As a special holiday treat, the Penn Museum is offering faculty and staff a discount on tickets to the landmark exhibition, “Secrets of the Silk Road,” which runs from Feb. 5 through June 5, 2011.

From now until Dec. 24, employees with a PennCard can purchase up to five tickets to “Secrets of the Silk Road” for just $12.50 per ticket (a $10 savings per adult ticket). Simply bring your PennCard to any admission desk at the Museum, 3260 South St., during regular Museum hours, and select the time and date you would like to see the exhibition.

“Secrets of the Silk Road,” is making its exclusive East Coast showing at the Penn Museum. The exhibition is expected to feature rare treasures from China, such as remarkably preserved mummies, ancient gold jewelry, coins, figurines, clothing, tools and more, which together tell the tale of long forgotten cultures along the world’s most legendary trading route.

The Museum’s presentation of the treasures—developed by its exhibition team in close collaboration with Victor Mair, a professor of Chinese language and literature in the School of Arts and Sciences—provides a new context for the “Secrets of the Silk Road” material, drawing upon the rich history of Central Asia’s Tarim Basin desert, and the mystery of the peoples who lived there or passed through the area long ago.

Mair is credited with “rediscovering” the Tarim Basin mummies for the West on a trip to the region in the 1980s, and has since engaged in intensive research on Xinjiang archaeology.

“This traveling exhibition of materials from halfway around the world is opening new doors—providing visitors with an unparalleled opportunity to come face to face, literally, with life in East Central Asia, both before and after the formation of the fabled Silk Routes that began more than 2,000 years ago,” says Mair.

Find more details about “Secrets of the Silk Road” at www.penn.museum/silkroad.