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00:00:00five months ago I set out to discover each of the world's greatest treasures now I'm almost
00:00:13back on home territory I'm excited it feels like seeing old friends again
00:00:19but after all my incredible experiences and treasures from right around the globe
00:00:31well I see these familiar sights in a new light
00:00:49I have now almost circumnavigated the globe and I'm about to start my last lap in what used to be
00:01:07called Yugoslavia I'm in Bosnia a country that has until recently been dominating
00:01:18by war to see if man-made beauty if history the architecture can help in healing this land
00:01:41the historic town of Mostar fell victim to the violence and ignorance of warfare it remains
00:01:48today a painful reminder of Yugoslavia's tragic descent into chaos
00:02:0610 years ago in the early 1990s this was one of those dangerous violent places on earth with the
00:02:18collapse of the Soviet Union Mostar got dragged into a bitter genocidal civil war with the different
00:02:26communities Roman Catholic Croats Christian Orthodox Bosnian Serbs and Muslims fighting to survive and as
00:02:39as in this rather unlikely setting I've come to find my next treasure
00:02:43it's a treasure that died blasted to destruction in 1993 by Christian Croat troops
00:02:59but in 2001 work began to rebuild the bridge identical in form and using as much of the original fabric as possible
00:03:16the most our bridge would live again
00:03:30it really is the most wonderful to minimal engineered construction so elegant the bridge was built on the
00:03:43uh direct orders of the greatest of the Ottoman rulers Suleiman Magnificent and when the bridge was completed
00:03:51in 1566 it was the largest single span bridge in the world it leaps across the river in an arch of almost 30 meters
00:04:04when it was built Bosnia was a recent acquisition of the Ottoman Empire the long-established Christians having to accommodate the conquering Muslims
00:04:25Suleiman Magnificent Suleiman Magnificent wanted the Mostar Bridge to act as a bridge between peoples
00:04:32how do the people of Mostar respond to this rather political gesture well they both Christians and Muslims took it to their hearts became a symbol of unity of identity of pride
00:04:49but now it's been rebuilt does it mean the same anymore can an old building still have meaning when it's a reconstructed old building in this case a bridge
00:05:05well I think the answer is yes providing the reconstruction is authentic authentic materials authentic means of construction these are parts of the old building
00:05:17these are parts of the old bridge that have not been reused but most of the stones that were found have been put back in place
00:05:25so to me it is still a living old building
00:05:30so to me it is still a living old building
00:05:46oh now very traditional
00:05:48really a very brave young man oh yes certainly the age-old custom of jumping off the bridge to prove your manhood is alive and well
00:06:07but has the meaning of the bridge this ancient symbol been lost to local Muslims
00:06:13has rebuilding this ancient bridge helped to heal wounds helped to reunite the community of Mostar
00:06:23it did help but it's just another step we need much more to do to heal our wounds
00:06:27and when you walk across the new bridge does it feel as if the old bridge has come back to life
00:06:32I think it's the old bridge
00:06:34yeah to me it feels like an old bridge and just for 10 years unfortunately it wasn't here
00:06:40yes
00:06:42back together and now the Catholic Croats and the Muslims and maybe the Orthodox
00:06:48Bosnian Serbs now tend to live separately they used to be living one
00:06:52yes mixed up they were mixed up it wasn't important what religion you were but now it is
00:06:58there's too much anger I think
00:07:04but the bridge is a step yes it is huge step
00:07:10in the narrow streets alongside the bridge stalls selling souvenirs have opened up optimistically awaiting the return of tourists to Mostar
00:07:28the strangest thing this uh stall shop is full of um shells not seaside shells but these monsters brass shells fired from guns machine guns and cannon that's a 50 caliber one I think ornamental now carved with them
00:07:56patterns and local scenes
00:08:00unbelievable
00:08:02unbelievable
00:08:03there
00:08:04there
00:08:05is an image of the Mostar Bridge could be the very shell one of them that was responsible for destroying it
00:08:12god
00:08:14look at a bizarre irony
00:08:17but these shells you're selling
00:08:20these are really extraordinary are they not
00:08:23these are shells that were fired during the fighting round here
00:08:26yes
00:08:27do you find it odd making ornamental things out of these shells
00:08:31I think which ones are destroying the bridge here the city here
00:08:35ah
00:08:36we say like this from from war to art
00:08:40fair enough
00:08:42absolutely
00:08:51can rebuilding an ancient structure in a beautiful location really help rebuild a shattered community especially one that tore itself apart in such terrible circumstances and where bitterness and hatred survives
00:09:10most are is once again a beautiful place full of life but the bridge is like a mosque
00:09:17superficial really worn over a scarred and snarling face
00:09:22you can rebuild things that were of beauty you can rebuild structures but can you really so easily rebuild a shattered soul a broken heart
00:09:38time will tell
00:09:39time will tell
00:09:40time will tell
00:09:45time willanda
00:09:46time will
00:09:51how the progress
00:09:52good
00:09:53so
00:09:54how the progress
00:09:56and how the progress
00:09:59of the history
00:10:00how the progress
00:10:02201
00:10:03From Bosnia
00:10:04I fly
00:10:05to greece
00:10:06once
00:10:08home to a great
00:10:09and ancient civilization
00:10:10To tell the truth, I'm feeling pretty ancient myself.
