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DAN CRUICKSHANK: I'm on a journey

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to see how people
find pleasure in architecture.

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In the middle of the rainforest,
an opera house.

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In a bustling Indian city,

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an elegant hotel
with the taste of the Raj.

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A country villa where pleasure
was mathematically constructed.

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And a magical vision
of a fairytale castle.

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The Taj in Mumbai
is one of the world's great hotels

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and has long been a symbol of its city.

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It's about the first major building
you see when arriving by ship.

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And its dome has long been
a navigation beacon.

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When completed in 1903, the hotel was
the last word in luxury living in India.

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The streets of Mumbai teem with life.

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Few places on Earth
are as frantic and noisy.

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Oh, peace! I'm already feeling cocooned.

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I'm checking in to discover
how a grand hotel,

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how a palace of pleasure actually works.

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I should say now I like my old hotels
to feel old, to be old-fashioned.

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I do hope I'm not gonna be let down.

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-Hello.
-Hello.

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Good evening. I have a reservation here.

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-Please have a seat.
-Oh, yes.

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Could I please request
for your last name?

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-Cruickshank.
-Sure, Mr Cruickshank.

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From its earliest days,
at the dawn of the 20th century,

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this is a building that's elevated
its guests to the status of royalty.

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The staircase is the hotel's
great architectural glory

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and in many ways encapsulates
the aspirations of the place.

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The hotel was designed originally
by a Hindu architect called Kundaro,

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but he died and it was completed by
a British chap called Chambers.

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And it's Chambers, of course, who now
tends to get the credit for all of this.

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It is, however, a wonderful fusion,

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a fusion of European Gothic
with Indian Mogul details.

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A wonderful piece of work.
And I must say, standing here now,

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I can imagine the ladies
in their full evening dress,

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sweeping down the staircase
on their way to dinner.

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The Taj is home to one of
Mumbai's earliest licensed bars,

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opened in the 1930s.

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-Can I have vodka martini, please?
-Sure, sir. How would you like it...

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-Just with a twist, just a twist, yes.
-Sure.

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That looks very good.

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-Oh, that is delicious.
-Thank you, sir.

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You've made a few of these
in your time, obviously.

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I couldn't lie. If that wasn't good,

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I couldn't say it was good,
but it is very good.

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-Thank you so much.
-No, thank you very much.

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Golly, that's amazing.

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In my last 25 years,
I must have made a thousand of these.

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You've practised!

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The Taj can accommodate
over 1,000 guests.

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And they're all fed by
this one busy kitchen.

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One more cold milk for cereal.

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Put it there.

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Ah.

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-Good morning, sir.
-Good morning.

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-Breakfast. Lovely.
-Yeah.

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Oh, lovely fruit,
thank you so much, and coffee.

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-There you go, sir.
-Lovely.

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Well, of course, all grand hotels
are a place for fantasy,

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palaces of pleasure, great escapism.

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One can, when one can afford it,

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imagine oneself a prince
waited on hand and foot.

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To achieve this luxury
takes an army of workers.

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One for every guest.

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But many of them exist
in a parallel world,

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virtually unseen by visitors.

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I've just entered
the bowels of the hotel.

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This is a place where tourists
do not penetrate.

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I've come down here to see
how the hotel operates.

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A somewhat upstairs-downstairs world.

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There's up there,
all fancy and ornament,

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and down here, all functional.

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The hotel was the idea
of Jamshetji Tata,

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an industrialist
with a great love for his city.

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I'm about to come face to face with
the man himself.

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-Hello, hi.
-Hello.

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Now I'd heard of this shrine in
the subterranean part of the building,

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it's in the control room in fact.

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And here, there's a portrait
of Jamshetji Tata,

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the blessed founder of the hotel.
And everyday I'm told

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the staff put this floral garland
in front of the portrait.

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During the Raj, the British
dominated the social scene in Mumbai.

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And Indians were barred from
many of the finest clubs and hotels.

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Jamshetji Tata was determined
to construct a place

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where Indians and Europeans
could meet on equal terms.

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The hotel had a peculiar start.

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An astrologist recommended
it open on a particular day in 1903

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and the opening went ahead,
despite the fact that

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the dome above the staircase
wasn't completed,

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only two floors of rooms
were ready for occupation

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and there was no electricity,
which meant the lifts didn't work.

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Despite its clumsy opening,
the Taj had towering ambitions.

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For me, the glory of the Taj

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is the way it marries the ornamental
with the functional.

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The central dome's not only
a great ornamental landmark,

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but it helps the hotel to function,
helps it to breathe.

