Tajikistan: In the Land of Rivers of Gold at Musée National des Arts Asiatiques — Guimet
TAJIKISTAN
In the Land of Rivers of Gold
October 14, 2021 — January 10, 2022
Musée National des Arts Asiatiques — Guimet offers the largest exhibition ever devoted to Tajikistan in the West. It reveals the cultural richness of this little-known country, which has remained in the shadow of its more publicized neighbors, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, with exceptional and rare pieces.
By its strategic location on the passageways and conquest between the Middle East, the ancient world of the steppes, the Indian subcontinent, and the oases of Chinese Central Asia, Tajikistan has been at the heart of trade networks since ancient times.
The prehistoric remains, in particular, those of the archaeological site of Sarazm (the first site in the country to have been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) remind us that Tajikistan has been a hub of exchanges since prehistoric times, as well as an important center of metallurgy from the end of the 4th millennium BC.
The contributions of the peoples of the steppes and then of the Achaemenids will be followed, in the first centuries preceding the Christian era, by the presence of Hellenized populations, as illustrated by several sets of gold, silver, and bronze coins, as well as a large number of remains of the temple of the Oxus at Takht-i Sangin.
The monumental remains of Pendjikent, Kukh-i Surkh, or Bundjika, for their part, bear witness to the prosperity of the Sogdiana region in the 6th-8th centuries, when the Sogdians, traders from Asia established as far as China and in Southeast Asia, have also opened up to outside influences. At the same time, the sites of Adjina tepa and Hisht tepa show us the implantation of Buddhism in the east of the country, by the monks walking along the trade routes.
The exhibition will end with the establishment of the Samanid dynasty and the introduction of Islam to the region, as illustrated by the remains of the sites of Hulbuk or Sayod, and important monetary treasures.
The exhibition benefits from important and exceptional loans, notably from the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan and the National Museum of Tajikistan, from the British Museum, for works coming from the Temple of the Oxus, and from the National Library of France, which will accompany pieces from the collections of the National Museum of Asian Arts - Guimet.
Tajikistan's strategic location on the routes of passage and conquest between the Middle East, the ancient steppe world, the Indian subcontinent, and the oases of Chinese Central Asia has placed it at the heart of trade networks since ancient times. Its many natural resources, particularly minerals, no doubt explain the importance of the cultural centers that developed there.
Organized into major chronological periods, from prehistory to the arrival of Islam, the exhibition and this accompanying catalogue endeavor to show this cultural richness by drawing on the remains of various archaeological sites in the country.
