The fabled silk road ran from Europe to China, on the route blazed by Marco Polo.
Charlene Lafontaine named the sculptural glass pieces of art on the recently reconstructed bit of Somerset after the silk road. Here is a nifty YouTube video that explains the title:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VKAWVD5PkOg
The Preston sculpture by cj fleury just south of the intersection of Preston / Somerset is called Marco Polo and shows his route. It celebrates the meeting of (Little)Italy and China(town), expressed by the Italian palazzo on the bottom and dragon on the column. The unfurled map at top shows his route. (There is an explanatory brochure for every sculpture available from the Preston BIA).
The intersection of Somerset and Preston is where east (Chinatown) meets west (Little Italy) but the community hasn’t yet been able to get the intersection signed as Marco Polo Square.
Marco Polo at the junction of Chinatown and Little Italy – brilliant connection, and nice to see it celebrated in a classy piece of street sculpture. I envy the attractive installations along Preston; I inhabit West Wellington aka Wellington Village, where we have the marble fire hydrants that are somewhat a disappointment, though I admire the intent. Why elevate fire hydrants on pedestals? In my opinion these sculptures would look much better down on the ground, sans pedestal, their natural environ where the *real-life* tough fire hydrants live…