Chinese archeologists
have mapped the layout of
Shangdu (
better known as Xanadu),
after large scale
excavations that
included the use of
GIS in remote sensing and aerial archeology. The capital,
located in
Inner Mongolia, was built in 1256
under the command of
Kublai Khan, the first emperor of
Yuan Dynasty, who was
enthroned there four years later.
It became a summer resort after the
Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) moved its
capital to Ta-tu or
Dadu (
built by the
same architect,
located in present-day
Beijing) in 1276, and was destroyed during
a peasant war at the end of
the dynasty. The regional government has submitted an application for
World Cultural Heritage status
for the site to UNESCO,
currently under review.
Xanadu has
captured the imagination of the
West ever since Marco Polo first
extolled its beauties
in his Books of the Marvels of the World,
subsequently immortalized by Coleridge in
a poem fuelled
by opium fevered dreams.
Other recently discovered
Yuan Dynasty artifacts include
a priceless porcelain vase as well as
a sunken ship - part of an
invading Mongol armada - off the coast
of Japan.
posted by infini
on Dec 3, 2011 -
24 comments
