1 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:14,750 DAN CRUICKSHANK: Mankind has created 2 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,070 brilliant architecture all over the world, 3 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,190 bound by common themes and instincts, 4 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:30,630 shared human desires that shaped incredible buildings. 5 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,550 This is a story of architecture through humanity. 6 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:42,470 The architecture of power, 7 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:48,110 of dreams, 8 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:53,230 of death, 9 00:00:58,680 --> 00:00:59,910 and paradise. 10 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,070 But none is more moving than the quest for beauty. 11 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:15,750 Beauty in simplicity and nature. 12 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,070 Beauty in a sacred face. 13 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,230 The extraordinary beauty of ornament. 14 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,310 And the divine beauty of human passion. 15 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:10,350 (CALLING TO DOGS) 16 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:14,030 I'm in the Arctic Circle 17 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:18,470 travelling towards the North Pole across a frozen world. 18 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,670 This is a vast, limitless land. 19 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,110 It feels as old 20 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:43,470 as the Earth itself. 21 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:45,150 Pure, 22 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:47,110 unchanging. 23 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:52,750 Golly, being here is like being at the beginning of time. 24 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,950 I've come to celebrate an ancient, elemental, 25 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:01,270 and beautiful structure. 26 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:08,510 But because temperatures in the Arctic are rising faster than anywhere else, 27 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,990 it's a structure that could soon be lost forever. 28 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,390 (COMMANDING DOGS) 29 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:18,510 My guide is Andreas Sanimuinaq, 30 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,030 and together we're going to build an igloo, 31 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,550 a structure that reveals the origin of architecture, 32 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,350 when man first created shelter 33 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,230 from hostile weather and prowling beasts. 34 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:34,590 So this is good snow? 35 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,950 ANDREAS SANIMUINAQ: Yeah, very good snow here. 36 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,990 CRUICKSHANK: The igloo, a creation of the Inuit culture, 37 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,550 was used as a winter home and shelter on hunting expeditions. 38 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,430 The people here still hunt, but few build igloos. 39 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,190 Andreas is one of the last men to keep the tradition alive, 40 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:06,390 using knowledge passed down from his father, 41 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:08,190 a legendary hunter. 42 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:11,350 It's big. 43 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:13,430 It's very big. 44 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:15,470 That's ambitious. 45 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,070 The blocks are cut from snow, 46 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,590 compacted by the wind to the right consistency. 47 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:37,950 I mean, how many blocks do we need? How many... 48 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,190 -I don't know. -Guess. 49 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,270 Maybe 50. 50 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:47,270 -Fifty? -Yeah, 50. 51 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,350 5-0, 50? 52 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,590 A lot of work. Okay. They're heavy. 53 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,150 So, right, I'll take... 54 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:55,630 (BOTH LAUGHING) 55 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:57,190 (CRUICKSHANK GRUNTING) 56 00:05:58,560 --> 00:05:59,550 Fifty! 57 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:02,470 Good Lord. 58 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:09,870 Right. 59 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:12,470 London seems sweet at this moment. 60 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:17,310 Does it matter where we put the first block? 61 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:19,230 Yeah. 62 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:49,870 CRUICKSHANK: The blocks are laid in a clockwise direction, 63 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:51,790 following the motion of the sun 64 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:54,870 as it moves through the sky from dawn to dusk. 65 00:06:56,840 --> 00:06:58,430 The way it works is very simple. 66 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,670 This particular sort of dome is rather like the top of an eggshell. 67 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,590 It's a sort of a ovoid dome, not a semi-circle, 68 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:06,550 so that the force of the weight 69 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,150 of the blocks, and they are heavy I can tell you, 70 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,030 are taken more or less straight down to the ground. 71 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:15,950 The trouble with these sorts of domes, they thrust outwards 72 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,470 and want to sort of fall down, but the igloo is incredibly strong. 73 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:22,150 And it supports its own weight, and a lot of other things besides, 74 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:23,990 when it's completed. 75 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:27,510 But it is quite hard work to build. 76 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,310 The miracle of the igloo is that the weakest building material possible, 77 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:39,950 frozen water, achieves strength through brilliant engineering. 78 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:46,550 After a couple of layers of blocks, the walls start sloping inwards. 79 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,470 Andreas cuts one into a wedge shape. 80 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:56,430 A lot of intuitive engineering skills here with Andreas. 