Wessex Connected: THE SILK ROAD - Day 1 - Art, History and Exploration

Join us either in Cerne Abbas Village Hall, Dorset or online for Day 1 on 15th October 2025 with lecturer Dr. Susan Whitfield.

The Silk Road - Art, History and Exploration

10:30 am Introduction to its History and Cultures. A general context-setting lecture, illustrated with maps and artefacts, giving an outline of what we mean by the Silk Road and introducing some of the major events and cultures along it in the first millennium AD.

11:30 - 12:00 - Coffee break

12:00 - 13:00 Exploration and Discovery. This tells the story of the early 20th imperial archaeologists of the Silk Road, concentrating on the British/Hungarian, Sir Aurel Stein, and how he uncovered forgotten civilisations of the Silk Road from the desert sands of the Taklamakan. His finds are now mainly in the British Museum and British Library.

13:00 - 14:00. Lunch

14:00 - 15:00 Art. This lecture introduces several wonderful pieces of art exemplifying the transmissions and interactions of peoples, faiths, technologies, materials and designs along the Silk Road. The objects include a gilt silver flask, a glass bowl, and a patterned sil.

Fee: £35 for individual days in the venue with coffee, tea and biscuits and a buffet lunch with wine and soft drinks.

Fee: £20 online

For all queries please email Christopher on wessexconnecedevents@theartssociety.org

How to book this event:

Please book your tickets on www.tickettailor.com/events/theartssocietywessexarea

THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Dr Susan Whitfield

Susan Whitfield is Professor of Silk Road Studies at the University of East Anglia and Honorary Associate Professor at University College. She previously worked for 25 years curating the collection of over 50,000 medieval manuscripts from central Asia at the British Library, where she also helped found and then directed an international collaboration working on the art and artefacts of the eastern Silk Roads.

She has travelled, lectured and written widely on the Silk Roads. Her latest book, Silk Roads: Peoples, Culture and Landscapes, was published by Thames & Hudson in October 2019 and translated into eight languages. She has curated several major exhibitions, and is currently working on an online and in-person exhibit with colleagues at UEA and worldwide: NaratoNorwich.org.

GALLERY