A giant scroll painting by the late Chinese artist Li Bo'an is exhibited at the fort.
The scroll, titled 'Walking Out of Bayan Har', measures 1.88 m high and 121.5 m wide. It has been reproduced on plastic and stretched out at the fort.
"The artwork has the quality of a mural painting on paper - something that is rare not only in China but anywhere in the world," the organisers said in a release here.
Before the Portuguese, there were the Romans, the Greeks, the Chinese and the Arabs who came to the Malabar Coast in search of fragrant spices, specifically pepper, also known as black gold.
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The fort, situated at the mouth of the Periyar in Thrissur district, is one of the 12 venues for the four-month-long Biennale.
Excavations in the fort area - located on the Malabar trade route - have reinforced historical evidence of Chinese trade with Kerala. Among the many items dug up are coins, inscriptions and porcelain from China.
"There have been many archeological discoveries in this area. There is a lot of history about China's relationship with India here," said Li Tuo, who presented a talk on the scroll painting at Kottapuram fort yesterday.
The scroll depicts 266 Tibetan villagers living under the foot of the Bayan Har Mountain.
The artist spent 10 years working out of his living room, painting a few meters at a time on the artwork, which he did not get a chance to see in its entirety during his lifetime.
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