Rather than presenting antiquity as a collection of isolated civilisations, “Global Antiquity” reveals an ancient world shaped by routes, encounters and cultural exchange. The new research exhibition will be hosted at Fondazione Prada’s Milan venue from 5 November 2026 to 1 March 2027. Curated by Salvatore Settis, Anna Anguissola and Chiara Ballestrazzi, with an exhibition design conceived by Rem Koolhaas and AMO/OMA, the project spans a broad historical period, from approximately 700 BC to AD 1000, examining the interactions between Mediterranean and Asian cultures.
Bringing together more than 150 artworks and artefacts from different parts of the world, the exhibition reconstructs over 1,700 years of artistic, political, economic, religious and commercial connections. Each object becomes evidence of a journey: its place of discovery is considered just as significant as the place where it was originally produced.
The resulting geography extends far beyond the traditional narratives associated with the Silk and Spice Roads, presenting the ancient world as a dense and dynamic network of exchanges across continents and seas.
At the heart of the project are two themes that remain highly relevant today: globality and cultural hybridisation. The exhibition distinguishes ancient globality, characterised by horizontal, reciprocal and constantly evolving relationships, from modern globalisation, which is more closely linked to political and economic forces operating on a worldwide scale.
This perspective also challenges the idea of cultures as closed, self-sufficient systems, showing instead how identities have always been shaped by contact, movement and mutual influence.
Installed on the ground floor of the Podium, the exhibition translates its curatorial vision into a sequence of individual stories organised around three key principles: convergence, symmetry and intersection.
Metal and fibreglass displays bring together works from distant periods and regions, revealing recurring iconographic motifs, shared political functions and artistic languages that travelled across geographical and cultural boundaries.
Among the most significant objects is the gold overlay of a Scythian gorytos, a bow-and-arrow case dating from the fourth century BC and decorated with scenes from Greek mythology. Once part of the ceremonial and military equipment of the Eurasian nomadic elites, the object provides tangible evidence of the intense exchanges between the Greek world and the peoples of the steppes, as well as the emergence of new hybrid artistic forms.
The exhibition begins and ends with two groups of works exploring the relationship between East and West. The opening section brings together images connected to Indian, Buddhist and Greco-Roman culture, while the final section traces the long process through which the figure of Buddha was gradually reinterpreted and transformed within the Christian tradition into the story of Saints Barlaam and Josaphat.
The exhibition will feature statues, sculptural fragments, reliefs, coins, textiles, jewellery, astrolabes and both ceremonial and everyday objects loaned by major international institutions. These include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the British Museum, the Louvre, the Prado, the Vatican Museums and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
A comprehensive illustrated volume will accompany the exhibition, featuring an introduction by Miuccia Prada, a critical essay by Salvatore Settis and contributions from Italian and international scholars.
With “Global Antiquity,” Fondazione Prada invites visitors to reconsider the past not as a static legacy, but as a living system of encounters, movements and transformations—one that can still offer valuable perspectives on the complexity of the contemporary world.
