Treasures of the Old World: World Trade Then and Now

In the past, caravans traveled through deserts and mountain passes. They rested in caravanserais, negotiated in souks and ports, and passed coffee, copper, incense, silk, and salt from hand to hand. Trade was visible, tangible, and personal. You could see who was traveling, who was trading, and who was waiting.

Today, the routes are less visible, via container ships, distribution and data centers, and webshops. The forms have changed, but the movement is the same: people connected by what they make, trade, and desire.

This exhibition shows that trade is never just about goods. Stories travel with every product: ideas, faith, knowledge, and sometimes even conflicts and inequality. What was visible in markets and ports back then often plays out behind closed doors today, far removed from our daily lives.

This exhibition connects those worlds. It shows that our contemporary questions about fair trade, sustainability, and the throwaway society are deeply rooted in a long history of exchange. What does value mean, when everything always seems available? And who do we still see, and who do not, at the other end of the trade route?

Precisely now, in Museumpark Orientalis, a place where encounters between cultures take center stage, those lines become visible. Here, Treasures of the Old World invites us to reflect on the routes of the past as well as the choices of today. For trade still connects us. The only question is: how consciously do we handle it?