00:10:30I'm leaving Athens Airport. This must be about the 90th flight.
00:10:34To be honest, between you and me, I'm pretty exhausted.
00:10:39Also, exaggerated by the things we've seen.
00:10:48Athens in the 21st century is an enormous, polluted city,
00:10:52high on cars, low on parks and greenery.
00:11:00Yet, it manages to retain a village-like charm.
00:11:03My next treasure stands right above me,
00:11:06but I'll have to wait until morning to see it.
00:11:12At the top of this hill is a building that, since its rediscovery
00:11:16in the late 17th century, has inflamed the artistic imagination.
00:11:31Of the West, it's become known as the perfect piece of architecture
00:11:35and has gained Greece's reputation of being the cradle of civilisation.
00:11:42The Parthenon has inspired great architecture, great art, entire cities.
00:12:01Many have believed that it represents the origins of architecture,
00:12:08that it's divinely inspired.
00:12:10Many of the world's great artists, architects, have come here,
00:12:14seen this building and fallen on their knees.
00:12:16The Parthenon was built around 430 BC by the great Athenian leader Pericles.
00:12:35It housed a giant statue of Athena, the goddess of the city.
00:12:42After the demise of ancient Greece, it fell into neglect,
00:12:47even being torn apart by explosions in a Venetian attack in the 17th century.
00:12:54But even in its ruin state, it would come to inspire the modern world.
00:12:59It's beautifully built out of marble, all carved,
00:13:06but structurally the Parthenon has little going for it.
00:13:11It's not pioneering, it's not ingenious nor ambitious.
00:13:15There's no arches, there's no vaults, no domes.
00:13:20Really, the Parthenon is no more advanced structurally than Stonehenge.
00:13:26It's all very primitive.
00:13:34So why is this my treasure?
00:13:37It's because of what it came to symbolise.
00:13:41It became a powerful emblem of a lost civilisation.
00:13:46Its ruined state inspired the artists of Western Europe
00:13:49to explore the heroism and tragedy of battered beauty
00:13:53and defeated ambitions.
00:13:56No surprise, the Romantic poet Byron loved this building.
00:14:06But our experience is now very different.
00:14:10In fact, the Parthenon is now largely a building site.
00:14:16This is the main route of entry to the Parthenon in ancient times,
00:14:29up these steps, into what would have been a dark chamber
00:14:35with the great goddess Athene somewhere in there.
00:14:39And now, it was impossible to imagine what it would have been like.
00:14:44All is gone, all is now construction.
00:14:48Athena the great goddess would have stood roughly here,
00:14:53right where the crane is now.
00:14:55Restoration has been going on for 25 years, making good, poor repairs of the 1920s.
00:15:11And by the looks of things, will continue for years to come.
00:15:14Looking round, I can't help but conclude very soon,
00:15:24this building will be an amalgam of old and new.
00:15:30Oh, it's all ladies, Lady Masons.
00:15:34Hello.
00:15:36You're removing old repairs, aren't you?
00:15:38That's what's going on, I can see that.
00:15:40Restoring old things is often a problem, isn't it?
