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Road Rediscovered
Silk Road at AMNH offers sights, smells
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The American Museum of Natural History has transported visitors back in time with Travelling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World. The exhibit, running through August 15, 2010, follows the rich economic, cultural and intellectual history of an ancient trade route that spanned more than 4,500 miles and spread information, goods, culture and religion throughout the world.
Silk Road explores the route—driven by the much sought after Eastern commodity, silk—through four of the major cities of the time. Turfan, a trading outpost and veritable oasis in the desert route, Xi’an, the capital of China’s Tang Dynasty, Samarkand, a city where merchants booming on the caravan trade called their home and Baghdad, the most cosmopolitan city of the time that acted as central hub of both economic and intellectual development of the era. Aiding in this journey are sensory stimulating recreations. A pack of camels greets visitors; loaded with trade goods and in full regalia, these replicas are reminders that few travelled the length of the route but goods (and the information—cultural, religious, technological, brought with it) disseminated throughout the world.
Highlights along the road include a silk productions set up, technology historically guarded. This includes a display of live silkworms and a replica of a Tang-era loom (massive in size) used to create the world’s most sought after commodity. Perhaps most stunning is the replica of Turfan, the lush marketplace of the past. Visitors are invited to examine the goods offered— sapphires, silks, jades and rubies, leopard furs and peacock feathers, and fruits and spices. As the exhibit transitions into the Baghdad section, the importance of the Silk Road on cultural and scientific dissemination becomes clear. A far cry from modern associations, the Baghdad of the past was the scientific capital of the ancient world. Visitors are invited to view is a working model of a water clock, designed by Islamic engineers 800 years ago: the model clock is made out of glass to reveal its inner workings.
Silk Road is the kind of exhibit museums were made to carry. Interactive, interesting and packed with information, it offers museum goers the ultimate in educational and entertainment experience. For more information on visiting hours or to purchase tickets, please visit www.amnh.org.