81 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:00,830 He's making this structure sort of perform in an amazing way. 82 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,910 Far as I can understand it, the blocks start to spar up 83 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:05,510 some point down here. 84 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:09,230 And each block is cunningly shaped. 85 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,870 It's all held together by a good bit of bashing 86 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,430 and manoeuvring which creates friction, which sort of melts a bit of the snow, 87 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,670 and then that freezes. And it just stays firm. 88 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,310 So really, it's all being glued together with ice. 89 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,750 Igloos are immensely strong when completed, 90 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:35,630 but constructing a dome without props or scaffolding 91 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:37,710 is a perilous undertaking. 92 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:38,830 Ready? 93 00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:41,550 -Yeah. -Yeah. 94 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,990 I'm really beginning to wonder about this igloo. 95 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,270 It almost feels like it's about to cave in on me. 96 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,630 And the next course above this are going to be even steeper, 97 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,990 virtually horizontal. Can't quite see how it's going to work. 98 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:06,910 The final stages are hazardous. 99 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:12,030 Problematic joins are fixed with intricate ice carpentry. 100 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:16,430 And the familiar shape keeps on growing. 101 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,990 The dome's regarded as one of the high points of our architectural culture, 102 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:28,430 particularly celebrated as a hallmark of Roman engineering genius. 103 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,910 Yet, in this culture, isolated, remote from our own, 104 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:35,550 the dome also developed 105 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:39,270 to meet particular environmental problems and demands. 106 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,830 It's incredible that two cultures so different 107 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,190 should come up with the same architectural form. 108 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,110 (DOGS BARKING) 109 00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:21,670 -Dogs. -Dogs. 110 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:23,470 (SPEAKING GREENLANDIC) 111 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:26,270 (BARKING CONTINUES) 112 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:34,190 CRUICKSHANK: We're interrupted by a hunter returning to his village. 113 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:40,270 So, can I see what you've got? What have you got here? 114 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,470 AGE HAMMEKEN: Polar bear. CRUICKSHANK: Polar bear. Really? 115 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:46,750 Are there many polar bears around here? 116 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,910 (SPEAKING GREENLANDIC) 117 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:52,710 -CRUICKSHANK: A lot? -Yes, many. 118 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:53,870 -Many? -Yeah. 119 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:55,070 Can I see? 120 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:06,550 (IN GREENLANDIC) 121 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,710 Well, it's very shocking, isn't it? Polar bear, shot. 122 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:20,190 I feel shocked, but... 123 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:23,790 But remember, this is not shot for fun, 124 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:26,550 it's not shot by a tourist as a trophy. 125 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:31,590 This chap's a member of one of the last true hunting communities 126 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:33,590 in the world. He's a licensed hunter. 127 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:36,270 These guys have to hunt to live, that's it. 128 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:38,030 So this is 129 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,230 what's going to keep him and his family alive, 130 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:42,870 the food, the skin, eating and selling. 131 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:45,590 And that's the truth of the matter. 132 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:48,670 But it's very moving, though, very moving. 133 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:52,990 There it is, this wonderful beast, the polar bear... 134 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,510 His plaintive expression is heartbreaking. 135 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:13,070 Oh, I see. 136 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:17,390 Back inside, all that remains are the finishing touches. 137 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:21,070 Fine, fine. 138 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:22,150 -Good? -Yeah. 139 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,590 -CRUICKSHANK: Good. So that's half. -It's good, yeah. 140 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:27,630 Yeah. That's it. 141 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:30,830 So you spin it. 142 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:32,990 I see, I see. 143 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:34,750 Coming. 144 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,470 It's the keystone capped into... 145 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:40,350 ANDREAS: Fine. 146 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,750 Well done, Andreas. Well done. 147 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,310 Thank you very much. Congratulations. Excellent. 148 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,110 -I mean, it's a beautiful igloo. -Thank you. 149 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:50,870 Tenser moments, 150 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,070 but, you know, thank goodness we finished, 151 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:55,190 and it looks terrific inside. 152 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:04,950 Here we are. It's complete. 153 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:08,670 Incredible sense of achievement. We've made our own igloo. 154 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,550 I must admit that externally it looks a little, well, a trifle, 155 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,590 peculiar, rather personal piece of work. 156 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:17,110 More of a cone 157 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:19,630 than a dome, bit like a beehive. 