00:15:45Because one can, in the process, remove some of the magic of the place.
00:15:51The new marble, I know it comes from the same quarry,
00:15:54but it looks very different, doesn't it, to the old.
00:15:56Yes.
00:15:57How will it look, do you think, as a patchwork of old and new?
00:16:00Will it look all right in the end, do you think?
00:16:02At the end, yes, I think it will be all right.
00:16:04Yeah.
00:16:07It's lovely to see you, thank you very much.
00:16:09Go on, thanks, go on.
00:16:15Well, nobody here shares my worries,
00:16:18but to me, it feels like the restoration is swamping the magic of the building.
00:16:29Buildings like the Parthenon, of supreme historic and architectural importance,
00:16:35must, of course, be conserved, preserved for posterity.
00:16:41But this is more than that.
00:16:43It seems to me the Parthenon's being appropriated by contemporary politics,
00:16:48being made into a national symbol, the image of modern Greece.
00:16:53And that I find sad and worrying.
00:17:03If gunpowder and missiles can destroy historic treasures,
00:17:07so can overzealous restoration, even when well-meaning.
00:17:11I leave Athens and head for another treasure at risk.
00:17:21This time, from the rising tides of the Adriatic Sea.
00:17:26After all my travels, will Venice still feel the most beautiful city in the world?
00:17:41Trading gateway to the east, Venice has been the meeting place of two worlds for more than a thousand years.
00:17:47Here art and trade marry in an explosion of splendid palaces and miraculous churches.
00:18:00At its heart lies my treasure.
00:18:02It is the main artery of Venice.
00:18:04The Grand Canal.
00:18:05There's nothing, nothing like this in the world. Of course it's not.
00:18:17The Grand Canal.
00:18:35The Grand Canal.
00:18:38This great highway, wharf highway, a highway of palaces with a spectacular architecture
00:18:59floats, it seems, on water.
00:19:08This is the largest canal in Venice, a fusion of nature and engineering.
00:19:17Harnessed by man, it weaves its way through the city, lined with palaces built on stilts
00:19:22hammered deep into the muddy waters.
00:19:26The palaces were also warehouses, the princes also merchants.
00:19:33The riches of the world were brought to Venice, from the Orient, spices and silk, India from
00:19:40Damascus, and these riches were transformed into architecture.
00:19:46The buildings scream, not just of power and of wealth, but also of all parts of the world,
00:19:53particularly the East.
00:19:54One sees of Oriental influence, one sees Muslim influence, as well as classical design, a
00:20:01thing called Venetian Gothic.
00:20:09It takes half an hour to motor down the Grand Canal, and it's one of the best 30 minutes
00:20:14life has to offer.
00:20:17Here is the Cadoro, one of Venice's finest palaces, was built in the 15th century and
00:20:23once sparkled with gold leaf.
00:20:35Then the Rialto Bridge, the first great bridge across the Grand Canal, linking the commercial
00:20:41heart of the city with its political head.
00:20:47Venice is many, many things, but one thing it is, of course, it's frozen time.
00:20:53The city we see now has changed little since the mid-17th century.
00:21:00It's a highway, not just back in time, but through time, through taste, through culture, all around.
00:21:08The high feasts is utterly nourished by these images from the great moments of Western civilisation.
00:21:20Just breathtaking.
00:21:38It's with reluctance that I leave its beautiful city.
00:21:45Happily, my next destination is scarcely less spectacular.
00:21:53I'm in Rome, which is the most spellbinding city, even in the rain.
00:22:08I'm here to see the best of surviving ancient Roman architecture.
00:22:14And to help me on this quest, I've picked up a charming young man called Francesco, who
00:22:19was driving around the city on his scooter.
00:22:22Francesco, hello.
00:22:23Hello.
00:22:24I passed some of the most famous buildings in the world, all evident of the Roman Empire
00:22:47that flourished 2,000 years ago.
00:22:54But one in particular I consider better than all the rest.
00:22:59So thank you very much indeed.
00:23:01Goodbye.
00:23:02Goodbye.
00:23:04Now, here it is.
00:23:08When I first saw this building 30 years ago, I was overwhelmed.
00:23:13It seemed to me to be the epitome, the essence of architecture.
