The Silk Road is a cultural and historic heritage shared by numerous nations. The treasures from the Silk Road bear witness to the progress of the Humanity and a link between different cultures. Several museums located on the Silk Road have curated exhibitions to tell the story along the ancient Silk Road through objects and lively presentations.
The Silk Road was a significant transportation route which started from China and passed across Asia, Africa, and Europe. It was not only the world’s longest trade route, but also a route that was central to the East-West cultural exchanges—it was considered as the main transportation artery of human history. Its formation and development have revealed the long history of Eastern and Western civilizations, depicting the vivid historical pictures of the Sino-West cultural exchanges. Xinjiang (also called Western Regions in ancient times) was the hub of the Silk Road, and a place where the world’s four cultural systems integrated. The various civilizations in the world met here and interacted with each other, which finally gave birth to the inclusive and brilliant Silk Road civilization. Archaeological findings indicate that there were human activities in Xinjiang about fifty thousand years ago during the Paleolithic Age. Since the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age, a broad range of ethnic groups in Xinjiang had already profound relationships with the East and West civilizations due to the Eurasian Steppe route. With the opening of the Silk Road in Han Dynasty and the establishment of Protectorate of the Western Regions, Xinjiang finally became a part of China and its history entered into a new era. Visitors will see exhibits of the cultural relics in ancient Western Regions: simple but beautiful pottery, stunning costumes, archaic and abstruse Buddhist texts, romantic flying aspires, numerous bamboo and wooden slips, and delicate ancient money. Walking around these cultural relics, visitors will appreciate the glorious civilization of its heyday and have a feeling of going back to the ancient Western Regions.
Based on French author Jules Verne’s 1870 classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the exhibition brings to life the deep-sea adventures of Captain Nemo, his fantastical Nautilus submarine and the mythical world he inhabited. At the centre of this fantasy world is the giant Nautilus where kids can climb aboard and discover the inner workings of a deep-sea submersible… they can take up the controls at the helm, peer through the periscopes, crank the propeller, test out the bunks and explore Captain Nemo’s Cabinet of Curiosities full of wonderful marine specimens. There’s even a bubbly pipe organ to play and a galley full of strange foods to discover! Kids can then slip on a dive suit and venture through the world below the waves including the octupus’ garden with its giant clam shell, a giant squid to slide down and then wander through the maze of sea weed in the kelp forest. They can also hunt for treasure in the wreck of the Spanish galleon or explore the lost world of Atlantis.
What was life like when Genghis Khan was born? How did he spend his childhood? To what extent did these circumstances contribute to his success? Genghis Khan and his successors established the Mongol Empire. While in control of this vast empire, they promoted Sino-European cultural exchanges by mingling with other cultures, such as those of the Central Plains, eastern and western countries, from which a culture characteristic of the nomadic peoples of the grasslands was created. In this exhibition, the real Genghis Khan is brought to life. Genghis Khan and his Golden Family established a vast grasslands empire, stretching across Eurasia from the west coast of the Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. A great many vestiges and relics are found in places the Mongolians used to inhabit or control. To this day, a number of Mongolian traditions and ways of life have been preserved, such as daily utensils, traditional producing methods and more. Unlike the usual practice of chronologically displaying items, this exhibition rearranges the relics of different periods according to type and interpretations of their use.
The Summer Palace was an important political stage of the late Qing Dynasty, and was also one of the important residences of Empress Dowager Cixi in her later life. From 1891 to 1908, as the owner of the Summer Palace and the supreme ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi spent most of her last 18 years in the beautiful scenery of the Summer Palace. Cixilivedandentertainedhere, took sightseeing tours, celebrated festivals and managed state affairs, leaving tens of thousands of pieces of cultural relics. This exhibition selects hundreds of pieces of cultural relics related to Cixi so as to completely reflect her disposition and the characteristics of palace life. It not only mirrors the real life of Cixi, but also gives visitors a glimpse of the palace culture in the late Qing Dynasty, alongside its historical and cultural background.
Genghis Khan’s name is legend. with an army of no more than 100,000, Genghis Khan and his forces used innovative techniques to dominate much of the known world, establishing a continuous empire three times larger than any other in history. The storyline follows the arc of Genghis Khan’s dramatic life—from illiterate, tormented child to the millennium’s greatest ruler, coupled with the rise of an unparalleled empire of freedom and innovation which he created. The largest collection ever assembled of the treasures of Genghis Khan, from collections worldwide. Themes and Progression of the exhibition are “The Two Faces of Genghis Khan: Warrior and Statesman”, “Genghis Khan’s Roots: Nomadic Life in Central Asia”, “Rise of Genghis and the Mongols”, “Military Conquest and Siege”, “Kharakorum: Treasures from the Capital City”, “The Four Khanates: An Empire Divided”, “The Mysterious Death and Burial of Genghis Khan”, “Kublai Khan, Marco Polo and Yuan Dynasty, China”, “Excavating the Empire”, “The Fall of the Empire”, “Modern Mongolia”. Through Genghis Khan’s life we see the formulation of his concepts and achievements in creating a nation, a language, a meritocracy, and a web of communication and artistic and religious freedom and safety.
The exhibition is based on the results of the most advanced studies and research in history, archaeology and science history. It illustrates the extraordinary naturalistic, scientific and technical knowledge that had been achieved in Pompeii and in the Roman world at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius. Archaeological findings, multimedia devices and working interactive models of the mechanical devices introduced in Pompeii show how the physical laws that guarantee the functioning of these machines are still valid today.
China was strong and prosperous in the Tang Dynasty. Luoyang was the east capital of the Tang and capital city of the Zhou. The Silk Road that connected Europe and Asia, and the Grand Canal passed through from south to north joined in Luoyang, which was at that time the center of economic and cultural exchange between China and Western countries. In the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang was magnificent and well arranged, with Luoshui River running through. Its shape and setup had deep influence on later ages. In the era of Wu Zetian, the only empress in Chinese history, Luoyang was a good model in architecture, crafts, and religious culture. As an international metropolis, it attracted merchants from all over the world, most of whom were Hu merchants from Europe and West Asia. Both Chinese and foreign customs and utensils of various kinds co-existed; Hu music and dance prevailed; Islam and Christian were introduced to China and mosques and churches were built in Luoyang. Taoism of China and Buddhism from India co-existed harmoniously. This exhibition is on the basis of the splendid history and culture of Luoyang—the east capital of Tang Dynasty—and tries to demonstrate to the visitors a great city and its people.
An exhibition born Paper Silk and paper are associated with China for millennia. The Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave wanted to bring together in a new exhibition: paper tells the Silk Road. Not through a book, which has already been done many times, but by recreating the world of Paper Route, his privileged speech material. Step by step, she takes us to follow him on the road, but a personal way, revisited by his imagination. The visitor stops and not in reconstructions of places but in re-constructions -in paper- that evokes the road for the artist. As Isabelle de Borchgrave, the visitor to the exhibition begins its journey in a library. He will meet several in his visit, introductory sas in the work of the artist, drawn from fantasy books, stories of travelers. This is where the paper met silk. These libraries will also be the object receptacles, as out of the books, which tell the saga of the Route through different themes. They also explain the place chosen by the artist, the visitor will discover at the end of each of these libraries. The heart of the exhibition is formed by the paper spaces, works of Isabelle de Borchgrave. It is this road revisited by the artist who is the attraction and originality. Libraries are there only to bring a breath, a rhythm to the course while giving through collectibles, little history. The red wire is -forcément- a silk thread, or rather a piece of silk which the visitor will follow the path from the studio of Chinese weaver to the shores of Europe. It reappears in each set, emblem of progress over time and space. This modular set design makes the exhibition different depending on where it could anchor. Road is long, famous or anonymous places more jostling in the imagination of the visitor as in that of the artist. Different exposures, adapted them eligible to receive the same quality and the same interest. The road here is drawn only among other possible way.
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