158 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,750 But it's immensely strong, 159 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,910 I must say, standing here, contemplating it, 160 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:29,870 it looks like a really ancient piece of architecture, 161 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,390 the first building in the world. 162 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:39,470 (EXCLAIMS) 163 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:43,710 Inside, the dome is superb, 164 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:46,430 sublime, it works. 165 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,190 The igloo is a wondrous machine. 166 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:55,070 The snow blocks, of course, are cold, but wonderful insulators, 167 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,070 and my body is hot. 168 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,830 This heat melts the surface of the snow, 169 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,070 and the liquid would run into the cracks here, 170 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:05,630 freeze and seal them. 171 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:07,670 So the whole thing really becomes 172 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,350 a building of ice rather than snow, eventually much stronger. 173 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:14,750 Absolutely fantastic. 174 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:42,150 The igloo contains all the basic ideas of architecture. 175 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:47,470 It's a practical shelter and a miniature masterpiece of engineering. 176 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,790 But above all, the igloo is beautiful. 177 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:58,990 Beautiful because of the logic, 178 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:03,190 the clarity of the thinking behind its design and construction. 179 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:10,190 Beautiful because it seems so simple, yet is also so complex in its function. 180 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,950 And of course, beautiful because of its form, 181 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:19,470 the celestial dome, the symbol of the sun in this icy land. 182 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,510 This is the city of Leshan, 183 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,430 in the heart of China's Sichuan province. 184 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:18,230 Sichuan is famous the world over for its fiery and exhilarating food. 185 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,910 Gosh, that is delicious, but it is indeed very spicy, hot. 186 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:32,550 All these are chillies. 187 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,550 But there's not just food for the body in Leshan, 188 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:39,950 there's also food for the soul. 189 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,590 In this city, there's an object that forms a bridge 190 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,430 between the physical world and the spiritual. 191 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:52,550 An object that uses beauty and scale to inflame the imagination, 192 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:54,470 to overawe the senses. 193 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:15,510 Leshan was once a fishing village surrounded by treacherous waters. 194 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:20,350 There's a local legend the water was controlled by an evil spirit. 195 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:22,910 But in the eighth century, 196 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,150 Buddhist monks created a colossus to calm the torrents. 197 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:34,270 Over there, across these waters, 198 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:38,590 is the largest stone-carved image of the Buddha from the ancient world. 199 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:40,230 I'm agog to see it. 200 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,230 Here is the giant Buddha at Leshan. 201 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,230 Golly, he's absolutely enormous. 202 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,030 Everything about such a vast work of art, 203 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,630 made over a long period of time with so much effort, 204 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:17,150 is full of meaning. 205 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,350 The posture, the proportions, the details. 206 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,110 The solemn and serene expression on the Buddha's face. 207 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,830 This is beauty at a truly sublime scale. 208 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:35,150 Carved out of the rock face, the Buddha is over 70 metres high 209 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:37,950 and took 90 years to complete. 210 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:40,590 And it remains a wonder. 211 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:45,150 A sculpture so large that it's a work of architecture. 212 00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:59,950 This towering, compelling, spiritually charged beauty 213 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,910 draws people here in their thousands, 214 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,110 tourists and believers. 215 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:16,350 The Buddha lived around 2,500 years ago. 216 00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:21,670 For believers, the Buddha brought to humanity the key to enlightenment, 217 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:26,390 the way to escape worldly desires and reach Nirvana. 218 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,870 Gradually the Buddha, the wise man and great teacher, 219 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:36,550 was worshipped as a god. 220 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:40,630 And around 1,900 years ago, he started to be portrayed, 221 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,950 not in almost abstract form as a column or as a wheel, 222 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,150 but as a human being. 223 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,590 I suppose that made it easier for people to identify with him. 224 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:53,750 But from the very start, this human portrayal of Buddha 225 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:55,790 was often on a vast scale. 226 00:19:56,040 --> 00:20:01,510 Clearly in Buddhism, size mattered. The bigger, the more beautiful. 227 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:10,030 When it was first created, 228 00:20:10,120 --> 00:20:13,190 the Buddha was enclosed by an immense, wooden temple. 229 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,830 Only his face was left exposed. 230 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:20,030 Monks would have sheltered under the Buddha's shadow, 231 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:24,070 living and worshipping in these small caves in the cliff face. 232 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,790 So the Buddha would have been within a temple, an enclosed space. 