Page 24 - All About History - Issue 180-19

mongol empire

Places to Explore

MarcoPolo’ssilkroad

Heading from Venice, Marco Polo travelled across a well-trodden route

1 NatioNal MuseuM of iraq

Baghdad 3 4 5
Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, led the Mongol’s 2
brutal siege of Baghdad in 1258, massacring and raping its
people while destroying and looting some of its most
precious buildings including mosques, palaces, hospitals
and the Grand Library. 1
Little wonder, then, that Marco Polo is said to have
skirted the city as he headed East around 1272. It certainly
remained a dangerous place and Polo would write of the
unfortunate end suffered by a Muslim caliph who had
converted to Christianity after supposedly seeing a man
move a mountain. In his travelogue, Il Milion, he claimed
the man had starved to death. Historians, however, believe
he was rolled in a rug and had horses ridden over him.
Unfortunately, Baghdad remains just as precarious a city
today, but there is so much to see. The medieval school
complex, Mustansiriya Madrasah, remains standing from
that era and is part of Al-Mustansiriya. You can also visit
the National Museum of Iraq that, despite a large amout
of looting following the Battle of Baghdad in, contains
numerous priceless artefacts. 2 Balkh’s ruiNs
Indeed, conservators have repaired damage to Balkh
the museum’s unique collection and restored its
galleries. With 13,000 archeological sites in Iraq, the Although Marco Polo described Balkh
number of items displayed there will surely grow. as a “noble city and a great seat of
learning”, by the time he arrived at
The National Museum of Iraq reopened in 2015 and it can be Balkh, Genghis Khan had already
visited between 8am and 2.30pm daily except Fridays. wreaked his destruction. His
100,000-strong army of horsemen had
The current Baghdad was built destroyed the city and its inhabitants in
upon the runs of the city the
Mongols destroyed and the 1220, leaving a popular part of the major
museum’s curators are hoping to Silk Road routes in ruins.
unearth lost treasures Balkh’s capture by the Turko-

Mongol ruler Timur saw it rebuilt in
the early 15th century and this led to
the restoration of its walls and new,
grand buildings being erected. It was
eventually neglected in favour of the
The Green Mosque was
nearby town of Mazar-i-Sharif in the completed in 1421 and while
mid-19th century due to an absence of Marco Polo wouldn’t have
a drainage system and rising disease, seen it, there’s no doubting
but that doesn’t mean Balkh isn’t its splendour
worth visiting.
Indeed, some of those age-old structure
of Balkh as well as the city itself offers a great glimpse of the past – so long as the
instability of Afghanistan doesn’t put you off. The Balkh Museum – which has suffered
looting – also contains historic relics of Islam and should be considered.

There’s no charge to visit the ruins and you can visit daily.