With the exhibition “The Axis of Time. Suzhou silk clothing fabrics" at the Palazzo Mocenigo Museum, the celebrations for the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death officially opened this morning. Present at the event were the municipal councilor for the Promotion of the Territory and University, Paola Mar, the municipal councilor for Urban Planning, Massimiliano De Martin, the manager of the Museum of Palazzo Mocenigo, Chiara Squarcina, the rector of Ca' Foscari, Tiziana Lippiello , the honorary citizen of Suzhou, Laura Fincato, the president of Wavents srl, Massimo Andreoli, the Cultural Counselor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Italy, Zhang Lingxiao, and a message from the deputy mayor of Suzhou, Zha Yingdong.

The exhibition, which will remain open until February 29th , is part of a larger project that recalls and renews the historical bond between the two water cities of Venice and Suzhou, officially twinned since 1980 and located at the ends of the Silk Road. For both cities there is a strong connection with the figure of Marco Polo who, during his long journey to the East as entrusted to Kublai Khan, was enchanted by Suzhou and its silks. Silk is precisely the protagonist of the exhibition of around twenty dresses, original creations, fabrics and faithful replicas of ancient clothes coming from the Suzhou Silk Museum, a center for research, protection, conservation and protection of the thousand-year-old technique of weaving that made silk from the Jiangnan region famous. Creations such as Song dynasty brocade, lampas, Kesi, silk tapestries, or the typical Suzhou embroidery known as velvet pattern, on display here with precious specimens, are still examples of China's intangible cultural heritage today.