00:23:24It's the Pantheon, the best preserved Roman temple in the world.
00:23:39The Pantheon was built in the 2nd century AD by Emperor Hadrian.
00:23:45Pantheon means all the gods.
00:23:48And like so many of my treasures, this building had to be worthy of divine beings.
00:23:53It also had to proclaim to the world that the might of Rome was unrivalled.
00:24:00The first thing you see as you approach the Pantheon is this huge portico with its triangular pediment.
00:24:09This is very much the architectural language of ancient Greece.
00:24:14So, here we have a Grecian element, but there's more.
00:24:18Each column is one great stone.
00:24:21It's a monolith, and these stones were brought from North Africa, from Egypt.
00:24:26What we see here is Hadrian bringing the culture of Greece and Egypt to Rome,
00:24:32absorbing it, developing it, saying,
00:24:34We, Rome, have conquered these ancient and great civilisations, and we are the new masters of the world.
00:24:41But inside is a very different world, very Roman, very pioneering, very modern.
00:24:48Especially modern, nearly 2,000 years ago, because it's a vast, covered space.
00:24:55.
00:25:04But inside is a very different world, very Roman, very pioneering, very modern,
00:25:12especially modern nearly 2,000 years ago, because it's a vast covered space.
00:25:27The awe-inspiring dome is made of concrete, which the Romans invented,
00:25:33and remains the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
00:25:43Having made the dome of concrete, at least the dome then is a rigid structure
00:25:50with minimal horizontal outward thrust,
00:25:53but it does weigh an awful lot, around 5,000 tonnes,
00:25:59and that has to be carried on the wall behind me.
00:26:02The problem is, this wall is eaten into,
00:26:05barrowed into, by a series of these eight niches.
00:26:08Here's one behind me.
00:26:10So, how on earth does this system work?
00:26:15I'm now walking into the wall of the drum
00:26:18to see how this 5,000-tonne concrete dome is supported.
00:26:23Oh, what's clear is that the curved wall of the drum is not made out of solid concrete.
00:26:43There are these great brick arches, massively strong,
00:26:48and these great arches transfer the lobe of the dome
00:26:53to the solid wall, each side of the great recesses,
00:26:58so the great dome is carried, really, by genius.
00:27:02The pantheon shows the Roman Empire at its peak,
00:27:21flexing its muscles,
00:27:23showing capability and invention that Europe would not equal for nearly 1,000 years.
00:27:29But what did this heroic structure mean?
00:27:35Most intriguing, I think, is the oculus, the open space in the centre of the dome.
00:27:41Not just a demonstration of engineering skill to create a dome without a keystone,
00:27:48but it lets the light flood in, lets the sun in, the sun god.
00:27:54His presence is made manifest when the sun shines.
00:28:04The truth is, though, this great building retains its secrets.
00:28:09It remains mysterious and enigmatic.
00:28:18The pantheon is the ancestor of every dome in the Western world.
00:28:33And to look at the skyline of Rome is to witness evolution in architecture.
00:28:38But the glory of Rome would lie dormant until the Renaissance,
00:28:56the rebirth of classical genius, art and architecture in the 15th century.
00:29:01At the heart of the Renaissance was the city of Florence.
00:29:27The streets aligned with bold classical palaces,
00:29:30the like of which had not been seen since the days of ancient Rome.
00:29:49Renaissance princes were masters of the use of art and architecture
00:29:53to express wealth and power, their aspirations.
00:29:58They were amongst the greatest patrons of the arts the world has ever known.
00:30:02Without them, there would have been no Renaissance of the arts.
00:30:07This is particularly true of the mighty Medici family.
00:30:10And they built this huge palace behind me in the 1450s.
00:30:15This thing was meant to capture, reflect the power and the glory of ancient Rome.
00:30:21The Medici princes ruled France on and off for over 300 years until the middle of the 18th century.
00:30:35It was the Medici dynasty that created my next treasure.
00:30:38I'm in San Lorenzo, the spiritual stronghold of the Medici family.
00:30:48And what I want to see lies through that door over there.
00:30:52I want to see lies and vist them in North America.
00:30:56The Medici Chapel was created by Michelangelo in the 1520s.
00:31:26It was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici as a great mausoleum for his family.
