The exhibition The Worlds of Marco Polo: The Journey of a 13th Century Venetian Merchant opened on April 5 at the Doge’s Palace in Venice. It is jointly sponsored by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and the Shanghai Museum to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of the famous Venetian traveler.
The exhibition is organized into nine sections, covering archeology, coins, travelogues, cartography, religious faiths, dynasties and other aspects. By focusing on the era in which Marco Polo lived, the exhibition explores the exchanges and mutual learnings between cultures and civilizations encountered during his travels along the Silk Road. Through the eyes of Marco Polo, the exhibition lets visitors traverse the world from the 12th to the 16th century, and to explore the connections and interactions between civilizations of this period.
The exhibition showcases approximately 300 exhibits from over 50 cultural and research institutions in more than ten countries, including China, Italy, the UK and France. Among the exhibits, 48 carefully-selected artifacts (sets) from the Shanghai Museum and one exhibit (set) on loan from the Shanghai History Museum (Shanghai Revolution Museum) form the Chinese section of the exhibition. Through the culture, art, economy and society of Yuan-dynasty China (1206–1368), these exhibits recreate its vast, prosperous, culturally sophisticated and ethnically diverse landscape, as depicted in The Travels of Marco Polo. Echoing their counterparts from Italy and other countries, these exhibits jointly recount the history of economic and cultural exchanges between civilizations.
The exhibition is open until September 29.
Source: Foreign Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal People's Government
Photo Credit: Doge’s Palace (Venice)