Marco Polo International Programme
The Marco Polo International Programme
In 2024, the year marking the 700th anniversary of the death of one of the world’s great explorers, Marco Polo, the University of Warwick is proud to partner with 36 global institutions to launch the Marco Polo International Programme.
The Programme champions the power, importance and impact of cultural interaction, engagement and discovery – both in the past and in the present – and underlines Warwick’s ongoing commitment to creating connections across cultures and across the globe.
As part of the Marco Polo International Programme, Warwick 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.
At the same time our students – and those from a wide number of our global University partners – will be developing their own skills in global engagement by taking part in Warwick’s International Conference of Undergraduate Research, as well as celebrating their similarities and differences on our campus through our Global Celebrations ‘One World Week’ and International Students Day programme.
And together with our local communities, we are celebrating the global cultures of Coventry through Warwick’s Resonate Festival of Arts and World Cultures, as well as coming together to celebrate the Flame of Friendship, created by Warwick working in conjunction with Coventry schools in honour of the upcoming Olympics.
I offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been involved in making the Marco Polo International Programme a reality in Warwick, Venice and across our global partners.
Prof Michael Scott
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International), University of Warwick, UK.
Get Involved
Ibn Battuta Digitization project
Warwick, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia and NTU Singapore are collaborating to complete a digital version of Ibn Battuta’s Travels that has been already partially made and put online on the Engineering Historical Memory Link opens in a new windowwebsite. The team aim to have the digitasion of the text finished by the beginning of 2025.
Marco Polo: Antecedents, History and Legacy
Ca Foscari University (Venice, Italy), Fudan University (Shanghai) and University of Warwick - alongside other global institutions - are participating in the opening of a new exhibition on Marco Polo at Shanghai Museum and a conference 'Marco Polo: Antecedents, History and Legacy' at Fudan University.
The Traveller's Tale: Global Forms and Circulations
Warwick's Global History and Culture Centre will convene a special conference with speakers from around the world on the art and science of telling stories about travel - through time and across the globe.
Workshop: Silk and Textiles between East and West
Luca Molà and Eugenio Burgio have organized a workshop that will take place both at the WVC and at Ca’ Foscari in December.
Unveiling the restored parchment
We are excited to reveal the restoration of a 14th-century document on parchment that contains the most detailed and important description of the trip of Venetian merchants to China and India in the 1330s, a few years after the death of Marco Polo.
This event is open to the public and press and will take place at the Venice State Archives - where the parchment is preserved.
The event will be hosted by Andrea Erboso, Director of the Archivio di Stato di Venezia and Prof Michael Scott, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International).
Expert presentations will shed light on the story contained in the document, the characteristics of the document itself and the process of restoration.
Expert discovers new Marco Polo document
Delve into the historical records of a Venetian legal notary with Professor Luca Mola, Academic Director, Warwick Venice Centre and Professor Michael Scott, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) and share the moment when Marco Polo's name is discovered in the surviving manuscript. Learn how these documents open up a totally different way of looking at Marco Polo’s life: not as a young traveller, but as an older man, sorting out his financial and legal affairs with his wife, and lending money to aspiring explorers, fuelling their dreams of discovering new lands just like he once did.
Expert Insight: Marco Polo
Professor Marina Montesano provides expert comment on Marco Polo.
Expert Insight: Zheng He
Professor Tensen Sen provides expert comment on Zheng He.
International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR)
ICUR 2024 is part of the University's Marco Polo International Programme. As a symbol of that, for the very first time, ICUR was also broadcast live from the Warwick Venice Centre. This year we're delighted to welcome students from Brazil, Germany and different locations in the USA.
Warwick restores historical Venetian document
A collaborative project setup by Dr Luca Mola, University of Warwick, 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.
Bringing Marco Polo's Adventures to Life With AI Innovation 700 Years After His Death
A new AI Marco Polo has been unveiled by researchers at The University of Warwick in the latest move to increase innovation and cultural enrichment.
Imagine having a conversation with Marco Polo, delving into his adventures and the myriad cultures he encountered on his epic travels. The AI Marco Polo technology brings this to life, offering users an immersive and educational experience that transcends time. Utilising advanced AI, this technology combines state-of-the-art innovation with educational excellence.
Developed by a team of experts led by the University’s Deputy-Pro-Vice-Chancellor (East and South-East Asia) Professor Sai Gu, this cutting-edge artificial intelligence allows users to engage in interactive conversations with the legendary explorer Marco Polo. Launched as part of the University’s new Marco Polo International Programme, and working closely with the Warwick Venice Centre, this initiative is set to revolutionise cultural exchange and education along the historic Silk Road, from Venice through to Asia and beyond.
Latest Marco Polo News and Stories
Warwick hosts the British Ambassador to Italy and the Republic of San Marino, Edward Llewellyn at the Warwick Venice Centre.
On the evening of the 11th of November 2024 the British Ambassador to Italy and the Republic of San Marino, Edward Llewellyn, visited the Warwick Venice Centre at Palazzo Giustianian Lolin. The event was co-organized by the Circolo Italo-Britannico of Venice and the Warwick Venice Centre, and it attracted an audience of more than 60 people, including several Warwick history and history/politics students.
University of Warwick and Venice in Peril join Forces!