233 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:32,790 Imagine the atmosphere, 234 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:37,870 the chanting, the colours, the great image towering above. 235 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:41,910 Here, people would have sat meditating, concentrating 236 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,030 on the colossal scale of the image. 237 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:46,150 It would have liberated their imagination. 238 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,950 An incredible, moving experience for them sitting here, 239 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,110 the great Buddha in front of them. 240 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,470 It would have been a living being. Incredible. 241 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,590 Pilgrims walk clockwise around the Buddha 242 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:06,870 seeking the path to enlightenment. 243 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:14,030 The huge size of the image reveals that its spiritual power is without limit. 244 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,110 The Buddha comes in many different forms, 245 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,750 and the Leshan statue has a particular meaning. 246 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:28,990 Oh, the head of Buddha, at last. 247 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:31,430 We meet face-to-face. 248 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,190 This really is a very robust beauty. 249 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,630 In fact, this colossal image of Buddha 250 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,790 is a particular manifestation of the Buddha. 251 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:47,830 It's Maitreya, a Buddha-to-be, the Buddha of the future. 252 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,390 Quite when Maitreya arrives is a matter of debate. 253 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,350 It seems he'll come when he's needed, 254 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,310 when the old Buddhist faith is eroded, 255 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:04,110 when the world is coming to its end, when the world is in extremis. 256 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:14,790 When pilgrims ascend this mountain and behold Maitreya's face, 257 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:17,750 they must feel they've already reached Nirvana. 258 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,270 This is a beauty that could save their souls. 259 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:31,630 As with a sacred building, every detail on the head is full of meaning. 260 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,510 The ears, with the long earlobes. 261 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:37,310 That reflects an Oriental idea of beauty, 262 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,590 signifying a developed, refined human being. 263 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,990 The eyes, with their transcendental gaze, 264 00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:49,430 that shows the Buddha is full of bliss, compassion, understanding. 265 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,390 Little coiled buns of hair on his head, 266 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,110 each like a little shrine, a diagram in itself 267 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,630 to inspire and help meditation. 268 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,270 On the top of the head is this bump, 269 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:06,390 the bump that reflects the possession of a cosmic brain. 270 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,430 That's the route to Nirvana. 271 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:10,030 (BELLS RINGING) 272 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,390 (MONKS CHANTING) 273 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:31,990 Monks no longer live in the cliff face, but they still worship here. 274 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,990 Buddhism was repressed during China's Cultural Revolution. 275 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:42,510 This temple, located just behind the Buddha's head, was shut down. 276 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,990 But monks and believers have returned once more 277 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,590 to pray for the arrival of Maitreya. 278 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,310 So, Maitreya's the Buddha of the future, but what exactly does that mean? 279 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:00,910 Does it mean we should have hope for the future? 280 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,670 (ABBOT HONGHUA SPEAKING MANDARIN) 281 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,150 CRUICKSHANK: Maitreya is supposed to return when the world's in torment, 282 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:48,390 and perhaps that moment is now. 283 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,990 The Leshan Buddha is slowly being defaced by pollution. 284 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,590 The Buddha received a major face-lift in 2001, 285 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,030 but is now badly stained again. 286 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,270 These chaps are trying to brush away these dark stains 287 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,670 of the tracks of tears. 288 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:18,750 The trouble is, the acid rain is slowly, remorselessly eroding the sandstone. 289 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,310 Wrought from the entire cliff face, 290 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,270 this giant figure creates a sense of awe. 291 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:40,590 It's a personification of the wonder and the wisdom of nature. 292 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:50,150 For me, the fantastic giant Buddha 293 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:52,910 is emblematic of the beauty of the world. 294 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:56,910 A world that man now seems set on destroying 295 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:01,110 through ruthless exploitation of natural resources, through global warming, 296 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,790 through pollution, through acid rain. 297 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,310 Incredibly, the giant Buddha 298 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:11,470 is a warning from the past to the present about the future. 299 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,710 Saint Petersburg, in the depths of winter, 300 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,150 is Russia's most fashionable city, 301 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,630 even when the temperature is way below zero. 302 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,910 The city was founded by Peter the Great 300 years ago, 303 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:12,030 but Saint Petersburg is also the triumph of a great woman, 304 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,270 Peter's daughter, Empress Elizabeth I. 305 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,430 It was her taste for opulence and grandeur 306 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:21,990 that made Saint Petersburg beautiful. 