Dunhuang and the Silk Roads in UK collections: Stewardship, digital discovery and collaboration

A section of a colourful manuscript illustration

Tejaḥprabha-buddha and the Five Planets © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Digital East Asia Lecture

Dunhuang and the Silk Roads in UK collections

Stewardship, digital discovery and collaboration

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 Thursday 5 February 2026

  13.00–14.00 (GMT)

 At the Weston Library and online

  Free, booking required

Book now – in person

Book now – online

About this event

Join us for a lecture focusing on the digital discovery of manuscripts, paintings, prints, textiles and other objects discovered in Dunhuang and sites in northwest China, dating mainly from the 5th to 11th centuries, now held in the British Library and the British Museum. The Bodleian Libraries preserve the extensive manuscript notes, diaries and archaeological fieldnotes of Sir Marc Aurel Stein who collected this material in the early 20th century.

By bringing together curatorial experts from separately held yet interconnected collections and archives, the lecture will offer an overview of the Stein Collection’s formation, its dispersal across different institutions, and the scope of the items involved. It will also present current stewardship, from conservation and digitisation work to online access and partnerships such as the International Dunhuang Programme (IDP). These initiatives aim to support more holistic understandings of these collections as well as the diverse histories, cultures, languages and societies along the Silk Roads.

The Digital East Asia Lectures are co-hosted by the Centre for Digital Scholarship and the Asian and Middle Eastern Collections at the Bodleian Libraries. The event has been generously supported by the Chung Hon Dak Fund.

Speakers

Mélodie Doumy is the Lead Curator of Chinese collections (Stein and Hoernle) and Manager of the International Dunhuang Programme at the British Library.

Luk Yu-ping is Head of the China section and the Basil Gray Curator of Chinese Paintings, Prints, and Central Asian Collections in the Asia Department at the British Museum.

Event information

  • This talk is available to attend both in-person and online.

Attend in person

  • You can attend this event in person. It takes place in the Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre at the Weston Library.
  • The Weston Library is wheelchair accessible. Find out more about accessibility at our site.
  • Please note: only bottled water is permitted in the lecture theatre. No food or other drinks are allowed.

Attend online

  • You can also register to attend this event online via Zoom. You will receive joining instructions for the Zoom webinar in your order confirmation email.

Book tickets

 5 February 2026

  13.00–14.00 (GMT)

     Free, booking required

 At the Weston Library and online

Book – in person

Book – online


Contact

 cds@bodleian.ox.ac.uk


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