Camels, dunes and Willibald, the ingenious balsam smuggler

* Image: Map of the World, 1533 manuscripot of a 1154 original; Bodlieian Libraries, University of Oxford

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.

A ground-breaking exhibition at the British Museum, Silk Roads, will challenge and expand the modern popular concept of the ‘Silk Road’ as a simple history of trade between ‘East’ and ‘West’. In fact, rather than a single trade route, the Silk Roads were made up of overlapping networks linking communities across Asia, Africa and Europe, from Japan to Britain, Scandinavia to Madagascar.

Ambitious in its scope and vast in its geographical coverage, the show will be the first to look at how the epic journeys of people, objects and ideas along the Silk Roads shaped cultures and histories.

The Silk Roads were in use for millennia, and the exhibition will focus on a defining period in their history, about AD 500–1000. These centuries saw significant leaps in connectivity and the rise of universal religions that linked communities across continents. Structured into five geographical zones that take visitors on their own Silk Roads journey, the exhibition showcases more than 300 objects, including works loaned by 29 institutions.

From Indian garnets found in Suffolk to Iranian glass unearthed inJapan, they reveal the astonishing reach of these networks. Many of the items will be on display in the UK for the first time, including the oldest group of chess pieces ever found and a monumental six-metre wall painting from the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ in Afrasiab (Samarkand), Uzbekistan. The painting evokes the cosmopolitanism of the Sogdians from Central Asia who were great traders during this period.

Other loaned items come via new partnerships with Uzbekistan’s Art and Culture Development Foundation and museums from Tajikistan, demonstrating the importance of Central Asia in this story.

Silk Roads will also be the first exhibition in the museum’s history to have a multi-curatorial approach, featuring objects from across the institution. Visitors will 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.

Covering deserts, mountains, rivers and seas, the Silk Roads tell a story of connection between cultures and continents, centuries before the development of the globalised world we know today.

• 26 September 2024–23 February 2025. Open Saturday to Thursday 10am–5pm (Friday until 8.30pm). Early bird tickets from £17, under-16s free when accompanied by a paying adult, 2-for-1 tickets for students on Fridays; concessions and group rates available.