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Silk Roads
Our newest gallery is now open, transforming the ground floor of the Oriental Museum.
Silk Roads is an introductory gallery for the whole Museum, bringing together works from across our collections to tell stories of trade, travel and exchange across the continent of Asia and into Europe, all the way to Durham.
Silk, ceramics and spices have travelled these trade routes for centuries. At the same time, these trading connections have allowed people to exchange knowledge, learn about other faiths and experience new artistic styles.
Make sure you don’t miss:
- the magnificent Chinese bed decorated with ivory inlaid panels
- the parrot made from rock crystal
- the detailed scale model of a Kuwaiti dhow, a trading ship from the Arabian Gulf
- the 14th century Central Asian jade.
Talking about faith
Members of the local Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities have helped us to shape the gallery by offering new understandings of objects and identifying gaps in our collection.
Participants also created video content for the gallery, providing unique and personal insights into their own faith. You can see a selection of the videos here
These videos are supported by subtitles in English, but do not have BSL interpretation. Click on the link for the written transcript for each video.
Judaism
Cooking for Hanukkah
Cooking for Hanukkah - Video Transcript
Family, Tradition and History in Judaism
Family, Tradition and History in Judaism - Video Transcript
Faith and Family in Judaism
Faith and Family in Judaism - Video Transcript
Singing for Hanukkah
Christianity
Growing up in the Durham Chinese Church
Growing up in the Durham Chinese Church - Video Transcript
Chinese Christian Life in Durham
Chinese Christian Life in Durham - Video Transcript
Orthodox Christian Life in Durham
Islam
Four Perspectives on Islam
Four Perspectives on Islam - Video Transcript
Faith as a Way of Life
Faith as a Way of Life - Video Transcript
We are keen to hear from people who are interested in helping us to develop our family activities and events programme based on the faiths of the Silk Roads. Please contact us at oriental.museum@durham.ac.uk.
Journey
In 2019 the Oriental Museum established Creative Age, a dementia-friendly art group for older adults. The group works alongside a professional artist on a range of creative works inspired by the Museum’s collections.
In summer 2021 this group created a new artwork, entitled Journey, in collaboration with North East artist Marián Hernández-Villada. It is a celebration of restarting in-person Creative Age sessions and the reopening of the Oriental Museum following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Inspired by the colours and textures of the Silk Road, the piece speaks to the relief and happiness of being able to see friends and family and the extraordinary journey we all lived through in 2020 and 2021. It is now on display in the Silk Roads gallery.
All the museum's staff offer heartfelt thanks to Jean, Chris, Brian, Judith, Keith, Catherine, Marián and all the members of Creative Age.
Arts Award
Our Learning and Engagement team have worked with a range of young people, supporting them to achieve an Arts Award inspired by the themes of this gallery.
Find out more and download resources you can use.
Thank you
This work has been made possible through the generous support of the DCMS/Wolfson Foundation Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund, the Arts Council for England, the Sir James Knott Trust and the Islamic Art and Material Culture Subject Specialist Network. We are very grateful for all their support.