Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943), der Asien-Pionier

Fascinated by the Orient Life and works of Marc Aurel Stein18 March to 4 May 2008
The Hungarian scholar Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) was one of the most significant explorers of the Central Asian trade routes known collectively as the Silk Road. Between them, Stein, Frenchman Paul Pelliot (1878-1945) and German Albert von Le Coq (1860-1930) defined European knowledge of Chinese Central Asia. Stein conducted three major archaeological expeditions to Chinese Central Asia between 1900 and 1916, the second of which took him to the Mogao caves of Dunhuang, where he collected paintings, sutras and other texts, as well as textiles, which form the basis of the Dunhuang collections in London and New Delhi. A significant part of his large collection of personal photographs, manuscripts, correspondences, printed and hand-drawn maps, impressions of inscriptions were bequeathed to the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.