At the British Museum in London, the Silk Roads exhibition has been open for the past week

At the British Museum in London, an exhibition titled Silk Roads has been open for the past week, showcasing 14 artifacts from the collections of Uzbekistan that vividly demonstrate the migration of people and works of art along the main trade route from 500 to 1000 AD.

The Timurid period marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of manuscript books in Central Asia. Gradually, important centers of book art development emerged in Shiraz (Iran), Herat (Afghanistan), and Samarkand, where craftsmen copied and illuminated luxurious manuscripts for princes. Most of these are masterpieces of Persian literature from previous centuries, such as Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) by Ferdowsi (c. 940–1020 AD) or various poems that make up the Khamsa collection by Nizami (c. 1141–1209 AD), but among them are also works by authors from the early 15th century.

The Silk Roads exhibition will be open until February 23, 2025, at the Sainsbury Exhibition Gallery at the British Museum.