This article was automatically translated from the original Turkish version.
Let us set out on a journey; let its stations be made of silk…
A road such that upon its caravans would travel Chinese, Indians, Turks, Persians, Arabs, Abyssinians, and Venetians…
Silk first traveled this route on two-humped red camels, stopping in Linxia, the small Mecca of China.
Departing from Gansu, where the routes converged, and following the path along the Great Wall of China, the caravan crossed the Taklamakan Desert and met jade and musk in Hotan.
Their long journey gained new wealth at the bazaar of Kashgar.
The silk caravan, laden with tea, gold, furs, and leather, accompanied by Fergana’s swift yilki horses, had already reached Turkistan through the Huncerab Pass between the Karakoram Mountains and the Pamir Plateau.
Breathing deeply after drinking from the well of Ahmed Yesevi, the Silk Road arrived at Samarkand, the port of Mavarannahr.
Woolen textiles and paper found their place beside silk in the market.
Then, from Khorasan came cotton; from Nishapur, copper, silver, iron, and turquoise were loaded onto the caravan.
Caravanserais with drums beating atop their towers had become lodging for the merchant.
At the Kazvin junction, one branch of the Silk Road opened to the Caspian Sea, another to the Black Sea, another to the Mediterranean, and yet another to the Red Sea.
On the other shore, the Silk Road sailed to ports along the China Sea; its ships cast anchor in India, Madagascar, and from Yemen to Abyssinia.
And finally, Anatolia, cradle of civilizations and hearth of many empires, became a resting place for the traveler of the Silk Road.
The silk caravan, stretching from Erzurum and the Caucasus to the port of Trabzon, had long unloaded its goods at Istanbul’s Kapalıçarşı and Mısırçarşısı, and beyond the strait, established stages across the Balkans all the way to Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Baltic countries of Europe.
Among the cargoes of the Silk Road, which inspired the tales of Sinbad the Sailor and the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, ivory, lapis lazuli, linen, swords, ink, incense, Indian cucumber, emerald, and others found their place—but amber, sandalwood, and camphor became its most precious treasures.
The Red Sea route and the continuous “summer and winter voyages” between Aden and Syria (Qur’an 106:2) brought the Silk Road into contact with pilgrims on Hijazi soil. The Qur’an’s descriptions of paradise were adorned with words from the lexicon of the Silk Road: istibrāq, sundus, zarābī, abqarī, kāfūr, marjān, yaqūt, and misk. The Prophet himself wore the Yemeni cloak during his Mi’raj.
No translator was needed along the Silk Road. Boundaries were not drawn between different faiths or humanity’s shared values. Hearts were won through the Silk Road.
Turkmen tribes who settled in Anatolia were drawn along the Silk Road’s path. The Silk Road, adorned with dervishes of Khorasan, carried Yesevi’s mystical wisdom into Anatolia. The knowledge and sciences transported by this route became capitals, settling in Konya, Bursa, and Istanbul. Kadızâde-i Rûmî of Bursa, following the Silk Road, became a student of astronomy in Samarkand; his teacher Ulugh Beg’s son, Ali Kuşçu, traveled from Samarkand to Istanbul, tracing the footsteps of the Silk Road.
Material and spiritual wealth and prosperity flowed from east to west, returning as civilization and blessing from west to east.
And Istanbul…
The influence of East-West interaction, especially in art, architecture, and culture, was inevitable. Indeed, the wall frescoes of Uyghur princes and princesses became a source for Turkish miniature art. Thus, in the Ottoman palace nakkaşhane, painters, artists, and architects reflected the unique patterns, designs, and color harmonies transmitted by the Silk Road, as if crossing the threshold of time—and carried this tradition into the 21st century. I am profoundly fortunate to have been a student of the Ottoman polymath Ordinary Professor Dr. Ahmet Süheyl Ünver (1898–1986), who guided this cultural century, and I am responsible for carrying this banner throughout my life.
This artistic narrative is, in essence, the quest to reforge the ancient light filtered through the Silk Road, reshaping it within the laboratory of modern art.
