Detail: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/ A stately pleasure dome decree." So begins Coleridge’s famous fantasy-poem. But Xanadu was and is a real place - the khan’s summer palace and his secondary capital, where Marco Polo arrived in 1275. Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan’s grandson, conquered all of China. John Man, travelling in Marco’s footsteps, brings Xanadu to life, reconstructs the dome and theorizes about its purpose.

Speaker:
John Man is a British historian with a special interest in Mongolia and north China, where he has travelled extensively. Books on Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan were followed by The Terracotta Army and The Great Wall. His latest book is Xanadu: Marco Polo and Europe's Discovery of the East.

Time: 7.00 to 8.00 pm