SOAS University of London is the leading Higher Education institution in Europe specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East.

SOAS is a remarkable institution. With our vast repository of knowledge and expertise on our specialist regions, we are uniquely placed to inform and shape current thinking about the economic, political, cultural, security and religious challenges of our world. Our programmes are taught by respected academics engaged in fieldwork and research which influences government policy and the lives of individuals across the globe. SOAS scholars grapple with the pressing issues confronting two-thirds of humankind today: democracy, development, economy, finance, public and corporate policy, human rights, migration, identity, legal systems, poverty, religion, and social change.

The

Golden Road to Samarqand

9 – 12 November 2020

If it is to be said that there is a Paradise to be seen in this world, then the Paradise of this world is Samarqand,’ thus wrote the Iranian historian ’Ata Malik Juvaini in the 13th century.

 

Samarqand occupied a strategic position on communication routes from the Iranian plateau in the west to China in the east. These connections contributed to Samarqand’s rich material culture which in turn had a significant impact on the arts of other cultures, particularly Sasanian and Islamic Persian and Sui and Tang China in the Pre-Islamic period.

 

This course explores both the real and legendary status of Samarqand and its surrounding region, as reflected in art, archaeology, architecture and poetry. The Sogdians, great traders and middlemen along the ‘Silk Routes’ from the 5th – 9th centuries, commissioned elaborately painted palaces, rich textiles and silverware. The advent of Islam brought with it great city building programmes, particularly under the Samanids (9th and 10th centuries) and the Timurids (founded by Tamerlane in 1370), not only in Samarqand but also in the artistic centres at Bukhara and Khiva.

Course Features:

  • Lectures by leading experts and curators
  • Textiles handling session

Contact

020 7898 4451
asianart@soas.ac.uk