How did a modest trade artery become the world's most famous cultural superhighway? The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston partners with the Archaeological Institute of America—Houston Society to present this lecture that seeks to answer the question. Documents and textiles excavated along the Silk Routes allow us to see with needle-sharp precision who was moving along these trade routes and why. Merchants, envoys, refugees, missionaries, artists and craftsmen all helped transmit the many ideas that moved across Eurasia in the first millennium AD.

A reception to meet the speaker follows the program. Presented by Angela Sheng, associate professor of art history, McMaster University.