00:31:39This building's a dream. It's a vision of death.
00:31:44It's the theatre of death.
00:31:47Here, Michelangelo manipulates the emotions in an astonishing way.
00:31:54The colours, the muted light at the top, the windows taper. Amazing.
00:32:00So one can almost feel one's soul rising upwards and out of this space,
00:32:06this space of worldly suffering and woe.
00:32:10The ceiling of the chapel is a copied miniature of the Pantheon Dome,
00:32:21a building which Michelangelo described as of angelic design.
00:32:26The focus of the building is very meaning.
00:32:44It's a pair of fantastic memorials to members of the Medici family.
00:32:56Here we see two incredibly haunting figures, night and day.
00:33:03And there, she's leaning upon a portrait, self-portrait, of Michelangelo,
00:33:12looking wizened by time.
00:33:15When these were made, he himself was in a very strange position.
00:33:20Florence was in the grips of a power struggle.
00:33:24The people of the city had risen up in a republican frenzy
00:33:28against Medici tyranny.
00:33:30Which side would Michelangelo choose?
00:33:33Michelangelo sides with the Republic against the Medici's.
00:33:39Frightful business.
00:33:40So he's here working on a memorial to members of the family
00:33:44that he is fighting against and which he fears they win
00:33:49will put him to death.
00:33:54It was a terrible dilemma.
00:33:56In the event the revolt was crushed, Medici rule restored.
00:34:02So Michelangelo went on working.
00:34:04But as he did, he feared recrimination.
00:34:07A hired Medici assassin creeping up behind him as he worked.
00:34:12Punishment for supporting the Republic.
00:34:15As he made his monument to death,
00:34:19he was here fearing for his own life.
00:34:24When he carved that self-portrait,
00:34:29he was really carving his own death mask.
00:34:42But a love of art must have triumphed over a lust for vengeance
00:34:46because the hired assassins didn't come from Michelangelo.
00:34:50What's been fascinating about seeing Michelangelo's tomb
00:34:57is that it's reminded me, really,
00:34:59of how many of the treasures I've seen in this great world journey
00:35:03have been to do with death.
00:35:06I've seen how different people, different places, different times,
00:35:19have tried to understand the mystery of death,
00:35:23the passage that takes place from life to death.
00:35:27It really is quite haunting, quite strange.
00:35:48There it is, death, this constant concern.
00:35:53Life after death, recycling of the human soul.
00:35:58Who knows?
00:36:00It's amazing, really, that so much of man's creative energy
00:36:09is focused not on love, on life, but on death.
00:36:15From Italy to Spain and my penultimate country.
00:36:30MUSIC PLAYS
00:36:37From Italy to Spain and my penultimate country.
00:36:41MUSIC PLAYS
00:36:43MUSIC CONTINUES
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00:36:57Compared to my destinations of the past few days, Madrid is a young city,
00:37:07only becoming capital of Spain in the mid-16th century.
00:37:12MUSIC CONTINUES
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00:37:16But behind the impetuous energy of its youth lurks a dark spectre.
00:37:21MUSIC CONTINUES
00:37:26Visiting this colourful, vibrant city,
00:37:29it's easy to forget how relatively recently was the grip of a civil war,
00:37:34that most terrible event when a nation tears itself apart.
00:37:39MUSIC CONTINUES
00:37:46In 1936, General Franco launched a fascist coup against the left-wing government.
00:37:53For three years, the country was ravaged by fighting.
00:37:57Evidence of this division can still be found today.
00:38:01Indeed, shockingly, as recently as March 2005,
00:38:06the statue of the tyrant Franco was still standing.
00:38:10MUSIC CONTINUES
00:38:11The most shameful episode of the civil war took place on 26th April 1937.
00:38:17That's when the Basque town of Guernica was bombed.
00:38:23The Basques, an autonomous republic, were hostile to Franco and his forces.
00:38:29And so he unleashed his German allies, the Condor Legion, operating in Spain on this defenceless town.
00:38:39The attack lasted for three and a half hours.
00:38:43In the end, 1,650 people were killed, 900 injured,
00:38:50and most of the town damaged or destroyed.
00:38:54It caused international outrage.