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The dome and the well of the staircase
are like a great chimney.

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They ventilate the building.

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Hot air rises and
exits through these windows,

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and I tell you,
it's very hot up here now.

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And as the hot air exits,
it sucks in refrigerated air

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from down below.

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A very, very
sensible piece of natural ventilation.

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The hotel's an ingenious structure
in which modern services

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were very cunningly integrated
with the architecture

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and in which new pioneering technology
was used most creatively

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to form a building that was
both comfortable and very solid.

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I love these corner domes,
very ornamental, but in fact,

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they're there to contain water tanks.
That was a very brilliant idea.

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It got round the water shortages
in the city in the early 20th century

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and made sure that every bathroom
in the hotel had water all the time.

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The Taj has modernised over the years,

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but it's still visited by
Mumbai's traditional grandees.

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-Is that okay?
-Yeah, thank you very much. Excellent.

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When did you first come
to the Taj Hotel?

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I think I was about 16 when I first,
somebody brought me,

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I used to live outside Bombay
and somebody brought me

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to see this beautiful place.

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And I was absolutely bedazzled.

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A Saturday night here
was a very, very grand affair.

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And sometimes on dress nights,

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the young men would be
in their mess jackets

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and cummerbunds,
and looking very elegant.

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I also imagine the Taj
played an important role, a sort of,

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almost in the politics of India.

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A lot of people would come here,
the maharajah would come here,

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they could be maybe more liberated here.

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Of course. It was especially
during the racing season

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because a lot of them
had their studs and their stables.

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And they would race their horses,
and after the races,

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they would come here for dinner,
especially on a Saturday night.

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The maharajahs lived here,
they had suites here,

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where they would come regularly
so many months of the year.

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Today it's another big hotel.

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For us, with our links with the Taj,
it will always be a second home.

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The grand hotel survives
as a palace of pleasure,

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but it's no longer quite what it was.
It's been re-invented.

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It's no longer the preserve
of the princes and the aristocracy,

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the rich, the powerful and the famous
are now dominated by

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well-heeled, demanding,
globetrotting tourists.

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So they are rather
international in feel.

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But it's still a place of pleasure.

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Bavaria, southern Germany.

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People are celebrating
the coming of spring.

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In the 19th century,

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this was the playground
of the Bavarian royal family.

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I'll have one of those. Oh. Danke.

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And here, one monarch
indulged his wildest passions,

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creating an extravagant
and intoxicating building.

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-So, skol. Cheers, skol.
-Cheers.

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Cheers.

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This is Schwangau, Bavaria,
home to a fairytale vision,

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created by a man who wanted to
turn his dreams into architecture.

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He wanted to build
to escape the modern world.

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He wanted to build to escape humanity.

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His name was Ludwig II, the Dream King.

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(HORSES TROTTING)

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As a child, Ludwig loved the
countryside, especially around here.

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It was a perfect theatre
for his lively romantic imagination.

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He created a fancy world based on
Bavarian folk tales, tales of chivalry.

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And, of course, such tales
demanded a castle for him to inhabit.

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I understand that, as a child,
I fantasised about a castle,

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a place of safety, security, cosy,

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a castle with a great tower
which I could draw.

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But for me, that remained a fantasy.
However, for Ludwig it became a reality.

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This is the Schloss Neuschwanstein.

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The castle's only 150 years old,

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but it's a vision of medieval romance.

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I've long been intrigued
to see this place.

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This is not just architecture,

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entering here is like entering the mind,
the body, the soul of a man.

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The castle reflects Ludwig's dreams
of being an all-powerful ruler.

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Ludwig looked back into history,

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recreating a time when kings
were answerable to no one except God.

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This is the Throne Room,
a model of Ludwig's universe,

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a temple to pure,
just and absolute monarchy.

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It's inspired by a Byzantine
Christian church

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and proclaims kingship
by Christian virtues.

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Up there you have
the six canonised kings

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standing below an image
of Christ in judgement.

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And above me,

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the starry firmament, the sun,
under which the king rules.

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And here below me,
an image of the Earth,

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the cycle, the wheel of life.

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We have plants and animals. All this,
of course, creates the ideal world

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that Ludwig thought he would rule
in an ideal manner.

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But all of this is a fancy, a dream.

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Ludwig didn't have the power
of an absolute monarch.

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He couldn't decree laws

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and he was wracked by insecurity
about himself as a man.

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He felt inadequate, humiliated,
guilty about his homosexuality.

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To create this fairytale castle,
Ludwig embraced modern engineering.

