Priceless and rarely seen Silk Road treasures from Aurel Stein's collection - considered one of the richest in the world - will go on display alongside key items from around the globe in this major exhibition at the British Library from 7 May - 12 September 2004 (in association with The British Museum).

The scholar, archaeologist and explorer Sir Aurel Stein fought rivals at the turn of the last century to be the first to uncover long-lost multicultural civilisations. The evidence had lain buried for up 2,000 years in tombs, tips and temples beneath the desert sands of eastern Central Asia. This exhibition brings together over 200 of Stein's seldom seen Central Asian manuscripts, paintings, objects and textiles, along with other fascinating artefacts from museums in China, Japan, Germany and France.

Take a journey eastwards from Samarkand via Dunhuang to Turfan through the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts. You will be immersed in the landscape, history and cultures of the Silk Road, as well as learning about the everyday lives of people living along the route. Their concerns are timeless to the human condition.

Exhibits range from anti-war poetry, court documents to reclaim land from squatters and prayers to assuage deaths from the plague, down to mousetraps, desert shoes and a letter apologising for getting drunk and behaving badly at a dinner party.