The Silk Road, the Eurasian trade route that linked China with the Mediterranean, not only served commerce, but also facilitated the communication of the great civilizations of the East and the West. For more than a millennium from the 2nd century BC, silk, luxury and trade goods were transported and exchanged in the cities and oases along the way, while it was also a conduit of ideas, beliefs, artistic styles and technologies. The encounter of Chinese, Indian, Iranian and classical Western culture gave rise to a new, syncretic culture.
Hungarian travellers and explorers also played their part in the geographical, cartographic and geological description of the area, as well as in uncovering artefacts and documents of the distinctive culture that emerged in this intellectual melting pot. Müpa Budapest’s exhibition is focused around the visual documentation of the lands travelled by such pioneering explorers of the East as Count Béla Széchenyi and his colleagues, Lajos Lóczy and Gustav Kreitner, as well as Aurél Stein, who had an incredibly rich and varied career. A number of rare photographs show the world of Buddhism and the unique landscape that is home to the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. The exhibition is therefore closely related to one of the sensations of the Bartók Spring, the performance of Tan Dun’s monumental composition, the Buddha Passion.

The exhibition is on view between 11–21 April.