The Silk Roads Programme

Mirrors, objects which reflect an image, have a wide range of both practical and symbolic uses, and as such can provide considerable insight into the artistic and other cultural values of various societies across Eurasia.

Different forms of music and the various instruments used to create it, spread beyond their regions of origin, accompanying people as they moved along the Silk Roads.

Thailand has an abundance of natural resources and opportunities for agriculture which, combined with its advantageous location on the Maritime Silk Roads, has historically drawn people passing through the area to trade, and sometimes settle, in its port mercantile centres.

Despite the restrictions the Covid-19 pandemic is placing on artistic initiatives around the world, a virtual festival of world calligraphy entitled “Dance of the Pen (Raqs-e Qalam) along the Silk Roads” in Iran has brought together master calligraphers from over 30 countries along the historic Silk Roads and beyond showcasing their works.

Numerous regions of South and Southeast Asia were directly involved with, and connected by, the maritime Silk Roads at various points in history.