Sind: a glimpse into the Aesthetic impulses and cultural expressions

During the last 1,000 years, the vast and highly diverse area that stretches from the Mediterranean across to Sind in Pakistan has been an extraordinary melting pot of cultural and aesthetic diversity. Islam embraced this diversity and translated it into cultural dialogues, which the development of the silk routes facilitated. Despite a relatively limited range of religious symbols and forms, Muslims diversified their architectural and ornamental tradition to fuse a range of influences, including Arab, Syrian, Moghul and local traditions, which were applied to architecture, ceramics, textiles, metalwork, glassware and stone-carving. Their artistry and geometric designs can also be found on the elaborately carved tombs and graves in Sind. These feature warriors, hunters, horses and camels, etc, even though Islam usually discouraged human and animal forms. This period of intercontinental exchange and creative energy provided an exceptional cultural legacy doe the history of decorative arts.