Exhibition Focus

Routes of Arabia. Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia presents more than 300 unique archaeological finds, discovered in the territory of Arabia in recent decades by archeologists from several countries. These are combined in a majestic exhibition for the first time. Artefacts from various museums in Saudi Arabia are displayed, including ceramics, coins, jewellery, funeral stele, colossal imperial statues and prestige silver tableware. These encompass a vast timespan of Arabian history, from the Palaeolithic to the 20th century. The exhibition includes seven subdivisions. Five present pre-Islamic material, the remaining two are dedicated to the Islamic periods and the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, as well as to establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. The main theme of the exhibition examines roads, trade and pilgrimage routes, from ancient times to the present, that connected Arabia with the wider world and its own territory. In prehistory, one of the dispersal routes of ancient humanity was from eastern Africa to Eurasia, but also through Arabia. In the historic era Arabian states grew and prospered as a consequence of contact with some of the greatest ancient civilisations – at times parallel with them in the level of development. The material featured in the exhibition demonstrates the interconnectivity of Arabia with Mesopotamia and Egypt, but also the cultures of the ancient Middle East from the Indus valley to the Mediterranean world. This interrelationship existed for thousands of years, culminating in the union of more recent states through Islamic religion. Trade routes intersected the Arabian Peninsula in all directions, and caravans, carrying luxury goods from southern Arabia to the countries of the Mediterranean and West Asia was an established practice for millennia. Oases such as those of Tayma, Madyan, Najran, Nabatene, located on the trade routes gradually became large centres of international trade. Continual movement along the trade routes ensured contact between many Arabian tribes. Gradually this led to an amalgam of artistic traditions dialects, and writing. It also paved the way for the rapid expansion of the Islamic faith, originating in the early 7th century in the Hejaz in the north-west of Arabia. In the Islamic period routes of trade ultimately evolved into routes of pilgrimage, connecting the most important cities of the Muslim world with Islamic holy sites in Mecca and Medina.

State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Top Floor of the Winter Palace + 812 312-15-50 (www.hermitagemuseum.org).
Until 4 September.

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