Biennale exhibition dedicated to Marco Polo opens in Mongolia

A major traveling exhibit by the

Venice Biennale on Marco Polo on the 700th anniversary of the

great Italian explorer's death has opened in Mongolia, a country

he devoted much of his writing to.

The exhibition "Where Splendid Horses Run" has opened at The

Fine Arts Zanabazar Museum in the capital Ulaanbaatar, where it

will remain open until July 20.

This exhibition is the fifth leg of the Special Project "It's

the Wind That Makes the Sky" by the Biennale's Historical

Archives, dedicated to Marco Polo's journey, marking the 700th

anniversary of his death (1324-2024).

The project arrives in Mongolia after stops in Hangzhou (China),

Venice (Italy), Istanbul (Turkey), and New Delhi (India).

Marco Polo dedicated some of the most poignant pages of his

travelogue to Mongolia, making it one of the emblematic

destinations on his journey to the East.

The initiative is made possible thanks to the support of the

Italian Embassy in Ulaanbaatar.

The exhibition presents the works of Baatarzorig Batjargal and

Dolgor Ser-Od, enhancing the dialogue between arts, cultures,

and languages and tracing a path that, in the footsteps of Marco

Polo, connects tradition and contemporaneity, East and West.

"The Venice Biennale," said President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco,

"comes to Ulaanbaatar through its Historical Archives.

"The Mongolian stopover takes on particular significance

considering that Marco Polo's extraordinary and legendary

journey coincides with the glorious Pax Mongolica, a period

still alive and celebrated in contemporary memory.

"And it is precisely beneath the infinite skies of this vast and

boundless country that steppes and landscapes unfold, the very

inspiration behind the exhibition's title, Where Splendid Horses

Run, testifying to the freedom of spirit and horizons of those

who inhabit and experience these lands."

According to the Italian Ambassador to Ulaanbaatar, Giovanna

Piccarreta, "the meeting between Mongolian artists and La

Biennale di Venezia in the historic Zanabazar Museum—an artist

whose two exhibitions in 2026 were hosted for the first time in

Italy—transcends the artistic dimension to take on a strong

symbolic and political significance.

"It testifies to the strengthening of bilateral relations

between Mongolia and Italy and reflects the shared desire to

strengthen ties through culture, as a privileged instrument of

diplomacy and mutual understanding, strengthened by the rich

historical tradition that unites us, and by the shared respect

for democratic values and the rule of law, by the belief in

multilateralism and the promotion of peace."

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