The British Museum’s upcoming exhibition “Silk Roads” will explore the culture and history of the fabled trade route.
As the name suggests, silk was the foundation of the famous Silk Route. First discovered in 3000 BCE in China, the material was the pride of the empire – one that they guarded jealously. However, around 114 BCE, Chinese merchants finally started trading silk with the wider world via routes that later became the Silk Road. Even after the trade opened, the Chinese continued to gatekeep the secret of sericulture and maintain an absolute monopoly on the production of silk. However, Byzantine emperor Justinian I finally succeeded in smuggling silkworm eggs outside of China, thus making the material more widely available.
But it would be incorrect to assume that silk was all that was being traded across this route. The Silk Road is one of human history’s most important cultural exchange hubs. Covering Asia, Africa, and Europe, the route allowed the movement of materials and ideas that would change the course of human civilization. It was the Silk Road that led to the spread of Buddhism from India to China and then to Japan. Gunpowder also traveled via the Silk Road to Europe, marking a new age of warfare. Chess went from India to the Islamic world through this route as well.
Now, the British Museum is planning an exhibition to explore the complex history behind the Silk Route. “Silk Roads” will open in February of next year. The exhibition will be divided into 5 sections corresponding to geographical regions. Some 300 objects, most of them loaned from 29 other countries, will be part of the grand exhibition.