307 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:29,510 She dressed up the city in colourful and extravagant Baroque architecture 308 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,430 that expressed national pride. 309 00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:47,230 And I've come to see Elizabeth's most personal and ornate creation. 310 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,670 In Northwest Russia, rising from the snow, 311 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,070 is a hot-blooded Baroque masterpiece. 312 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,230 It's Russia's own Versailles, 313 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,190 a building in which beauty is used as a political weapon, 314 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,230 as an expression of divine majesty. 315 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:47,950 This is the Catherine Palace, 316 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,070 which Elizabeth named after her beloved mother. 317 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,110 This palace was designed in the 1750s 318 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:00,350 by an architect with Italian blood, Bartolomeo Rastrelli. 319 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:05,750 The building's enormous length 320 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,750 is a grand display of imperial power and order. 321 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:14,350 But this intimidating scale 322 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:18,070 is enlivened with exuberant and joyful details. 323 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,390 Rastrelli is the architect, but this building's not about him. 324 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,430 He was merely the means by which Elizabeth expressed her nature, 325 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,670 her passions, her loves, her aspirations. 326 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,790 This building is an almost shockingly personal portrait 327 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,110 of a most unusual woman. 328 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:49,910 The exterior of the Catherine Palace 329 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,510 is one of the world's most sensational, classical compositions 330 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:57,110 but the real glories are inside. 331 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,750 The palace is organised around the Golden Enfilade, 332 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,190 an awe-inspiring route that took you to the imperial presence. 333 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,190 The straight route through Elizabeth's palace, 334 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,310 originally nearly 325 metres in length, 335 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,510 was like a test for those granted admission to this magical world. 336 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,750 The highest in the land and those most in favour with the Empress 337 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,790 would penetrate deepest. 338 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:54,070 The grandest room was the colossal Great Hall, 339 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,990 where Elizabeth received visitors while seated on her throne. 340 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:16,830 The vastness of the hall, 341 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,950 the huge array of mirrors and gilded figures 342 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:24,950 were designed to bewitch the senses and confirm her godlike status. 343 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:32,910 This wasn't only Elizabeth's throne room, but also her playroom. 344 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,430 This became the centre of her hedonistic world. 345 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,470 It was here that she held her famed metamorphosis balls 346 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:44,150 in which men dressed as women, and women dressed as men. 347 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,710 Such cross-dressing in parties in the 18th century wasn't unusual, 348 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,670 but mostly people would wear masks. 349 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:54,670 But here, by Elizabeth's orders, nobody wore masks. 350 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,550 People were themselves but strangely transformed, 351 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:02,550 which is, I suppose, why these parties were not very popular 352 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,270 with Elizabeth's courtiers and nobles. 353 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,990 And as privileged visitors moved deeper into the palace, 354 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,590 the decorative schemes became ever more ingenious. 355 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,750 This really is one of the strangest rooms in the palace. 356 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,710 The walls are covered by old master oil paintings 357 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,150 purchased by Elizabeth, 358 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:55,630 but organised not by subject, style, artist or date, 359 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:58,950 but simply by size and by colour. 360 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:04,670 They're rammed together to make a sort of a mosaic or massive tapestry. 361 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,870 This really is a triumph of interior decoration. 362 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:33,070 Now I can meet Elizabeth herself. 363 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,630 This portrait shows her in her prime. 364 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:40,750 It's all to do with power and wealth expressed through beauty, 365 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:44,630 beautiful architecture and beautiful clothes. 366 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,190 But what of the woman beneath all this pomp? 367 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:52,870 Look at her face. It looks homely, somewhat earthy, 368 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,350 far from cruel and arrogant. 369 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:58,070 She loved architecture, 370 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,430 and she created one of the most spectacular buildings in the world. 371 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:02,870 I like her. 372 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:14,110 But Elizabeth's greatest triumph was the installation of the Amber Room, 373 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,910 the crowning architectural glory of her reign. 374 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,430 This is a room with an almost magical quality. 