Description
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
Description
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