00:38:57MUSIC CONTINUES
00:39:11My next treasure was created in response to that massacre.
00:39:15It's the work of the greatest painter of the 20th century,
00:39:20and is generally acknowledged to be one of the most powerful anti-violence, anti-war statements ever made.
00:39:27It still has the power to move.
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00:39:49Gernica is the work of Pablo Picasso.
00:39:53Picasso, a Spaniard, was appalled by this act of violence by Franco against his own people.
00:40:08The difficulty Picasso had was how to respond artistically to his massacre.
00:40:13He was appalled, outraged, politically engaged,
00:40:18but he knew that art and politics rarely mix successfully.
00:40:23If his painting was too full of obvious imagery against warfare,
00:40:27planes, raining bombs and collapsing buildings,
00:40:30he could end up making nothing more than a piece of propaganda.
00:40:34And that's not what he wanted.
00:40:36He wanted to make a timeless image against violence, against warfare.
00:40:41MUSIC CONTINUES
00:40:51Picasso shows universal human suffering.
00:40:54But the flavour of Spain is unmistakable.
00:40:57The imagery of the bullfight.
00:41:00The bull stands for Franco and his forces.
00:41:03The suffering horse, the people of Spain.
00:41:06And these images, some of them, the horse, the bull, the weeping woman,
00:41:11were very personal for Picasso.
00:41:13These are images he'd been using for the last 20 years.
00:41:16But here, in this painting, very bravely,
00:41:18he used those images to make maybe different points,
00:41:21points about war and violence.
00:41:24It's this fantastic sort of crumbling balance
00:41:28between political statement and personal statement
00:41:32that makes this painting such a tremendous success.
00:41:40Painted in Paris, Picasso ruled that Guernica
00:41:43should only be returned to Spain,
00:41:45its spiritual home, after the country had embraced democracy.
00:41:49It hung in New York until 1981, a painting in exile.
00:41:56Now it hangs here, in the Museo Reina Sofia,
00:42:00a warning to Spain and every country at risk of tyranny.
00:42:05It retains huge contemporary relevance for many people
00:42:10around the world.
00:42:12It has become the single image against the horrors of war,
00:42:20of violence, of military regimes.
00:42:24Indeed, so powerful is this image
00:42:27that a copy of this painting, hanging in the United Nations,
00:42:30had to be veiled, covered, when Colin Powell, in 2003,
00:42:35announced America's intentions to attack Iraq.
00:42:39This image was seen as intolerable at the time.
00:42:44This really is the image of the 20th century.
00:42:56From Madrid, I head south on a journey back into Spain's history.
00:43:01It feels like I'm in Morocco, in fact. I'm in Spain.
00:43:22Here in Granada, I'm reminded of Europe's Islamic history,
00:43:26of a Muslim Spain that might have survived and even spread further north.
00:43:33I've come to see the greatest and best preserved complex of palaces
00:43:46in Islamic history, the Alhambra.
00:43:52The Alhambra was built over several centuries by the Moorish dynasties.
00:44:11Muslim sultans who ruled southern Spain from 711 to 1491.
00:44:28For the times, their rule was enlightened and even tolerant.
00:44:34Muslims, Christians and Jews live peacefully together.
00:44:41But even as this great complex of buildings was being completed,
00:44:46Islam was being squeezed out of Spain by Christian monarchs from the north,
00:44:51determined to convert everyone to their faith.
00:44:54I've just entered the Khmeri's palace.
00:45:01This is the first ante-room.
00:45:03Here, people coming for an audience with a sultan.
00:45:07Would wait, no doubt trembling and in fear.
00:45:10Eventually, they'd be called.
00:45:12Their turn had come to confront the great man.
00:45:15Perhaps they're here charged with some crime.
00:45:18They'd go through this door.
00:45:19The sultan would be sitting over here on his throne.
00:45:29The people come to see him down below.
00:45:32This door on the right leads into the heart of the palace.
00:45:36Only those people of high status, of grandeur,
00:45:39will be allowed to penetrate beyond this point.
00:45:42Only people kept back.
00:45:44The beauty of the Alhambra is extraordinary.
00:46:01The exquisite tile work.
00:46:03Quranic inscriptions.
00:46:06Its playful use of water and light.
