A to Z of Must-Do Travel Experiences – X for ‘Xanadu’
{ Tags: Inner Mongolia, Kublai Khan, Xanadu \ Jul5 }
Picture: www.doncroner.com.
Xanadu, also known as Shangdu, is located in Inner Mongolia, 275 kilometres north of Beijing. It was the summer capital of Kublai Khan during the Yuan Dynasty.
One of the most commonly known descriptions of Xanadu came from Marco Polo, who visited the place in 1275. He described the opulence of the city, which was three days by horseback from the nearest city. It was long believed to be mythical, and the ruins were only discovered quite recently, at the end of the 20th Century.
The capital consists of an Outer City, an Inner City, and the palace where Kublai Khan lived during the summer. The palace was about 40% the size of the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. Constructed between 1252 to 1256, over 100,000 people lived within its walls during the height of the city. However, the city fell to the Ming invasion in 1369, causing the last reigning Khan to flee the city. Today, only ruins remain, the most visible, being the earthen walls, as well as a circular brick platform in the centre of the Inner City.