This exhibition gives us the opportunity to dream about a crossroads of civilizations, in the heart of Central Asia, in Uzbekistan, where the names of Samarkand and Bukhara resonate. But many other commercial oases in this country have revealed works that are now classified as World Heritage sites.

World Heritage Site.

A large selection of these masterpieces, which have never left the country and have been specially restored, are presented in this exhibition, such as the monumental wall paintings of the ambassadors’ palace in Samarkand and its region, pages from one of the oldest monumental Korans from the beginning of Islam from Katta Langar, in Sogdiana, and other treasures in gold from Bactria (Dalverzintep), in silver, in silk, in ceramics. It is also an opportunity to admire some masterpieces of the famous 16th-century Bukhara school of miniature painting.

Thanks to exceptional loans from major European museums, the exhibition brings together nearly 130 works and invites us to take a journey through space and time. This account of seventeen centuries of fabulous history allows us to understand how this region on the borders of China and India was able to fascinate Alexander the Great, but also the Caliphs of Baghdad, beyond the Iranian world, towards the east.

This area of exchange and cultural influence allowed Western and Eastern civilizations to dialogue and mix harmoniously.

Date : from 23 November 2022 to 6 March 2023.

Location : Louvre Museum.

Address : Rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris

Price : €17

Schedule : Wednesday to Monday from 9 am to 6 pm.

Metro : line 1 Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre station