Friday 4 October, 2024
7:00pm BST - 8:30pm BST
Professor Susan Whitfield, Professor in Silk Road Studies and member of the Nara to Norwich research project team, will be speaking at a talk relating to the British Library’s upcoming exhibition, A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang.
British Library Pigott Theatre and online.
Tickets are available to purchase from the British Library’s website and start from £5.00.
Discover how the remarkable discovery of the “Library Cave” transformed our understanding of the Silk Road.
Away from the bustling streets of Dunhuang lies a remarkable Buddhist site known as the Mogao Caves, a complex of hundreds of intricately decorated caves. In 1900, a Daoist priest named Wang Yuanlu made a breathtaking discovery: a small chamber containing tens of thousands of manuscripts, paintings, and artefacts dating from the 5th to 11th centuries. Known as the “Library Cave” or Cave 17, this incredible time capsule is one of the world’s most significant archaeological finds, offering unparalleled insights into the Silk Roads and glimpses of both religious and secular life. A large portion of them were acquired by archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein and brought to the UK, with some becoming part of the British Library’s collection.
Join this panel of experts, alongside host Dr Sam Willis, as they delve into the story of the discovery of the Library Cave, and its extraordinary content, showcased in the current exhibition, A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang.