The founder of the Mongolian Empire died in 1227. Ahead of the 800th anniversary of his death, Berlin's James-Simon-Galerie explores his legacy and the "Mongol Century" (1250–1350) in the exhibition "Genghis Khan and the World of the Mongol".
The ruler remains "incredibly relevant" to this day, says Matthias Wemhoff, the director of the exhibition project. "What the era of Genghis Khan — the 'Mongol century,' if you will — vividly demonstrates is how quickly established structures can collapse, how rapidly vast empires can vanish from the map and how swiftly the entire landscape can be utterly transformed," the archaeologist tells DW.