From 17th to 19th March, 2008 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (New Delhi, India) the Third International Seminar on History of the Central Asian Collections in Institutions Worldwide was held in collaboration with the British Library, London. It was part of the International Dunhuang Project of the British Library, funded by Ford Foundation. Scholars from China, Russia and India were invited to the Seminar. The objective was to trace the journey of Central Asian collections from their archaeological site of origin to their present institution, focusing on either all Central Asian collections in one country, or on one discrete collection in an institution.

The symposium was the last of the three organized in Russia, China and India under the project funded by the Ford Foundation for bringing together Scholars, Scholarship and Scholarly Resources on the Silk Road between 2006 and 2008. With its emphasis on building and continuing resources for Silk Road scholarship by focusing on hitherto neglected collections, the symposium provided an excellent opportunity for scholars from these countries to meet and exchange ideas.

Five scholars from St Petersburg took part in the simposium, including three fellows of the IOM such as Prof Dr Irina Popova, Dr Alexander Zorin and Ms Anastasia Kolosova.

The official programme of the symposium was as follows.

Monday, 17th March 2008 (Inaugural Session)

10.30 a.m Registration

11.00 a.m — 11.10 a.m. Lighting of the Lamp Mangalacharan

11.10 a.m. — 11.15 a.m. Welcome Address

11.15 a.m. — 11.25 a.m. Address by Overseas Coordinator, Mr Alastair Morrison

11.25 a.m. — 11.30 a.m. Dr Ganesan Balachander, Representative of Ford Foundation

11.30 a.m. — 11.40 a.m. Address by Dr K.K.Chakravarty, Member Secretary, IGNCA

11.40 a.m. — 11.50 p.m. Presidential Remarks Shri Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, President IGNCA Trust

11.50 p.m. — 12.00 p.m. Inaugural Address — Shri Anand Sharma, Hon'ble Minister of State for External Affairs, Govt. of India

Book Release: Xuanzang and the Silk Route

12.00 p.m. — 12.05 p.m. Vote of Thanks — Prof Irina Popova

12.10 p.m. — 12.30 p.m. Tea/Coffee

Viewing of the Exhibition

Compere Dr Sudhir Kumar Lall

Monday, 17th March 2008 (1st Session)

Chairperson: Mr Alastair Morrison

12.40 p.m. — 1.00 p.m. The Documentation of Central Asian Antiquities — Dr Radha Banerjee, Indian Coordinator for International Dunhuang Project (IDP)

1.00 p.m. — 1.20 p.m. Russian Expeditions to Mongolia in the 19th — 20th Centuries: Forming the Mongolian Collection at the Institute of Oriental Studies — Ms Anasiasia Kolosova, Russian Coordinator for IDP Project

1.20 p.m. — 1.30 p.m. Discussions & Chairperson's comments

1.30 p.m. — 2.30 p.m. Lunch

Monday, 17th March 2008 (2nd Session)

Chairperson: Ranabir Chakravarty

2.30 p.m. — 3.00 p.m. A Short History of the Central Asian Collection at National Museum of Korea — Dr. Haewon Kim

3.00 p.m. — 3.30 p.m. Dunhuang Art in the Central Asian Antiquities Collection of the National Museum, New Delhi — Dr Chhaya Haesner

3.30 p.m — 4.00 p.m. Sukhavati Scenes in the Murals from Dunhuang in the Stein Collection, National Museum, New Delhi — Dr. Shashi Bala

4.00 p.m. — 4.15 p.m. Tea

4.15 p.m. — 4.45 p.m. On the Ting Dong Collection of the Dunhuang Manuscripts — Prof Jiqing Wang

4.45 p.m. — 5.15 p.m. Discussions and Chairperson's comments

Tuesday, 18th March 2008 3rd Session

Chairperson: Ms Zhao Daying

10.00 a.m. — 10.30 a.m. Turfan Collection of A. Kokhanovsky — Prof Irina Popova

10.30 a.m. — 11.00 a.m. Monuments of Central Asian Art in the State Hermitage Museum — Dr Nikolai Pchelin

11.00 a.m. — 11.30 a.m. Language materials from Silk Road Sites in The National Museum of India — Prof. Saroj Kumar Chaudhuri

11.30 a.m. — 11.45 a.m. Tea

11.45 a.m. — 12.15 p.m. East Turkestan Collections at the Russian Museum of Ethnography — Ms Larisa Popova

12.15 p.m. — 12.45 p.m. The Structures of Dunhuang Banners and their Distribution Worldwide — Ms Le Wang

12.45 p.m. — 1.15 p.m. Discussions and Chairperson's comments

1.15 p.m. — 2.15 p.m. Lunch

2.15 p.m. Visit to National Museum

Wednesday, 19th March 2008 (4th Session)

Chairperson: Prof Irina Popova

10.00 a.m. — 10.30 a.m. Some Interesting Artifacts from Khotan — Shri Benoy Sahay

10.30 a.m. — 11.00 a.m. Survey on Liu Tingchen's former collection of Dunhuang Manuscripts at the National Library of China — Dr Gaowa Saren

11.00 a.m. — 11.30 a.m. Silk Road /Antiquities in Museums Across Xinjiang Province of China — Ms Sunita Dwivedi

11.30 a.m. — 11.45 a.m. Tea

11.45 a.m. — 12.15 p.m. Iconography of Buddha in a Sculpture from Khotan, Central Asia, kept in the Central Asian Antiquities Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi — Dr Sampa Biswas

12.15 p.m. — 12.45 p.m. The History of the Formation of the Tibetan Collection kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, the Russian of Sciences — Dr Alexander Zorin

12.45 p.m. — 1.15 p.m. Introduction of the Chinese and Tibetan Manuscripts from Dunhuang in Gansu Province P.R.C. — Prof Jingping Bao

1.15 p.m. — 1.45 p.m. Discussions & Chairperson's comments

1.45 p.m. — 2.15 p.m. Lunch

Wednesday, 19th March 2008 5th Session (Afternoon)

2.15 p.m. — 2.45 p.m. To be announced — Prof Ranbir Chakravarti

2.45 p.m. — 3.15 p.m. Kyrgyzstan: A Buddhist Legacy — Mrs Radha Raina

3.15 p.m. — 3.45 p.m. Central Asian Textiles found in Dunhuang Collections — Prof Zhao Feng

3.45 p.m. — 4.00 p.m. Tea

4.00 p.m. — 4.30 p.m. New manuscripts in the Central Asian collection at the National Library of China — Ms Daying Zhao

4.30 p.m. — 5.00 p.m. Discussions & Chairperson's comments

5.00 p.m. Concluding/Valedictory Session

Vote of Thanks — Dr Ajay Kumar Mishra

PHOTOS:

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (the main entrance)

The opening of the symposium, Lightning of the Lamp

At the symposium: Prof Dr I.Popova (left) and Dr A.Zorin (right)

At the symposium: Ms A.Kolosova

At the discussion: Prof Zhao Feng (left), Dr Haewon Kim (right)

At the Concluding Session: Kapila Vatsyayan (the IGNCA founder, a member of the Indian Parliament) and Mr A.Morrison (the British Library)

At the valedictory dinner: left to right - Prof Dr I.Popova, Mr Shri Chinmaya R. Gharekhan (President IGNCA Trust), Ms L.Popova, Mrs Gharekhan, Dr N.Pchelin, Ms A.Kolosova)

Photos by A.Zorin, A.Kolosova