The exhibition “Poles on the Silk Road” was opened in the Museum of Metsamor in Armenia in October 2017,  thanks to the financial support of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project no. 943/DUN/2016). The exhibition presents the portraits of Polish pioneers in research of Asia, such as Michal Boym, 16^th c. Polish sinologist, author of “Flora of China”, Bronislaw Pilsudski, who’s research conducted in early 20^th c. contributed largely to the knowledge about Ainu population on Hokkaido or Wanda Dynowska, activist of Indian independence movements who spread the knowledge about Indian and Tibetan culture in Poland. The work of explorers presented within this projects created the basis for further research in many fields of knowledge about Asia. The opening ceremony was honoured by A. Tarverdyan, director of the Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum Reservations, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia, vice minister Bartosz Cichocki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland and Prof. Krzysztof Jakubiak, director of the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw.

In order to promote the knowledge about the history of exploration, Polish Chapter of the Explorers Club in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw and the Students Association for the Far East Archaeology organised an exhibition titled “Poles on the Silk Road”. Thanks to the financial support of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project no.943/DUN/2016) the exhibition was shown to the wider public in the Museum of Asia and Pacific at Warsaw in October 2016. The aim of this project was to present the portraits of Poles, who had contributed to development of contemporary knowledge of the Asian cultural heritage as well as the phenomenon of the Silk Road. People, who were often forced to live in the forgotten regions of Eurasia against their will, were also extraordinarily perceptive observers of their surroundings. The reports left by them became the basis for further research in the field of natural science, history, ethnography and language studies in Asia. Due to their respect for the diversity of cultures and peoples, among whom they had to live, our compatriots gained the acceptance of local communities. Their work made memory of Polish achievements forever alive in the furthest corners of the world. The exhibition did not deplete the topic of Polish input into the research of Asia; and a lot of Polish pioneers of exploration, who also deserve to be commemorated, have not been mentioned in it yet. We do continue works on this subject and hope, that following openings of the exhibition “Poles on the Silk Road” would allow us to present the fortunes and scientific achievements of the much larger group of Polish explorers. [gallery ids="565,566,567"]