Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Rather than a single trade route between ‘East’ and ‘West’ the Silk Roads were an overlapping network that connected Asia, Africa and Europe. Today, with the help of curators Sue Brunning, Luk Yu-ping, Elisabeth O'Connell and Zumrad Ilyasova, you will journey along the networks of the Silk Roads, following in the footsteps of the people and objects that used them between 500-1000 CE.
00:00 Cooper alloy Buddha found in Helgö, Sweden.
01:06 Introduction to Silk Roads exhibition
03:44 East Asia and the Silk Roads
03:58 Chang'an, Tang China
04:36 Ceramic Bactrian camel from the tomb of Liu Tingxun
05:30 Silk Roads Ship Wreck, Indonesia
06:20 The Library Cave, Mogao Caves, Dunhuang
08:00 Genzia in Cairo, Egypt
08:35 Samarkand and Sogdian merchants
11:45 Silk Roads in the Islamic period
12:34 Earliest known chess pieces in the world
13:12 Islamic and Viking trade
14:35 Red Sea trade and the Silk Roads
14:55 The Kingdom of Aksum
17:00 Fatimid empire in Egypt
18:00 Islamic Spain and Portugal al-Andalus
20:37 Charlemagne and his elephant
21:44 Where the Sutton Hoo treasures come from?
24:09 The Franks Casket
Silk Roads EXHIBITION TICKETS: https://shorturl.at/i4tga
Supported by
The Huo Family Foundation
Additional supporters
James Bartos
The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts
Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation
Additional Credits:
Secrets of the Belitung shipwreck
Images courtesy of Dr Michael Flecker
Produced by Screen Size Films
Reconstructing the murals in the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’
Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, Samarkand State Museum-Reserve, Northeast Asian History Foundation
Rather than a single trade route between ‘East’ and ‘West’ the Silk Roads were an overlapping network that connected Asia, Africa and Europe. Today, with the help of curators Sue Brunning, Luk Yu-ping, Elisabeth O'Connell and Zumrad Ilyasova, you will journey along the networks of the Silk Roads, following in the footsteps of the people and objects that used them between 500-1000 CE.
00:00 Cooper alloy Buddha found in Helgö, Sweden.
01:06 Introduction to Silk Roads exhibition
03:44 East Asia and the Silk Roads
03:58 Chang'an, Tang China
04:36 Ceramic Bactrian camel from the tomb of Liu Tingxun
05:30 Silk Roads Ship Wreck, Indonesia
06:20 The Library Cave, Mogao Caves, Dunhuang
08:00 Genzia in Cairo, Egypt
08:35 Samarkand and Sogdian merchants
11:45 Silk Roads in the Islamic period
12:34 Earliest known chess pieces in the world
13:12 Islamic and Viking trade
14:35 Red Sea trade and the Silk Roads
14:55 The Kingdom of Aksum
17:00 Fatimid empire in Egypt
18:00 Islamic Spain and Portugal al-Andalus
20:37 Charlemagne and his elephant
21:44 Where the Sutton Hoo treasures come from?
24:09 The Franks Casket
Silk Roads EXHIBITION TICKETS: https://shorturl.at/i4tga
Supported by
The Huo Family Foundation
Additional supporters
James Bartos
The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts
Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation
Additional Credits:
Secrets of the Belitung shipwreck
Images courtesy of Dr Michael Flecker
Produced by Screen Size Films
Reconstructing the murals in the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’
Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, Samarkand State Museum-Reserve, Northeast Asian History Foundation
![Can museums preserve the past while addressing the present? British Museum Debate [AUDIO ONLY]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r25bQnhoEXg/mqdefault.jpg "Can museums preserve the past while addressing the present? British Museum Debate [AUDIO ONLY]
Traditionally, museums have been regarded as politically neutral institutions, avoiding involvement in contemporary debates. But as custodians of art and culture and knowledge-holders, should they actively engage with social and political concerns, using the collections in their care to take a stand? What responsibilities do universal museums bear in representing cultures from different times and places to the present generation within the context of their collection and wider audience engagement?
Join Margaret Casely-Hayford, Tom Holland, Grayson Perry and Simon Sebag-Montefiore in a debate chaired by Alice Thomson.")