00:46:09This is the court of the fountain of the lions.
00:46:28All the crazy examples of Islamic architecture in Spain.
00:46:34The fountain is based on the fountain the Bible tells us
00:46:38stands outside Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.
00:46:41And the division of this court into four areas
00:46:46divided by four strips of water.
00:46:48They represent paradise as described in the Bible.
00:46:52Only those of great power in the land
00:46:56will be allowed to enter this paradise on earth.
00:46:59This is the focus of the formal rooms of the palace,
00:47:15the hall of the ambassadors.
00:47:17Here, the sultan would have received men with diplomatic missions
00:47:21to his court.
00:47:22An incredible space, this, because it is,
00:47:25from the political point of view,
00:47:27one of the most important rooms in the world.
00:47:31Here, late in 1491, the last Muslim ruler in Spain
00:47:39sat in that alcove over there and signed away his kingdom.
00:47:45He'd been overcome by the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella.
00:47:50He agreed to go into exile and give up his land.
00:47:54So after nearly 800 years,
00:47:58the last Islamic kingdom in Western Europe was over.
00:48:04That era had certainly come to a most dramatic end.
00:48:10It's mind-boggling to speculate on what the loss of Spain meant to Islam.
00:48:38Spain was a jewel of the Muslim world.
00:48:44The loss of Spain implied there was something wrong with Islam.
00:48:48How could God let this land of the faithful be taken away?
00:48:54Particularly when the people doing the taking were ruthless fanatics.
00:49:00And also, this loss of Spain has meant that Islam has been divided from Western Europe ever since.
00:49:08And the results of that are very terrible.
00:49:12Indeed, we are living with those consequences now.
00:49:14And it's worth reflecting that barely had the Sultan left before Christopher Columbus arrived at the Alhambra seeking finance for his trip that would discover the Americas.
00:49:36It may be fanciful, but had Columbus been just a few months earlier, maybe he would have crossed the Atlantic in the name of Islam.
00:49:48I leave Spain for France and one of the greatest religious buildings in Europe.
00:50:06Charter a cathedral is not a great religious treasure because it's Christian.
00:50:12To me, this monumental building embraces much, much more.
00:50:17This is 13th century Gothic, the medieval language of Christianity at its best.
00:50:24But I'm not just here to celebrate the architecture or any one religion.
00:50:28I'm here to share in centuries of man's search for enlightenment.
00:50:36I must say, I feel rather like a pilgrim myself having been travelling for five months.
00:50:44The question, though, is will I find a sort of spiritual enlightenment here
00:50:52that other pilgrims have found in the past?
00:51:11Incredible.
00:51:13You can see the emotional impact of Gothic architecture.
00:51:18Imagine pilgrims coming here.
00:51:20Humble people that have seen nothing like this in their lives before,
00:51:24the scale, the glory of this place.
00:51:27The Bible acted as a design guide for the creation of great churches like this.
00:51:32It makes it clear that the unseen world is more important than the seen.
00:51:37That the spiritual is more important than the material.
00:51:42So, in a great church, great cathedral,
00:51:43so, in a great church, great cathedral, it's the spaces defined by the walls that are most powerful.
00:51:48Where God resides.
00:51:49Where God resides.
00:51:50Where God resides.
00:51:51And then this light.
00:51:52And then, this light.
00:51:53God is in the light.
00:51:54The light.
00:51:55God is in the light.
00:51:56So, the light.
00:51:57The light.
00:51:58So, the light.
00:51:59flooding in here, manipulated by the colored glass.
00:52:00The light.
00:52:01The light.
00:52:02The light.
00:52:03The light.
00:52:04The light.
00:52:05iov All of this light.
00:52:06Paris.
00:52:07moisturizer.
00:52:08See.
00:52:09All of this, the light.
00:52:10All of this, the eyes that'm figure.
00:52:11Like a make?
00:52:12Oh, Paul.
00:52:13And then, the Great Church,lie Cathedral.
00:52:14It's the spaces defined by the walls that are most powerful, where God resides.
00:52:17And then this light.
00:52:18God is light.
00:52:19So, the light flooding in here, manipulated by the colored glass, is in itself sacred, holy.
