University of Warwick to restore Venetian document for Marco Polo International Programme launch

The unique historical Venetian document parchment offers a significant testimony on the Venetian merchants who continued the journey of Marco Polo in Asia during the decade following Marco Polo’s death.

Study in UK: University of Warwick’s Warwick Venice Centre researchers are all set to restore an important historical document that has been lost for over 70 years. The document is vital as it will reveal a new perspective on global exchange in the decade after Marco Polo’s death. Marco Polo was a Venetian explorer, merchant and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295.

The document is stored at the Venetian State Archives and it details the travels, investments and commercial enterprises of six Venetian nobles who embarked on another journey to the Sultanate of Delhi in 1338 after returning from China.

Dr Luca Mola, from the University of Warwick Venice Centre, said “They brought with them two remarkable mechanical gifts – a clock and a fountain – which they presented to Sultan lbn Tugluq. In return, the Sultan gifted them 200,000 local silver coins, which the Venetians used to purchase pearls and other Asian luxury goods."

“A professional restorer will first slowly stretch the parchment putting it in tension, then will mend its lacerations, and finally clean and stabilize the parchment. The operation will be conducted in the Venetian State Archives," added Dr Mola.

This parchment was overlooked by Scholars of Venetian

The University of Warwick, in collaboration with its global partners, is restoring it. Dr Mola said: “We already have a full transcription of the document, which has been only partially analysed. We have discovered, for instance, that one of the merchants - the one who died on the way to Delhi and whose inheritance originated the court case after the return of the others - was a close relative of Marco; all others were Polo's neighbours, and we are now investigating their activities in Venice and in Asia before and after the trip to China and Delhi.”

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