375 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:30,150 It's haunted the Western imagination for centuries. 376 00:34:30,240 --> 00:34:35,430 It's been regarded as the most enigmatic and most beautiful room ever created. 377 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:38,630 It's been called the eighth wonder of the world. 378 00:34:38,720 --> 00:34:41,270 It's a hymn to the beauty of nature 379 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:45,070 because its walls are covered with amber, 380 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:48,110 a very valuable natural material 381 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:52,230 that anciently was thought to be sunlight petrified, 382 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,470 encompassed the power of the sun god. 383 00:34:55,560 --> 00:35:00,350 And what a very appropriate material for an imperial palace. 384 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:18,550 Amber, made from fossilized tree resin, was rare and expensive. 385 00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:21,430 This exclusive material 386 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:25,270 was used to create a rarefied and fantastical world. 387 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,590 But these are not the amber panels installed by Elizabeth. 388 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:45,230 This Amber Room, a perfect copy, is less than 10 years old. 389 00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:02,390 The palace was a victim of fighting during the Second World War. 390 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,310 When German soldiers retreated after the siege of Leningrad, 391 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,790 the building was left to ruin. 392 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:15,510 But after the war, 393 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:20,430 it became an issue of national pride to restore Elizabeth's vision of beauty. 394 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:31,390 The restoration is ambitious. 395 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:35,270 The designs, materials and techniques are authentic. 396 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:49,310 But does the spirit of Elizabeth's lost palace really live again? 397 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,270 Why is it important to restore lost beauty? 398 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:00,950 Why is it important to restore the Catherine Palace? 399 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:02,750 (IN RUSSIAN) 400 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,230 (PLAYING RHYTHMIC MUSIC) 401 00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:13,710 I've come to see a temple, 402 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,510 which is one of the most magnificent and richly ornamented in India, 403 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:21,790 which has dominated this coast in the Bay of Bengal for centuries. 404 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,710 But despite the temple's architectural wonder, 405 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:28,670 it has puzzled, shocked and appalled people. 406 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,710 It's been called the most beautiful building in the world 407 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:34,590 and also the most obscene. 408 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:35,870 What's certain, though, 409 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:39,910 is that it's a sensational monument to the power of sex. 410 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:54,670 The temple was once positioned right on the beach. 411 00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:02,590 But over the centuries, 412 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,470 the land between the ocean and the temple grew 413 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:10,230 and it's now stranded inland in the small town of Konarak. 414 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:48,310 The temple was built in the mid-thirteenth century 415 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:50,190 by a local Hindu king. 416 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:55,670 It's dedicated to the sun god, Surya. 417 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:00,350 But there are more unusual sculptures here. 418 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,870 The walls are covered with beautiful images 419 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,630 of people in the most intimate embrace. 420 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:13,630 This building has more graphic sex acts depicted on it 421 00:41:13,720 --> 00:41:15,750 than any other temple in India. 422 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:27,030 The whole temple's conceived as the mighty chariot 423 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,470 on which the sun god, Surya, is drawn through the sky 424 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:32,550 from dawn until dusk. 425 00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:35,470 And number is all-important here. 426 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:39,710 The chariot's furnished with 24 massive wheels 427 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:44,270 which represent the 24 bright and dark moons of each year. 428 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,870 The chariot's drawn by seven prancing steeds, 429 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:52,070 symbolising, of course, the seven days of the week. 430 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,790 The temple's not just a celestial vehicle. 431 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:03,190 It's also a time machine, or rather, a magic machine, 432 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:06,710 outside time, roaming through eternity. 433 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,910 And all is organised around the sun. 434 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:13,350 The main door faces East towards the rising sun, 435 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:15,790 which brings new life with every dawn. 436 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,910 And as the sun moves around the building, 437 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:23,670 it brings to life, energizes, all the sculpture on the temple. 438 00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:42,270 This is the dance hall. 439 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:45,390 This is where the devadasis, the temple dancing girls, 440 00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:46,590 would have performed, 441 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,710 and you can see them here, carved into the architecture, dancing. 442 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,150 This one, a beautiful creature 443 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:54,750 with a drum and a musical instrument. 444 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:57,750 Wonderful! Right here, they danced. Imagine it. 445 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,230 Originally, this was a roofed structure, 446 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:03,830 dark, mysterious, magical. 447 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:08,230 The girls dancing to please the god and to please the Brahmin priests. 