00:52:32without necessarily realizing it pilgrims came here to worship an object that long before
00:52:40christianity since the birth of mankind has been the subject of human devotion the sun
00:52:47all around the world i've seen the sun venerated in egypt and ancient persia and i've seen
00:52:57the same veneration for the sun in europe indeed in this great christian church here before me
00:53:05a little brass pin every year on the 21st of june summer solstice at midday a ray of light
00:53:15enters this church the hole up there left and that ray of light exactly strikes this brass pin
00:53:24and i should say the hole in the window shows an image of saint apollinaire apollo the sun god so
00:53:33one sees here a continuation of an ancient pagan tradition a tradition for worshiping nature
00:53:42worshiping nature the person of the sun
00:53:46the more i look around the more i see images that aren't necessarily christian
00:53:55stone carvings on the doors depict signs from the zodiac
00:54:00others simply show the world of man
00:54:09a huge beetle with a human head reminds me of an egyptian scarab in the middle of the cathedral
00:54:19is a marble labyrinth which has no christian origins at all
00:54:23pilgrims in the middle ages would stand here and then walk the labyrinth to do this they would take
00:54:32their shoes off as in them a mosque so the shoes go off and i enter the labyrinth which for me
00:54:44when i reach a center represents the end of my journey the end of my pilgrimage around the world
00:54:53looking at the great treasures that man has created
00:54:56as with so many of my treasures
00:55:03shatra is a monument to humanity's need to interact
00:55:07with a divine presence
00:55:09a presence we sense but cannot see
00:55:12through the centuries different civilizations
00:55:17unknown to one another
00:55:19have created buildings to worship this mighty presence
00:55:23they fill these buildings with objects that attempt to personify and honor it
00:55:29i've heard so many different voices all speaking the same language
00:55:38well
00:55:47so
00:55:57Well, I've reached the centre of the labyrinth.
00:56:13What do I feel?
00:56:27Having travelled the world, I've been aware of many other religions, social concerns,
00:56:35sacred concerns, and I've seen those reflected in the fabric, the detail of this great church.
00:56:42It's a fusion.
00:56:44There is a universal religion, that mankind is bigger than one religion.
00:56:51And all religions are, in their central parts, related, all questioning the same thing,
00:56:57an understanding of why we are here, where is mankind going?
00:57:08And so this great cathedral, I do see in a fresh light,
00:57:13the marriage of all that is marvellous in mankind and in the world.
00:57:20That's, as I stand here, where these millions of pilgrims are stood.
00:57:24They've had enlightenment.
00:57:26I feel I also have gained enlightenment.
00:57:32That, that, and that, and that's my blessing. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
00:57:50Certainly ending this journey in some style.
00:57:54Erm, getting a ferry tomorrow from...
00:57:58Cali to Dover.
00:57:59This charming hotel, I've been visiting.
00:58:00I've been visiting.
00:58:01I've been visiting.
00:58:02I've been visiting.
00:58:03I've been visiting.
00:58:04in, in, in, in...
00:58:10Certainly ending this journey in some style, getting a ferry tomorrow from Calais to Dover.
00:58:26This charming hotel I've been found is about 30 kilometres from Calais and, hmm, how much
00:58:36way of staff to help. It's gone. Incredible. Oh, no, here we go. The hotel claims to be decorated
00:58:46in the English style, which seems to me leaving a few old riding boots around the place. Incredible,
00:58:56really. Five months of hotels. This is my last one. Ah, there we go. Look.
00:59:06Starting season. Clearly the English style. What do we have? Oh, I say. Splendid. I feel
00:59:18sitting here with my champagne, my little plastic glass, in this room decorated in the English
00:59:25style, that I'm, um, entering back into the real world. God help me. Ooh, lovely.
00:59:37The White Cliffs of Dover, and they meet up for centuries, has greeted returning travellers.
00:59:56Home. But home will seem a very small place for me, at least for a while. It's worrying
01:00:06when I fit in again, rejoin the rat race. I've seen the remains of great civilisations
01:00:14rise and fall. Staggering evidence of mankind's great power to create. But what's clear, too,
01:00:21looking at these monuments, is that if they're to survive, to survive the destructive powers of
01:00:30men, we're going to have to fight for them.
01:00:37in this museum.
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1:01:38
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