India on Tuesday launched its largest-ever exhibition abroad of 100 antique sculptures dating back to third century BC, marking the successful culmination of the year-long celebrations of India-China Friendship Year.

The exhibition, showcasing a wide-ranging selection of 100 antiquities that represent Hindu, Buddhist and Jain art dating between third century BC and 18th century AD, was jointly launched by Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo in Beijing [Images] at the Capital Museum.

Soni said the exhibition, which will also travel to three other Chinese cities of Zhengzhou, Chongqing and Guangzhou for two months each, showcases India's rich cultural splendour, is the largest such display organised outside India.

Most of the pieces have never been displayed abroad.

"The message of the Friendship Year has been that our millennium friendship needs to be actively harnessed for realising the full potential of our bilateral relations," Soni said.

"As curtains fall on this Friendship Year, new curtains must go up and we must build on solid achievements of the friendship year. The interest in India generated by this exhibition will be sustained over a long period and the interest in China will also be consolidated and this would help strengthen our friendship," she said.

Dai noted that the exhibition was a specific measure to implement upon an agreement reached by the leaders of the two countries and also an important event in the friendship year.