International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles (IASSRT)

In October 2015, the International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles (IASSRT) was founded in Hangzhou for the purpose to connect the research institutions along the Silk Road and other related institutions (including universities, museums, libraries, archaeological institutions, research institutions, and research groups, etc.) for the cooperation in collaborative researches and sharing resources.[1]

Membership of IASSRT is by election, and chiefly consists of museums and research organisations with specific interests in Silk Road textiles, and distinguished individuals.
Group Members

• International Academy of Indian Culture
• Musée Des Tissus, Lyon (France)
• National Museum of Denmark
• The Swedish History Museum (Historiska Museet)
• Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG)
• McDonald Institute, University of Cambridge
• Needham Research Institute (NRI)
• International Dunhuang Project (IDP), British Library
• China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou (China)
• State Hermitage Museum, Russia
• Institute of Archeology of Academy of Sciences, Republic of Uzbekistan
• Chengdu Museum, China
• Institute of Archaeology of Xinjiang, China
• ICOMOS International Conservation Center, Xi'an, China (IICC-X)
• Fashion • Art Design Institute of Donghua University, China
• Institute for the History of Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Collaborative Innovation Center for the Cooperation and Development of the Belt and Road of the Zhejiang University
• Community of Chinese Museums along the Silk Road, China
• Center for Research on Ancient Chinese History, Peking University, China
• Queen Silikit Textile Museum, Thailand
• Bryant University, USA
• Padova University, Italy
• Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)
• Institute of Ancient History and Archaeology of the Northern Caucasus (Stavropol), Russia
• Nasledie llc. (Stavropol), Russia
• Korea National University of Culture Heritage
• ASEAN Traditional Textile Art Community (ASEANTTAC)，Indonesia
• The Danish National Research Foundation’s Center for Textile Research (CTR)
• International Dunhuang Project (IDP), British Library, UK
• Needham Research Institute (NRI), UK
• McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK
• Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Germany

Individual members:

• Helen Wang
• Dominique Cardon

IASSRT conferences are held annually, the aim being to bring researchers together on a regular basis, and to visit collections in the location of the conference.

• 1st annual conference, Oct 2016: "Silks from the Silk Road:Origin, Transmission and Exchange" at the China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou (China)[2]
• 2nd annual conference, Nov 2017: "Dialogue with Silk between Europe and Asia: History, Technology and Art", at Musee Gadagne, Lyon (France)[3]
• 3rd annual conference, Nov 2018: "Silk Road Textiles: Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage" in Korea National University of Cultural Heritage[4]
• 4th annual conference, Oct 2019: "Textiles as a historical source" in Kislovodsk, Russia[5]

In 2019, IASSRT and the Committee of Silk Road Museums of ICOM China proposed that an annual "Silk Road Week" be held to mark the anniversary of the Silk Road - from Chang'an to the Tianshan Corridor - becoming a World Heritage location on the UNESCO list on 22 June 2014. The first Silk Road Week will be 19-26 June 2020.[6]

• Official website of the IASSRT