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Neuschwanstein has more in common
with a New York skyscraper

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than a medieval castle.

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Ludwig liked the look of the past,
but he wanted to utilise

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the technology of the present.

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So the walls are made of brick,
just clad with a veneer of stone.

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And here, the major structure
is made out of steel.

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Steel girders, steel beams. Astonishing.

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At the heart of the castle
sits the Singers' Hall.

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Inspired by the operas
of Richard Wagner,

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here Ludwig could lose himself
in heroic music and legends.

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And to bring the music to life,

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Ludwig sought solitude
in the most mysterious of places.

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Golly.

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This must be the most extraordinary room
in this extraordinary castle.

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Here, as upper level,
the king created a subterranean grotto.

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It's inspired by the grotto
in the Tannhäuser saga,

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the grotto which Tannhäuser worshipped
and met Venus, the goddess of love.

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And here's the king's bedroom.

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It's in a delicate high Gothic style,
rather like a shrine.

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An exalted sacred space,
a marvellous monastic cell.

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And here is his bed,
an incredible affair,

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with a top portion
rather like a medieval tomb.

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Above the bed is an image of love,
with her bow and arrow

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aimed directly at the king's heart.

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The whole theme of the bedroom is love,

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or rather the trials and tribulations
and complications of earthly love.

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On the walls there are
a series of paintings,

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showing the story of Tristan and Isolde
set in the court of King Arthur.

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Theirs was an adulterous love brought on
by sorcery that ended in tragic death.

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But why should the king surround himself
in his bedroom with this story?

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Surely this story of illicit doomed love
spoke to Ludwig

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because his homosexuality
filled him with remorse.

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For him, earthly love
was a matter of guilt.

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Like Tristan and Isolde,
death offered the only salvation.

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Neuschwanstein is
Ludwig's greatest achievement.

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Here he could enjoy perfect isolation,
liberation really.

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From this tower
he could survey the landscape

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that had inspired his
romantic imagination since childhood.

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But this peace was not to last.

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Ludwig's extravagance attracted
powerful enemies in the Bavarian court.

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In 1886, at the age of 40,

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Ludwig was declared insane
and unfit to rule.

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00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,630
He was dragged from his bed
in Neuschwanstein,

236
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,430
exiled from his fairytale castle.

237
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:40,910
One day later,
Ludwig and his doctor were found dead.

238
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,830
Their bodies were found here.

239
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,110
The site now marked by this cross

240
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,550
that seems to be rising
rather eerily from the water.

241
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,670
Was it suicide? Was Ludwig heartbroken,

242
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,310
seeking salvation, escape through death?

243
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,430
Or was it murder?

244
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,950
The whole business remains
intensely mysterious.

245
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,110
But one thing is certain,
the king's death

246
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:23,270
was very convenient for those in Bavaria
who thought his reign bizarre.

247
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,910
Within weeks of Ludwig's death,

248
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,150
his castle was opened to the public
to recoup its expense.

249
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:44,350
Ludwig's eccentric vision
would repay its cost many times over.

250
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:52,030
And now Neuschwanstein
brings pleasure to the world.

251
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:58,390
Ludwig made our dream
of a magic castle real.

252
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:43,750
I'm travelling on the Amazon

253
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:49,870
in search of an opera house
in the middle of the rainforest.

254
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:59,590
It was built with money
from the Brazilian rubber trade.

255
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,510
So I'm going to see
where the story begins.

256
00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:15,390
(SPEAKING BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE)

257
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,790
Excellent. Mauricio.

258
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:24,230
Okay.

259
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:32,150
Mauricio's family have been
rubber tappers for three generations

260
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,990
and he's going to show me how it's done.

261
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,990
Mauricio's found his tree
and I see it's a young tree.

262
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:44,470
It hasn't been cut yet, so I suppose
therefore... Oh, he's cutting it now.

263
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:49,630
I suppose it's richer latex.
Now here we go, diagonal cut, so it's...

264
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:55,630
By gravity, the sap of the tree,
the latex, will seep out and run down.

265
00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:00,430
Oh, two cut. Oh, look, my goodness me!
It's coming out already, straightaway.

266
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,070
A tree full of life. Here it comes.

267
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:10,550
In the late 19th century,
this sap transformed the Amazon.

268
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,350
A boom in demand made fortunes

269
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,630
for the rubber barons
who controlled the industry.

270
00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:23,910
Look, there you are, elastic.
Brilliant. Ah, there it goes.

271
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:26,630
That is a wonderful example of...

272
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,750
It works, my God. Yes, and into there.

