 5th-10th Centuries

From 330 to 1000 CE, the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople as its capital, stood as a formidable force. Its mosaics...

Caravanserai (0-1500)

Merchants and travelers along the Silk Road faced many dangers, but for stretches of the journey they could rely on...

Chess Along The Silk Road

The modern game of chess is a perfect example of cultural exchange along the silk roads. Starting in the North-West...

Cilicia (1226-1375)

Early Ming Dynasty China (1368-1450)

Mongols had ruled China since 1271 but plague, disease and increasing demands on the population led to discontent and revolt....

Golden Horde

When the great Mongol leader, Ghangis Khan, died in 1225, he divided his empire among his four grandsons. Batu was...

Mamluk Sultinate (1350-1450) Glass

The Mamluks were a slave army that ruled the territory broadly contiguous with Egypt and Syria from 1250-1508CE. Under their...

Northern Song and Yuan Dynasty Art

Genghis Khan, first conquered the Jin Dynasty. Then, Kublai Khan, captured and ruled China as the Yuan Dynasty. This period...

Sasanian Empire (224-651)

The Sasanian dynasty ruled for over four centuries from 224 to 651CE. At its peak the Empire encompassed all of...

Silk Along the Silk Road

Silk is a beautiful fabric but throughout this period it is only the rich and privileged that had access to...

Map Room 700-1500 CE

This exhibition shows world maps created between 700CE and 1500CE. But which worlds do they show – history, culture, religion...

Sogdians: Silk Road Traders

The Sogdian people were originally from an area now associated with eastern Iranian but were later concentrated in Central Asia,...

Taiyuan Tombs of Zhen Fan

This tomb was uncovered in 2018 in Taiyuan City in the Shanxi province of China. Workmen stumbled across a single-chamber...

Tang Dynasty China

The Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) was a golden age of Chinese art, marked by flourishing painting, ceramics, and sculpture, reflecting...

The Timurid Empire (1370-1507): The Court

Even by the standards of the time, Timur’s wars of conquest were particularly murderous but he and his successors promoted...

Tibetan Empire (618-842)

Between 618 and 842 the mountain Kingdom gained control of an Empire that stretched as far North as the oasis...

Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates (656-1000)

The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates were the earliest established after the death of the prophet Mohammad. They flourished from the...

Venice (1261-1450)

Venice reached the peak of its imperial reach at the start of the 13th century with the seizure and sacking...

Vikings in the East

In the 9th-10th centuries Norse traders navigated the Volga and Dnieper Rivers, linking Scandinavia with the Byzantine Empire and Islamic...