Photo Gallery

Marco Polo’s house in Venice, with its doorway showing strong Byzantine influence (in the corner in the background). In the centre of the courtyard, the Corte Seconda del Milion, stands a well. The house was built in the 11th/12th century, and Marco Polo was born in Venice in 1254. He travelled extensively throughout Asia and lived for nearly seventeen years at the court of Kublai Khan, the Great Khan of China. After returning to his hometown, he took part in a naval battle against Genoa and was taken prisoner. During his exile in Liguria, he dictated his memoirs, the ‘Book of the Marvels of the World’. This masterful travelogue remains to this day an inexhaustible source of information on the history, customs and traditions of Asia in the Middle Ages. Marco Polo died in 1324 as a highly respected man, known to his fellow citizens as ‘Messer Marco Milione’, as he was in the habit of estimating the Great Khan’s treasures in millions of gold ducats. – 1989

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice – built between 1505 and 1508 on the ruins of an older warehouse and, until 2025, set to become a luxury shopping centre and cultural hub near the Rialto Bridge – was, at the beginning of the 15th century, effectively a finance and customs ministry that played a fundamental role in the spice trade. – 1989

The Oostindische Huis in Amsterdam, the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC), is located on Oude Hoogstraat. The Governor-General and the Council of the Indies used to meet in the halls above the entrance. The building and its owners were closely linked to the cultivation, transport and sale of spices. – 1990