Saturday Mornings: Inside Dunhuang: ACM’s Sacred Caves Exhibition Brings Asia’s Silk Road to Life

🌍MoneyFM 89.3’s Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen talks with Asian Civilisations Museum’s Curator Louise Lui to look at one of the  most ambitious exhibitions yet: Sacred Caves: Dunhuang, Buddhism, and the Silk Road.

Dunhuang was the desert oasis that became one of the world’s most important crossroads of art, religion, and trade.

The exhibition explores how Dunhuang’s cave temples became a living archive of Buddhist devotion and cultural exchange, with murals, manuscripts, sculptures, and ritual objects that reveal how ideas travelled across Asia long before globalisation had a name. Louise walks us through the curatorial process, the archaeological discoveries that shaped the exhibition, and why Dunhuang remains one of humanity’s greatest artistic achievements.

For Singapore audiences, this is more than an art show, it’s a window into how Asia’s spiritual and commercial networks shaped the world we live in today. Expect insights on Buddhist iconography, Silk Road trade routes, and the conservation challenges of preserving 1,500‑year‑old cave art.

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