British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
A HUNDRED YEARS OF DUNHUANG, 1907-2007
Abstracts
Lajos Loczy, who encouraged Stein to go to Dunhuang
Lilla Russell-Smith, Circle of Inner Asian Art
This paper will highlight the importance of the personal friendship between Aurel Stein and Lajos Lóczy (1849-1920) in determining the route of Stein’s Second Expedition. Lóczy, who had become a world authority on the geology of Asia by 1902 when he met Stein at the orientalist conference, was the first westerner to see the cave temples of Dunhuang as a member of a small Hungarian expedition organised by Count Béla Széchenyi in 1879. Lóczy published the results of this three-year journey in an acclaimed monograph, which included discoveries of mountain ranges. Although not a specialist himself he recognised the artistic and cultural importance of the cave temples near Dunhuang, and his discussions and correspondence with Stein were a major factor in persuading him to travel as far as Dunhuang. The paper will quote from this correspondence and will discuss the Hungarian expedition to Dunhuang. Photographs from Aurel Stein’s personal collection will also be shown.