Anonymous ID: afa6e4 Aug. 8, 2022, 8:53 p.m. No.17284892   ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ.is ๐Ÿ”—kun   >>4899 >>4905 >>4913

Xanadu by Dmitri Smirnov.

Philip Firsov (CC BY)

Xanadu (aka Shangdu, Shang-tu, and Kaiping) located in Inner Mongolia, northern China, was first the capital(1263-73) and then the summer capital (1274-1364) of the Mongol Empire. It came to prominence during the reign of Kublai Khan (r. 1260-1294) and was famous for its palaces, gardens and waterways.

 

Xanadu received lasting fame in the western world thanks to the Venetian explorer Marco Polo's description of it in his celebrated book Travels (c. 1298). The city received another boost in the popular imagination when it was made the subject of a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Distant and mysteriously lost Xanadu, thus, came to represent a place of mystery, splendid luxury and easy living. Although only ruins remain today of the city, it is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

 

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