This course explores the visual and material worlds of the Italian traveller Marco Polo, which are described in his Travels. Together we will read sections of this text and explore their meaning with respect to the objects and monuments of Marco Polo’s time from the regions to which he travelled. By studying cartography, art, architecture, and urban form in the expansive medieval world of Marco Polo, the course will introduce us to the global world of the Middle Ages.
This course explores the visual and material worlds of the Italian traveller Marco Polo, which are described in his Travels. Together we will read sections of this text and explore their meaning with respect to the objects and monuments of Marco Polo’s time from the regions to which he travelled. By studying cartography, art, architecture, and urban form in the expansive medieval world of Marco Polo, the course will introduce us to the global world of the Middle Ages.
