Livre - A passage to Asia

The ambitious exhibition entitled « A Passage to Asia », organized by the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts with the help of many institutions in sixteen countries across Asia, shows more than 350 treasures, many of them never before seen in Europe. They are witnesses to 2 500 years of commercial and cultural exchanges between Asia and Europe, from Spain in the west to Indonesia in the east. Since pre Roman times, merchants like Marco Polo, Zheng He, and Magellan have travelled between Europe and Asia, driven by a sense of adventure and the lure of profit. Trade in silk, spices, porcelain and other rare goods opened the way for the spread of major religious and philosophical trends, providing an inexhaustible source of inspiration for art and culture. The exhibition and this accompanying catalogue reflects an immense effort of cultural cooperation between European and Asian museums and specialists, many of whom have provided valuable academic contributions to this catalogue, based on the most recent research and excavations. Une mise en lumière de 2.500 ans d'échanges entre l'Asie et l'Europe à travers les trésors d'une vingtaine de pays. Publié à l'occasion de l'exposition éponyme au Palais des beaux-arts, Bruxelles, 25 juin-10 octobre 2010.