26th International Conference of the European Association for South Asian Archaeology and Art

From 16 to 20 September 2024, the 26th International Conference of the European Association for South Asian Archaeology and Art (EASAA, 𝗵𝘁𝘁𝗽𝘀://𝘄𝘄𝘄.𝘀𝗮𝘄-𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗽𝘇𝗶𝗴.𝗱𝗲/𝗲𝗻/𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗮) will take place in Leipzig – a first for Saxony – under the auspices of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities (𝗵𝘁𝘁𝗽𝘀://𝘄𝘄𝘄.𝘀𝗮𝘄-𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗽𝘇𝗶𝗴.𝗱𝗲/𝗲𝗻). The conference has already been hosted by colleagues in Vienna, Paris, Stockholm and other cities, and was last held in Barcelona in 2022. About 170 to 200 participants from Europe, North America and Asia regularly attend.

Since its establishment over 50 years ago, the EASAA conferences have become the most important European platform for academic exchange between specialists in the art and archaeology of South Asia and neighbouring regions; they have always attracted leading scholars from South Asia and numerous participants from North America and Japan in addition to European colleagues.

Leipzig plays a leading role in the study of art and Buddhism in the Kuča region. The research project of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig deals with the Buddhist wall paintings of the Kuča region on the northern Silk Road and has become the most important centre of Kuča research outside China. One thematic focus of the conference in Leipzig will therefore be on connections between the centres of Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, so that colleagues from various Central Asian countries will also take part.