Nicolas Pernot brings Uzbekistan to life in this Les Grands Explorateurs conference, tracing the country's place at the heart of the ancient Silk Road — the legendary trade route that carried silk, science, art and ideas across Central Asia for centuries. Audiences are invited to explore the country's sweeping contrasts: immense deserts alongside fertile oases, and centuries-old cities that once served as meeting points for merchants, scholars and conquerors.
Samarkand stands as the country's most iconic city, its blue domes and grand squares testifying to an era when commerce fuelled the exchange of knowledge and culture. The talk also explores Uzbekistan's remarkable intellectual heritage — from observatories to madrasas — and the enduring traditions of its craftspeople and horsemen.
Nicolas Pernot is a photographer, documentary filmmaker and lecturer who has spent over a decade travelling and living in Central Asia and the Caucasus, with extended stays in Tajikistan, on the shores of Lake Baikal, and in Georgia since 2020. His work examines the societies and cultural legacies of the former Soviet world with nuance and sensitivity, and each project results in a documentary film and a photography book presented on tour in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada.