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.
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 Venice Centre and Ca’ Foscari University hosted a research workshop entitled Eurasian Textile in the Late Middle Ages: A Multidisciplinary Approach.
On 9-10 December the Warwick Venice Centre and Ca’ Foscari University hosted a research workshop entitled Eurasian Textile in the Late Middle Ages: A Multidisciplinary Approach. The meeting, organized by Luca Molà and Eugenio Burgio, was part of the Marco Polo International Programme and marked the close partnership established between Warwick and Ca’ Foscari.
Workshop “The Traveller’s Tale: Global Forms and Circulations”
Warwick Venice Centre, 29-30 November 2024
The Traveller’s Tale workshop brought together 15 researchers based in the UK and Italy to discuss future directions in the study of travel and travel writing. It opened with reflections by some of the leading experts in the field on the forthcoming special issue in Studies in Travel Writing edited by Natalya Din-Kariuki (English) and Guido van Meersbergen (History), followed over the next two days by presentations showcasing Warwick postgraduate research conducted in part under the new Wheeler History of Travel Writing Programme, an interactive travel and maps session, and a roundtable discussion of an AHRC funding bid involving partners at Surrey, Oxford, and Warwick.
BLOG - Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) Michael Scott visits China
2024 marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Marco Polo, the great Venetian traveller and merchant who crossed Asia to spend time in China, before returning to Venice to write about his travels and in turn helping initiate a new golden age of exploration, trade and connection between East and West. This year we at Warwick have been celebrating this anniversary through our Marco Polo International Programme – a series of academic conferences, educational exchanges and community events on campus, at our Warwick Venice Centre and with our global partners in China and elsewhere – to underline the power, importance and impact of cultural exchange and engagement, in the past and the present (check out www.warwick.ac.uk/mpip for more details).
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.
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:
From volunteering to the House of Lords: Modhurima Islam's journey as an International student in the UK:
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