Flaumfeder, 2019, CC BY-SA 4.0
Shangdu was the summer capital of the early Yuan dynasty. Originally named Kaiping (開平), Khubilai Khan built it in the mid-1250s, with the religious participation of Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen. It was laid out with a classical imperial design—an outer city, inner city, and central palace. The name changed to Shangdu (上都), meaning "upper capital," in 1264. At its height it had a population of over 100,000. Marco Polo visited in 1275, providing descriptions that inspired later Western fantasies of Xanadu. It was destroyed at the end of the Yuan dynasty, in 1369.