The Silk Road ran over 4,000 miles for approximately 1,000 years. That’s a lot of cultural exchange to cover in one hour, but we’ll do it. This talk introduces the value of studying art across borders and beliefs and we’ll explore how art can tell us about the cultural relations that developed across history’s largest trade route. After introducing the artistic origins of this trade route, we’ll look objects in a variety of mediums from textiles and ceramics to stone sculpture and painting to see how travel, trade and human interaction laid the foundations of the modern world.