Afghanistan has historically been a crossroads of cultures, particularly due to its strategic position linking South Asia, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean world. Change of government did not stop traffic across the region; instead, they enabled the flow of ideas, art, and religious traditions widely.
From the time of Alexander the Great, Greek influence entered the region, mainly in cities such as Ai Khanum. This cultural blending continued during the Kushana period (1st–3rd century CE), when Afghanistan became part of major trade networks connecting the East and the West. Archaeological finds such as the Begram Treasure — which includes Roman glassware, Indian ivory, and Chinese lacquer — give clear evidence of the wide-ranging movement of goods during this time.
The exhibition, ‘Shared Stories: An Art Journey Across Civilizations Beyond Boundaries’ now on display at the Humayun's Tomb Museum, includes artefacts and themes that travelled along these routes over centuries, reflecting this lengthy history of trade and cultural interchange. Presented in collaboration with the Delhi’s Italian Institute of Culture, Humayun’s Tomb Museum, and Museo delle Civiltà (Museum of Civilizations) in Rome, Italy, the exhibition will remain on display till June 1, 2026.
According to Andrea Anastasio, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in New Delhi, the show covers a broad geographic and chronological range. “When you see objects coming from different parts of the world — from Rome, Gandhara, Iran, India, and China — and made across centuries, you begin to understand how connected these cultures were,” he tells TMS. The exhibition, he adds, covers periods ranging from the 2nd century BC to 17th and 18th centuries. It also explores early forms of globalisation during a period of intense exchange between the Greco-Roman world and South Asia.
Motifs across cultures
The artefacts on exhibit show recurring concepts that span different periods and geographical areas. There are three interesting pieces from Afghanistan—intricately carved copper utensils from the 12th-century, a fragment of a sculpture of the goddess Durga slaying the demon Mahishasura from Afghanistan, and intertwined ducks carved on a basin from the 11th-century Afghanistan.
Other standout pieces are a marble panel with two ducks from the late 10th–11th century CE Sorrento Cathedral in Italy, cranes carved on bowls from south India, lustre-painted tiles from Iran, Gandharan sculptures carved in green schist from Pakistan’s Swat region, a bowl with grape-vine motifs from Iran’s Sasanian period (6th century CE), and fragments of a twisted pillar from late 2nd–3rd century CE Rome engraved with vine designs.
According to Anastasio, the grape vine motif is an important symbol in Italian culture. Traditionally associated with the Mediterranean world, vine appears in Roman art, in Buddhist stucco from Gandhara, on Iranian vessels, and on Chinese porcelain produced in the 17th century for European aristocratic markets — signifying an extensive exchange of cultures.
Connecting art and history
The exhibition is not limited to displaying artworks alone. It will include lectures, talks, film screenings, concerts, and workshops for students and children.
The exhibition encourages visitors to recognise historical links and make connections between artefacts rather than seeing them as discrete items. The displays are arranged using a color-coded system to facilitate better understanding. In order to assist visitors comprehend relationships across time, material, and place, each object is connected to others of the same colour.
“Normally, you go to a museum, you see a sculpture, a mosaic, or a painting, and you don’t ask yourself why that object is there in relation to others,” says Anastasio. “In this exhibition, you actually go through a process of learning how to look at things.”
The show urges viewers to slow down and notice patterns — how identical concepts arise in many contexts and how artistic forms travel and change throughout cultures — through drawings, colour codes, and explanatory panels.
‘Heritage is a global responsibility’
The exhibition also underlined the significance of heritage and preservation and its link to understanding identity in the present. “Heritage makes us understand that there are centuries of continuous work, thought processes, and ways of living that have been nurtured by communities,” says Anastasio.
He adds that engaging with history and heritage helps people see themselves as part of a much older and broader human story. Preservation, he remarks, is also a “global responsibility”. Caring for one’s own heritage encourages respect for others’ histories as well. “There isn’t a single civilisation. There are many civilisations, and heritage is human heritage — a collective heritage.”