Lacquer Across East Asia Now Launched!
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Welcome to the Silk Road Virtual Museum Experience
To start your journey choose a category, select a destination from the map or view the alphabetical list below.
Locations Map
Afrasiab
Painted in the 7th century, these fragments once decorated the palace of the rulers of ancient Samarkand, depicting ambassadors, processions,...
Byzantium 5th-10th Centuries
From 330 to 1000 CE, the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople as its capital, stood as a formidable force. Its mosaics...
Khitan Empire (907-1115CE)
The Khitan Empire, also known as the Liao Dynasty (907–1125), was a powerful nomadic state founded by the Khitan people...
Khotan Kingdom
Situated on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, the Kingdom of Khotan was founded around 300 BCE and flourished...
Sasanian Empire (224-651)
The Sasanian dynasty ruled for over four centuries from 224 to 651CE. At its peak the Empire encompassed all of...
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
The Taiyuan Tombs are a series of tombs discovered in the city of Taiyuan. Each tomb uncovers beautiful panels and...
Tang Dynasty China
The Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) was a golden age of Chinese art, marked by flourishing painting, ceramics, and sculpture, reflecting...
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...
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...
This is a terrific opportunity to engage global audiences in the histories of Central Asia and the Silk Roads.
One of the things I find so fantastic is that the exhibition is interactive. Another is that it will appeal to both specialists and non-specialists, thanks to the high level of scholarship that underpins not only each individual object but also the collection as a whole.
What Richard has done is fantastic.