When the famous Venetian  explorer Marco Polo visited  Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in the late 13th century, well-traveled as he was, it is said that he  was still filled with amazement and overwhelmed by what he saw. 

In his seminal account of his journey,  The Travels of Marco Polo, he called Hangzhou the "city of heaven", describing it as  "beyond dispute the finest and the noblest  in the world".

Some 700 years after Polo' s death, a  major exhibition about the man and his  legacy opened on May 8 in the city he so  admired. 

Titled Viaggio Di Conoscenze:  "Il Milione" Di Marco Polo E La Sua Eredita Fra  Oriente E Occidente or A Journey of  Knowledge: The Travels of Marco Polo and  Its Legacy Between East and West, the  exhibition includes 84 rare artifacts from  between the 13th and 20th centuries, on  loan from 11 Italian museums and cultural institutions, including manuscripts, oil  paintings, sculptures, jewelry, ceramics,  glassware and textiles.  

"Not by chance, the exhibition is being  held in Hangzhou, a city symbolically  close to Italy, as already captured in the  accounts of the great Venetian traveler," said Massimo Ambrosetti, the Italian  ambassador to China, at the opening  ceremony. 

"The vivid portrayals in The Travels of  Marco Polo are an authentic 'journey of  knowledge', in which Marco Polo depicts  cities, thriving markets, different peoples,  wealth, technology, and the high level of  cultural refinement of a then largely  unknown part of world, helped shape a  lasting perception of China and the East  in Europe," he said. 

"His chronicles sparked widespread  curiosity in medieval Western Europe  toward China and the marvels of the Orient, a fascination that endured for centuries," Ambrosetti added. 

Divided into six parts, the exhibition  retraces the thrilling expedition of Polo  and his fellow explorers along what later  became known as the Silk Road  through their own perspectives,  presenting the stories of cultural  exchange and integration that  occurred along the way.

It focuses on the power of narrative, said the organizers of the  exhibition.  

In an era when information  about distant lands was  gleaned through written  and oral accounts, Marco  Polo' s chronicles were  a captivating primary source of  knowledge about the East. The contents of his book  were even translated into geographic and  cartographic representations.  

In fact, among the items on show is a  series of illustrations reproduced from a  16th-century version of The Travels of  Marco Polo, which turned Polo’s words into  images. Another notable series of drawings  show the enlarged details of cities, including Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Venice, and Constantinople (now Istanbul), that appeared  on the world map by Fra Mauro, a 15th-century Italian monk — most of which was  based on the traveler’s descriptions. 

Marco Polo and travelers like him long shaped the Western perception of China  and vice versa, according to Yu Xuhong, president of the China Academy of Art, where the exhibition is being held.  

"For centuries, the civilizational  exchanges and learning represented by  Marco Polo’s travels have played an irreplaceable role in advancing the modernization of society and the prosperity of the  world’s civilizations,” he said. 

One artifact — a child’s long coat —  exemplifies the vibrancy of such cross-cultural relations. The garment, which is part  of the collection of the Stibbert Museum  in Florence, is believed to have come from  the Ottoman Empire in the late 17th century as it is based on a classic Turkish caftan cut, but its luxurious blue silk fabric  brocaded with gold and silver thread is of  Italian manufacture. Meanwhile, its  brown floral-patterned lining was likely  made in India or Persia, and its collar and  button designs are apparently Chinese. 

Indeed, the jewelry, glassware, clothing,  carpets and textiles that had been traded  along the Silk Road and that are on show  at the exhibition are testament to the  enduring exchange between Europe and  Asia, according to the organizers of the  exhibition.  

As this year marks the 50th anniversary  of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European  Union, and the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Italy,  the exhibition will help deepen bilateral  relations, Ambrosetti said. 

“Today, just as seven centuries ago, cultural exchange between Italy and China  continues to flourish, sustained by a  shared awareness of the profound significance of the bridge that Marco Polo,  through his extraordinary journey, helped  build,” he said. “The intellectual journey  inherent in the exhibition will serve as a  further stimulus to renew the commitment in Italy and China to cultivate mutual understanding.”  

The exhibition will run until July 31.