Marco Polo tells Kublai Khan of the cities he has seen on his travels.
Canaletto: The Grand Canal and the Church of the Salute, 1730
Marco
Polo and Kublai Khan are opposite impulses: Polo explores, barters,
trades, assimilates himself from West to East. The Khan leads his
horde from East to West, destroying, sacking, absorbing. Yet it is
mercantile Polo not conquering Kublai who most threatens the
individuality of the cities he describes. The Khan is fascinated by
the extent and variability of his empire, Marco Polo by the extent to
which all of the world is the same.
Machinarium, Amanita Designs, 2009
