Ladakh is located at the “cross roads” of High Asia. For centuries, it has been a place for the exchange and transmission of goods and ideas from different locations. Leh in particular was a key staging post on Central and South Asian trade routes and the region hosted visitors hailing from Srinagar to Samarkand, Beijing to Banaras. Ladakh’s material culture reflects this cosmopolitanism; whether it be in the form of raw materials, stylistic influences and designs, or the physical presence of craft makers bringing their skills and intermingling with local artisans, suggesting that the artefactual world of Ladakh intermixes indigenous ideas with external elements.

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