On 17th October, Warwick Venice Centre hosted a lecture by WVC Director, Prof Luca Mola and chaired by PVC-International, Prof Michael Scott, for an audience of Warwick History and History of Arts students undertaking their ‘Venice term’; members of the Venetian community and patrons of the charity Venice in Peril.
Vacation School: Marco Polo and the Silk Roads
The University of Warwick, in collaboration with Nova University in Lisbon, University of Ljubljana, University of Arts in Belgrade, Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, Kazakh National Academy of Arts in Almaty, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, invited postgraduate students and early career researchers to an autumn school focused on the theme of Marco Polo and the Silk Roads.
Looking at more documents in Venetian Archives linked to Marco Polo
Prof Luca Molà, Director, WVC and Prof Michael Scott, PVC International, look at one of the best known Venetian documents relating to Marco Polo – his daughter’s legal tussle with her husband to reclaim some of her father’s inheritance and belongings!
Exclusive interview with alumnus and Lonely Planet co-founder, Tony Wheeler
Philanthropist and co-founder of the Lonely Planet, Tony Wheeler, has funded and launched a new series of PhD scholarships in the history of travel writing at the University of Warwick.
Sardine and Prawn Venetian Style with Marco Polo's Spice Route: SAOR
As we mark the 700th anniversary of the legendary explorer Marco Polo's death, the University of Warwick, in collaboration with renowned Italian chef Aldo Zilli, is bringing ancient Venetian recipes back to life. These culinary treasures, dating back to the time of Marco Polo, represent a rich tapestry of cultural exchange and exploration, mirroring the spices and flavours the explorer introduced to Europe from his travels.
Flame of Friendship finale – the Olympic inspired celebration bringing together over 700 local children in flash mob style parade
The event, hosted at the University’s Sports and Wellness Hub, brought 63 schools together in a colourful and lively parade inspired by the upcoming Paris Olympics, including a flash-mob like performance of an Olympic themed dance choreographed by the Royal Opera House.
International Conference of Undergraduate Research 2024
This year we welcomed presentations from over 300 undergraduates from institutions across six continents. In a new development for 2024, ICUR was broadcast live from the Warwick Venice Centre where students participated in several research sessions.
Meet our students
Warwick is home to over 9,500 students from 147 countries.
Shuangting is in their first year at Warwick studying PhD Theatre and Performance Studies:
Hear from students on the Warwick International Intensive Study Programme (WIISP) on their time in Venice:
Hear from more of our students on the Warwick International Intensive Study Programme (WIISP) on their time in Venice:
New research and findings on Marco Polo and Venetians in Asia
Our Marco Polo research is led by Dr Luca Molà, Director of the Warwick Venice Centre. Dr Molà received a BA (Laurea) from the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice and did his MA and PhD at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. From 1999 he has taught Renaissance History at the University of Warwick, with a period of secondement from 2010 to 2018 when he held a chair in Early Modern European History at the European University Institute in Florence. He is one of the founding members of the Warwick Global History and Culture Centre (2007) and is currently the Academic Director of the Warwick Venice Centre.
Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti, Venice
25-26 January 2024
Paper: Commodities and Goods in the Documents of Marco Polo
Ateneo Veneto,
Venice
1 February 2024
Lecture Series: Nel segno di Marco Polo: Venezia 1324-2024
Paper: Merci, moda e mercati nella Venezia di Marco Polo
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Museo d’Arte Orientale, Venice
28 March 2024
Lecture Series: Marco Polo e gli altri. Viaggi e viaggiatori tra Venezia e l’Asia
Paper: Sulle orme di Marco Polo: mercanti italiani in Asia al tempo della Pax Mongolica
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou
10-12 May 2024
International Symposium on Asian Art and Archaeology – First Asian Civilization Week
Paper: Marco Polo and his Followers: Italian Merchants Along the Silk Roads in the XIIIth-XIVth Centuries
Rai Radio3
18 June 2024
Interview in the programme: Marco Polo è ritornato, by Chiara Valerio.
Episode 2. I mercanti di Venezia [43 minutes]
https://www.raiplaysound.it/programmi/marcopoloeritornato
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Festival delle città del Medioevo, L’Aquila
4-7 July 2024
Keynote Speech on Marco Polo
https://www.facebook.com/festivalcittadelmedioevo/videos/1678035492944665
Venice in Peril Lecture, WVC
17 October 2024
Lecture on Marco Polo
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Accademia dei Lincei, Rome
23-25 October 2024
Conference: La via dell’Oriente e … dell’America: Marco Polo 1324-2024
Paper: Marco Polo e le merci dell’Oriente
Participating Institutions
The University of Warwick is delighted to partner with 36 institutions on the Marco Polo International Programme.
Monash University, Australia and Malaysia
University of New South Wales, Australia
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
University of Calgary, Canada
Concordia University, Canada
Chinese academy of social sciences, China
Fudan University, China
Hangzou Normal University, China
Lanzhou University, China
Nanjing University, China
Nankai University, China
Peking University, China
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Shanghai University, China
Shannxi Normal University, China
Tsinghua University, China
Zhejiang University, China
Croatian academy of sciences and arts, Croatia
Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
University of Oldenburg, Germany
University of Szeged, Hungary
Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Bursa University, Turkey
Istanbul University, Turkey
University of Leeds, UK
University of Sheffield, UK
Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
Columbia University, USA
Cornell University, USA
Middle Tennessee State University, USA
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA