Shadows of past empires

Another day, another exhibition. This time, it’s Silk Roads at the British Museum. We’ve planned to visit Silk Road cities like Samarkand and Bukhara for many years, and G has been fascinated by this history of trade and influence since reading Peter Frankopan’s  book. 

This is an ambitious exhibition, covering so many miles and years. There’s so much information - and again so many people reading it - that it becomes overwhelming. For me, it’s always the exhibits that take my interest, beautifully displayed and lit. And it really is mind boggling to think of just how far influences and objects travelled at times when journeys were so much more difficult and dangerous. There’s the spread of Buddhism in one direction, Islam in another. A tiny jade Buddhist figure, made in Pakistan about AD 500, was excavated from buildings dating to AD 800 in Sweden. 

We’re struck by the sea route equivalent of the more familiar land based Silk Road - it largely mirrors our route from Mumbai to Tokyo. And of course the route of those early traders is now followed by massive container ships bringing goods from east to west. The continuum of human history, the rise and fall of empires and influences. 

My main’s a Buddhist figure, with a collage of items in extras.