Marco Polo Memorial Hall

Marco Polo Memorial Hall

The Marco Polo Memorial Hall is located at No. 99-1 Taizhou Road and opened to the public on April 18, 2011. It is the only Marco Polo Memorial Hall in China, approved by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and with the consent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Marco Polo Memorial Hall is themed “The Magical Journey to the East” and is divided into five parts: Legendary Life, Extraordinary Book, Travels in China, Serving as an Official in Yangzhou, and Far-reaching Influence. The “Travels of Marco Polo” ushered in a new era of direct political, economic, and cultural exchanges between China and the West, making Marco Polo a symbol of this new beginning.

During the Yuan Dynasty, Yangzhou was the political, economic, cultural, and military center of the Jianghuai region. According to the travelogue, Marco Polo spent 17 years in China, including three years serving as an official in Yangzhou from 1282 to 1285. The memorial hall provides a detailed introduction to the places he visited and the local customs of Yangzhou. It also uses holographic imaging technology to vividly recreate the daily life of Yangzhou during the Yuan Dynasty.

On the south side of the entrance to the exhibition hall stands a bronze winged lion from Venice’s St. Mark’s Square, along with a flag of the Veneto region. These were gifted to the Yangzhou municipal government by the Veneto region in October 1987. The lion is 2.6 meters long, 1.2 meters high, and weighs 500 kilograms. In 2013, a bronze statue titled “Marco Polo in Yangzhou” was erected in the square of the Dongmen Site to the south of the hall. Depicted in Yuan Dynasty official attire, Marco Polo is shown holding the reins of a horse in his left hand and a scroll in his right. The statue stands 3.2 meters tall, with the base bringing the total height to 4.2 meters, and weighs over one ton.