Preconceptions of the Punjab are as varied as the extraordinary mix of peoples
who have made their homes there.

Now, the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (IBG) is shining a light on the land with The Punjab: Moving Journeys, an exhibition that reveals its little-seen history through the unique perspective of the Society’s Collections.
The ties that link London and Bradford to the borders of India and Pakistan become clearer.

It is the last exhibition in the Society’s Crossing Continents series, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and developed with the UK Punjab Heritage Association, the Muslim Women’s Welfare Association (Ilford), Cartwright Hall Young Ambassadors (Bradford) and the Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail.

Through the society’s 19th century photographs, maps and texts the Punjab’s history has been rediscovered and retold by members of Britain’s Punjabi community, focusing on migrations within and across borders, from early history, through Partition and into the 21st Century.

There are also accounts from British visitors and colonial administrators in the Punjab during the 19th century. The exhibition places the region’s complex history alongside the challenges facing Punjabis in 21st century Britain, including how they relate to their British adoptive home and an Indian/Pakistani homeland.

The show runs at the society’s headquarters in South Kensington until November 27, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm. Admission is free.

Touring exhibitions will result from Crossing Continents: Connecting Communities. It is a three-year project using RGS-IBG archives to explore the roots of contemporary British society, including the contributions of African, Chinese, Sikh and Muslim communities.
More information at www.unlockingthearchives.rgs.org

The Royal Geographical Society with The Institute of British Geographers was founded in 1830.

The most striking image of Amrtisar is its enormous pool, with the magnificent Golden Temple adorning in the centre. The name Amritsar means ‘pool of necter’, and its waters are said to bring immortality and relief from illnesses to those who bathe in them. But it is only these sacred waters that make the city special for Sikhs. For inside the Golden Temple lies the collection of Sikh holy scriptures known as the Guru Granth Sahib.

Amritsar was built as a holy city during the 1570’s by Guru Ram Das, the fourth Guru. Since then Amritsar has undergone many changes and has been demolished and rebuilt several times. Today it is a lively, modern city and although Sikhs do not have to go on pilgrimage, they come from all over the world to visit the Golden Temple and many other shrines, and to walk around the sacred pool on patterened marble pavements – to pay their humble homage to their Satgurus.