Silk Roads
26 September 2024 – 23 February 2025
Daily: 10.00–17.00 (Fridays 20.30)
See full opening hours
Room 30
The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery
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Exhibition audio guide
Listen on the Audio app, available on the App Store, App Store (China mainland) and Google Play.
Tickets
Adults from £22. Members and under-16s free. See ticket information
Camel caravans crossing desert dunes, merchants trading silks and spices at bazaars – these are the images that come to mind when we think of the Silk Roads. But the reality goes far beyond this.
Rather than a single trade route from East to West, the Silk Roads were made up of overlapping networks linking communities across Asia, Africa and Europe, from East Asia to Britain, and from Scandinavia to Madagascar. This major exhibition unravels how the journeys of people, objects and ideas that formed the Silk Roads shaped cultures and histories.
The Silk Roads were in use for millennia, but this visually stunning show focuses on a defining period in their history, from about AD 500 to 1000. This time witnessed significant leaps in connectivity and the rise of universal religions that linked communities across continents.
Working with 29 national and international partners to present objects from many regions and cultures alongside those from the British Museum collection, the exhibition offers a unique chance to see objects from the length and breadth of the Silk Roads. From Tang Chinese ceramics destined for ports in the Middle East to Indian garnets found in Suffolk, they reveal the astonishing reach of these networks.
Highlight objects from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan that have never been seen in the UK before also underpin the importance of Central Asia to this continent-spanning story.
You'll meet figures whose stories are entwined with the Silk Roads, including Willibald, an ingenious balsam smuggler from England, and a legendary Chinese princess who shared the secrets of silk farming with her new kingdom. Crossing deserts, mountains, rivers and seas, the Silk Roads tell a story of connection between cultures and continents, centuries before the formation of the globalised world we know today.
Highlights
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![Copper allow figurine of a Buddha]()
Buddha figurine found in Helgö, Sweden
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![Glazed ceramic dual-humped Bactrian camel laden with silk, a ewer and bags]()
Ceramic figure of a camel
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![Dagger and sheath adorned with gold, garnets and glass]()
Dagger and sheath decorated with gold, garnets and glass
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![A circular map in cobalt blue and gold, with script detailing place-names]()
Map of the world
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![White dish with blue design]()
Blue and white ceramic dish
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![TBC]()
Gilded silver cup
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![An intricate gold artefact with red and inlays]()
Gold shoulder clasp with garnets and glass
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![Sketch of horse and camel, each led by an envoy]()
Sketch of envoys with horse and camel
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![An ornately carved whalebone casket]()
'The Franks Casket' whalebone casket
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![Rectangular votive panel with princess in centre, female figure to left, four-armed deity and female figure to right]()
Painting on a wooden panel of the 'silk princess'
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![Gold bowl depicting scene of a griffin mauling a goat in the centre]()
Decorated gold bowl
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![Wall painting depicting a hero fighting wild beasts from an elephant’s back]()
Section of a wall painting from the Palace of Varakhsha
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![A bright blue decorated glass drinking horn]()
Glass drinking horn
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![A rectangular panel of very old looking silk decorated with two people on horseback and foliage]()
Silk sleeve panel with equestrian figures
Reviews
Members
Members don't need to book to visit Silk Roads. Please show your Membership card to gain entry. If you're visiting before your Membership card arrives, bring your Membership purchase confirmation email to the Membership Desk in the Great Court on the day of your visit. We'll then issue a temporary card to access your on-site benefits.
Please see our Visiting as a Member page for more information on visiting the Museum.
Exhibition supporters
Supported by
The Huo Family Foundation's mission is to support education, communities and the pursuit of knowledge. Through its donations, the Foundation hopes to improve the prospects of individuals, and to support the work of organisations seeking to ensure a safe and successful future for all society.
Additional supporters
James Bartos
The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts
With further support from
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, Unicorn Publishing Group, International Foundation for Arts and Culture Japan, National Museum of Tajikistan, Rodolphe Olard and Susan Sinclair, and The Huang Yao Foundation.
