Ars Longa Vita Brevis

ninewhitebanners:

This is the 5000 togrog bill. On the front is Genghis Khan, on the back is a crazy awesome fountain built by Mongke Khan in Kharkhorin:

a large tree made of silver, with four silver lions at its roots, each one containing a conduit-pipe and spewing forth white mare’s milk. There are four conduits leading into the tree, right to the top, with their ends curving downwards, and over each of them lies a gilded serpent with its tail twined around the trunk of the tree. One of the pipes discharges wine, a second airag (fermented mare’s milk), a third boal (a drink made from honey), and a fourth rice wine…. At the top, he made an angel holding a trumpet, and beneath the tree a cavity capable of concealing a man; and there is a pipe leading up to the angel through the very core of the tree … Outside the palace there is a chamber where drink is stored and where stewards stand ready to pour when they hear the angel sound the trumpet.

- described by a French missionary in 1254

Silver trees! Snakes! Lions! Booze! Is there any way this is not the most awesome fountain ever?

(via anunymouss-deactivated20120906)