Nicolò Manucci: the Marco Polo of India. A Venetian at the 17th-century Mughal Court

Fondazione dell’Albero d’Oro present Nicolò Manucci, India’s Marco Polo. A Venetian at the 17th-Century Mughal Court. The show is dedicated to the story of the life and travels of Nicolò Manucci, a Venetian of humble origins who in November 1653, driven by the desire to explore the world, stowed away in the hold of a tartane heading from Venice to the East, never to return. Later in life, Nicolò decided to tell his story and that of the Mughal Empire, which he witnessed first-hand and played an active role in, and in particular the long reign of Aurangzeb (1618–1707) – a contemporary of Louis XIV – during which the Mughal Empire reached the height of its expansion, power and influence.

This monumental transcription of Manucci’s memoirs accompanied by a series of 130 miniatures of inestimable value were put together in Venice in two books, entitled Libro Rosso and Libro Nero. To depict the human adventures and atypical journey of Nicolò Manucci, the exhibition at Palazzo Vendramin Grimani will comprise a first-ever collection of his entire legacy, consisting not only of Libro Rosso and Libro Nero, but also of the two manuscripts making up the original version of Storia Do Mogor and their subsequent transcriptions, an operation made possible by the collaboration between Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, the Berlin State Library and the Marciana Library in Venice.