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A rich merchant and intrepid explorer of medieval times, the Venetian Marco Polo reached the “edges of the world” known at his time, crossing impervious lands and getting to know the customs, cults and languages of the numerous peoples he encountered along the way.
He experienced numerous adventures along the Silk Road, narrated in The Travels of Marco Polo, travelling by sea and land together with his father and uncle. With them, he went as far as the China of the great Khan Qubilay, whose favours he obtained, and in those distant lands he was invested with prestigious tasks and carried out authoritative missions.
Exactly 7 centuries have passed since the death of the great adventurer, and which better way to pay homage to him than to remember him in his beloved Venice, the city where he was born and where he returned after 24 long years of absence.
Thus, the current edition of the Venice Carnival celebrates its old fellow citizen, the most famous explorer of all time.
The Carnival of Venice meets Marco Polo
“Ad Oriente… the extraordinary journey of Marco Polo“: is the title of this year’s edition of the Venice Carnival, inaugurated last January 27th. The theme at the centre of the most colourful festival in the world will therefore be that of journey. In homage to the young Venetian ambassador who lived between the 13th and 14th centuries, we will look at the distant routes, little known in medieval Europe, that he courageously undertook.
The centenary anniversary of Marco Polo’s death is marked by a very rich program of shows, cultural events, competitions and masked parades. The Carnival atmosphere will, therefore, be the usual one. The program consists of several workshops for children, parades of allegorical floats, and theatrical performances scattered throughout the lagoon city, as well as the eagerly awaited competitions of the 12 Maries of Carnival and that of the most beautiful mask.
There are many unmissable events in February, until Tuesday 13th. Among these, the exciting water show entitled: “Terra incognita (Unknown Land). Marco’s amazing journey”, which will take place in the Darsena Grande of the Arsenale on February 2. This will be, as reported on the official website of the Venice Carnival: “an imaginative story that emerges from the waters of the Arsenale, freely inspired by the Travels of Marco Polo and narrated in a fantastic way through the different creative languages of art which, like Marco’s journey knows no boundaries.”
On February 3, the parades of the most beautiful masks of the Carnival will begin in Piazza San Marco, along with the water procession of gondolas along the Grand Canal with the 12 girls selected for the competition of the Maries. Further, on the same day, a Dinner Show entitled: “At the court of the Great Khan“ will be proposed at Ca’ Vendramin Calergi. This will be a gala event, “a journey to the East in the footsteps of Marco Polo, among Queens of the East and Emperors of the steppes, merchants and mystical fortune-tellers”, between sumptuous clothes and oriental artistic performances.
Adventures on the Silk Road
Marco Polo undoubtedly represents the pride of the city of Venice, but who was this explorer? Why did his travels take him to the Far East, to dangerous lands little known to the Europeans of his time? Let’s retrace the fundamental stages of his life and journeys.
The Venetian traveller was born in 1254 into a family of wealthy merchants. He soon learnt to trade and navigate. His adventures began in 1271: Marco was only seventeen years old when he undertook a journey that would take him away from home for 24 very long years. However, he did not leave his land alone. He accompanied his father Niccolò and his uncle Matteo, who had been commissioned by Pope Gregory X to go to the court of the Great Khan Qubilay in China.
The first stop on their long journey, which lasted almost four years, was in the Holy Land, in Acre (in present-day Israel), where the three Polos were welcomed by Pope Gregory X. He gave his approval to a project of embassy to the court of Qubilay Khan, to whom they would offer as a gift the oil that burned in the tomb of Christ, previously taken from Jerusalem. The wife of the Mongol emperor was, in fact, of Christian faith.
Thus, began the long adventure. They crossed Anatolia, Armenia and Iran, up to the port of Hormuz, from which they decided, however, to opt for a land route, rather than a sea one. They therefore went up towards Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Samarkand (Uzbekistan). Here they were forced to stop for some time due to the poor health conditions of the young Marco Polo.
Source: Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
They later continued their journey in a caravan crossing the snow-capped mountains and the vast Gobi Desert between Mongolia and China, until they reached the sultan’s court, located not far from Beijing.
At the court of the Great Khan
At the court of the Great Khan, the three merchants obtained prestigious positions and carried out important missions. Furthermore, in the sultan’s lands, they managed to accumulate considerable wealth. Marco even became friends with the Khan’s son.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The Venetian traders remained in China for 17 years, but still continued to travel during that time at Qubilay’s behest. As the sultan’s informer and personal ambassador, Marco visited many lands of the empire, and even went beyond its borders. He inspected the regions bordering Tibet and Yunnan, then went to the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and travelled to Indochina.
He expressed his desire to return to his homeland several times, but his request was repeatedly rejected by the Khan, until a perfect opportunity presented itself. The Polos, expert navigators, were designated to accompany a Chinese princess to Persia at the Khan’s request, on a delicate naval expedition. Thus began their journey to Venice. They left in 1292 and arrived in 1295.
Source: Reinhold Möller (Wikimedia Commons), Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
In the same year, Marco Polo took part in a naval battle between the Venetians and the Genoese, falling prisoner of the latter. In the prisons of Genoa he met Amedeo Rustico, known as Rustichello from Pisa, to whom he would tell his adventures, which were later translated into the famous book: The Travels of Marco Polo. Finally freed, he was able to return to Venice, where he died at the age of 69.
The Travels of Marco Polo
Marco Polo had made a wonderful journey to Asia, where he discovered its surreal landscapes, its peoples and customs. He had come into contact with the Seljuks, with the Persians, with the Mongols, and had crossed immense steppes, deserts and mountainous lands. He had even seen a mysterious black oil burning, later known as petrol.
Nonetheless, the Venetian traveller was not the first European to reach China. His centuries-old fame as an explorer is, in fact, due to his detailed travel book entitled The travels of Marco Polo. This masterpiece of travel literature is a precious testimony of the entire itinerary followed by the three merchants along the Silk Road.
It has been transcribed and translated several times, and its copies are preserved throughout the world. It offers detailed descriptions of the places and cultures known along the route to China, but also of the historical and political contexts: wars, power dynamics in the Mongol Empire, trades.
Therefore, the suggestions aroused by the detailed narration of his travels between 1271 and 1295 are not surprising. The information contained in Marco Polo’s stories created a bridge between Europe and the distant Asia, providing a precious tool for cultural, historical, social and anthropological knowledge.
Marco Polo is undoubtedly the most famous traveler of the medieval era, but the travels of the lesser-known Moroccan Ibn Battuta (14th century) are also noteworthy. The Arab explorer moved from Northern Africa to Asia, crossing Europe, the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia. He, like other medieval explorers, left precious written testimonies of his experiences, of inestimable value today.
