Fülszöveg
PETER HOPKIRK
FOREIGN DEVILS ON THE SILK ROAD
'highly readable and elegant* TLS
The Silk Road, which linked imperial Rome and distant China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. Along it travelled precious cargoes of silk, gold, and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art and learning.
In time it began to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left, and finally its towns vanished beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. But legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasures and guarded by demons.
In the early years of this century, foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, and very soon an international race began for the art
treasures of the Silk Road.
Huge wall paintings, sculptures, and priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the ton, and are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries
Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the intrepid...
Tovább
Fülszöveg
PETER HOPKIRK
FOREIGN DEVILS ON THE SILK ROAD
'highly readable and elegant* TLS
The Silk Road, which linked imperial Rome and distant China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. Along it travelled precious cargoes of silk, gold, and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art and learning.
In time it began to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left, and finally its towns vanished beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. But legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasures and guarded by demons.
In the early years of this century, foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, and very soon an international race began for the art
treasures of the Silk Road.
Huge wall paintings, sculptures, and priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the ton, and are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries
Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these long-range archaeological raids, incurring the undying wrath of the Chinese
'Recounted with great skill .opens a window onto a fascinating world'
Financial Times
Cover illustrations: Sinkiang Taklinakan Desert, Dunhuang China. Photo: Robert Harding Picture Librai^, Inset: Sand dLins belt at Tsagan, 1925. © Royal Geographical Society.
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