Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads

***The Museum is temporarily closed in accordance with a provincial COVID-19 order.

As you explore Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads, you will encounter books, scrolls, manuscript paintings, and textiles that shaped — not just documented — life along one of history’s most important trade networks and beyond. Like a spellbinding tale, the artifacts on display will fire your imagination, transporting you to far-away lands and times.

From a 1,000-year-old prayer sheet from northwestern China to a five-metre-long Iranian scroll of the Qur’an, or a richly coloured Jewish marriage contract from 19th-century Greece, each of these artistic marvels tells a story about the community where it originated as well as their links with other cultures.

You will also glimpse into the lives of craftspeople behind the making of books along the Silk Roads. Tools of the bookmaking trade — from a silver-inlaid bronze inkwell from 12th-century Iran to wooden moveable type from 18th-century Korea — reveal how ideas were physically recorded so they could travel across space and time.