448 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:10,510 These girls had a high status, 449 00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:13,350 just below that of the priests themselves, but 450 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:18,190 they may have participated in the rites particular and peculiar to this temple. 451 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:31,230 For centuries, the sexual images have confused and alarmed people. 452 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:37,630 One British commissioner during the raj denounced them as beastly 453 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:39,310 and said it would be better 454 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:41,990 if the whole place was levelled to the ground. 455 00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:53,950 Today, the temple's swarming with inquisitive tourists and schoolchildren, 456 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,070 who seem a little more relaxed. 457 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:02,510 But what's this sexual imagery all about? 458 00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:09,830 The meaning of this building has long puzzled people. 459 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:14,150 But I believe some of the answers must lie in the Hindu faith itself. 460 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:16,550 When the temple was being constructed, 461 00:44:16,720 --> 00:44:20,830 tantric practices were gaining strength in northeast India. 462 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:25,350 And in tantra, the idea is that power can be obtained from nature 463 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:30,550 and contact made with the divine through the medium of the body. 464 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:33,470 Sex plays a very important role. 465 00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:36,990 Sexual bliss is seen as akin 466 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:42,870 to the joy, the ecstasy of enlightenment, of union with a god. 467 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:45,270 So a building like this, full of sexual images 468 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:49,190 are really images to do with divine practices. 469 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,590 Sex, orgasm, is seen as opening a window 470 00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:54,670 onto the divine. 471 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,310 The belief that sexual activity could lead to spiritual enlightenment 472 00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:10,990 was particular to the more radical school of tantric thinking, 473 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:14,390 which challenged most established Hindu conventions. 474 00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:21,270 So people who created these images had very specific beliefs. 475 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:24,990 They believed in the sacred nature of bodily fluids. 476 00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:29,030 And once you understand that, all of this begins to make sense. 477 00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:32,470 It's not just images of people seeking gratification, 478 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:37,350 but images of people feasting on divine nectar, the stuff of life. 479 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:39,150 The stuff of immortality. 480 00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:45,870 Fluid is central to the Hindu creation myth, 481 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,710 in which life springs from an ocean of milk. 482 00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:57,350 And during sexual activity, the bodily fluids unite to create life. 483 00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:00,310 They are the nectar of immortality. 484 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:08,190 The ways in which this nectar was extracted and distributed 485 00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:10,350 can only leave you lost in wonder. 486 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:13,270 Such invention, such gymnastics. 487 00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:18,150 Some of it looks like really hard work. 488 00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:48,310 Here, a woman is presenting certain bodily fluids to an altar 489 00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:50,310 on which burns a sacred flame. 490 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:53,990 Such fluids are vital offerings to tantric deities. 491 00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:11,470 And animals, which according to Hindu belief 492 00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:15,070 contain a soul on a journey, were not left out. 493 00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:21,830 Here, a thoughtful young lady is giving a dog, I believe, a divine meal. 494 00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:45,790 The final mystery of the Sun Temple is its end. 495 00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:50,110 After being a place of worship for more than 400 years, 496 00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:51,510 it was abandoned. 497 00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:59,270 Already by the early 17th century, it was a desolate ruin, 498 00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:01,670 half-buried in the sand. 499 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:04,550 And the interior now is simply full of stone. 500 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:07,590 Why this happened we do not know. 501 00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:10,150 Perhaps there was a cyclone in the past, 502 00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:13,510 that damaged the building and made it no longer auspicious for the god. 503 00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,590 Perhaps local people turned against it. 504 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:19,590 What we do know is that the great kalash, 505 00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:25,630 the great pot on the top of the pyramid that symbolically contained ambrosia, 506 00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:29,630 the stuff of immortality, that pot, has long gone. 507 00:48:39,240 --> 00:48:42,070 This temple is now an extraordinary place. 508 00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:44,430 It's a slumbering giant. 509 00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:47,070 The spiritual power of the place has been reduced, 510 00:48:47,160 --> 00:48:48,670 but it's far from lost. 511 00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:52,270 People flock here to wonder at the architecture and the sculpture, 512 00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:55,710 to try and understand the temple's mysteries and secrets. 513 00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:59,270 What they make of it, of course, depends on their individual natures. 514 00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:01,670 To the pure, all is pure. 515 00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:04,710 To those of evil intentions, all is evil. 516 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:08,830 I see the temple as a great temple of joy, 517 00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:10,990 a temple to the power of sex.