º£½ÇÉçÇø

In 2024, the year marking the 700th anniversary of the death of one of the world’s great explorers, Marco Polo, the University of º£½ÇÉçÇø is proud to partner with 36 global institutions to launch the Marco Polo International ProgrammeLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.

As part of the Marco Polo International Programme, º£½ÇÉçÇø academics, in conjunction with our European, Singaporean and Chinese partners, are involved in:

• the rediscovery, restoration and public display of 14th century records of Venetian travellers in India;
• the high-resolution scanning and interdisciplinary study of textiles, ceramics and lacquerware to aid our understanding of goods that travelled across the Silks Roads culminating in a series of virtual and physical exhibitions across the globe;
• the first-ever digitisation of the writings of the Islamic traveller Ibn Battuta as he explored around Africa and Asia;
• a deep dive into the worlds and cultures, which Marco Polo travelled through;
• the uncovering of the views of modern travellers to China during key moments of 20th century Chinese history;
• as well as a wider re-examination of what is at stake in travel writing – in the past and today.

These include A collaborative project setup by Dr Luca Molà, University of º£½ÇÉçÇø, between the Venetian State Archives and the Museum of Asian Art in Venice will aim to restore and re-evaluate an important testimony on Venetian merchants who followed in the steps of Marco Polo. And the conference "Marco Polo, Ibn Baá¹­á¹­Å«á¹­a and Zheng He: Three Afro-Eurasian Travellers, 13th-15th Centuries" taking place in Venice on 12 June 2024.