273
00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:39,310
There you are, so it's congealed this,
into a rubber band...

274
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:41,870
I say, I need a rubber band.
That's rather handy.

275
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,510
But for the workforce, life was grim.

276
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:51,110
They were kept poor,
trapped into debt and treated brutally.

277
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,670
I'm keen to know
what Mauricio makes of the opera house,

278
00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:59,750
paid for with their toil.

279
00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,670
Have you ever been inside it?

280
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,190
My journey takes me
to the point where the Amazon

281
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,790
is joined by two mighty rivers.

282
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:22,030
I'm at the meeting of the waters,
where the Rio Negro, on my right,

283
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,910
meets the Rio Solimoes,
flowing in here from my left.

284
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,910
The amazing thing is these rivers
have different coloured waters,

285
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:30,310
as you can see.

286
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:36,630
Rio Negro, the waters are inky black.
And the Rio Solimoes, a light yellow.

287
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:41,510
And just upstream of this
extraordinary crossroads

288
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,710
is the great inland port, Manaus.

289
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:14,470
The rubber boom transformed
Manaus from a shabby backwater...

290
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:15,590
Ugh!

291
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:20,030
...into a heaving centre of commerce,
and with this wealth,

292
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:24,230
the people created a building
to embody their cultural aspirations.

293
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:39,910
This is the Teatro Amazonas.

294
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:47,750
Completed in 1896, it's a piece of Paris
in the heart of Brazil.

295
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:59,750
After my journey up river, I approach
the building with some trepidation.

296
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,750
But my goodness, it is rather wonderful.

297
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:09,990
The approach is very dramatic,
sweeping staircase up to this terrace,

298
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:15,070
and in front of me looms
this powerful portico.

299
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:21,910
Corinthian colonnade,
a great semi-circular pediment above.

300
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,710
(WOMAN SINGING)

301
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,110
The auditorium is sensational.

302
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:29,430
It's so special, very fragile,
very, very wonderful.

303
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:34,310
I love these tiers of galleries
with their iron fronts.

304
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:38,710
It's all to do with
the pleasure of the arts.

305
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:43,950
And also has much to do
with veneration, in a way,

306
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:48,310
of that great city of pleasures, Paris,
because standing here looking up,

307
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,230
the ceiling is a wonderful conceived...

308
00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:55,110
The idea is one's standing below
the Eiffel Tower looking up.

309
00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:57,270
There are the four legs of the tower,

310
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,070
of course, which was
a sort of new wonder of the age

311
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,710
when this theatre was being designed.

312
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:07,870
And the four legs frame
four paintings showing the arts.

313
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,470
Dance over there, frolicking maidens.

314
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:12,950
Music.

315
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,430
Tragedy. And above the proscenium,

316
00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:20,310
the great epitome
of all the arts, opera.

317
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,990
Can you imagine sitting in this box
in 1900,

318
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:41,830
listening to an opera
or watching a ballet down there?

319
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,670
It was escapism of the highest order.

320
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,350
Outside was raw elemental nature,

321
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:54,270
the great rainforest, the mighty Amazon,
a teeming and dangerous port and market.

322
00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:59,070
But in here, well,
a world of fashion and elegance.

323
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:03,750
Really the opera house
was a refuge from reality.

324
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:36,310
Eliane Matarano is a soloist
at the Teatro Amazonas.

325
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:41,270
She grew up in a wooden shack
in a poor part of town.

326
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,750
Her life changed when she heard
a performance on this square

327
00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:46,990
in front of the opera house.

328
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,670
When the opera house was built,
it was for the elite of Manaus.

329
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:14,390
I mean, have times changed?

330
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:18,830
Do you think the opera, classical music,
now brings people together,

331
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:21,030
makes all people feel as one?

332
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:53,350
Tonight,
Eliane's going to perform on stage,

333
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,750
realising her dream
of bringing opera to the people.

334
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:24,030
This opera house may have been built

335
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,230
on the pain and suffering
of the rubber tappers.

336
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:33,430
But now, it entrances
the people of Manaus, a joyous place,

337
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,470
where talent and genius
are centre stage.

338
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:37,590
I'm driving through northern Italy

339
00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:41,710
on the trail of one of the greatest
architects of the Western world,

340
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:43,750
Andrea Palladio.

341
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:51,630
Palladio was born 500 years ago,

342
00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:57,750
yet his architecture continues
to inspire, astonish, to delight.

343
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:01,350
He believed that he possessed
the key to beauty

344
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:07,270
and he used it to create buildings that
are the ultimate in visual pleasure.

345
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:11,870
I'm on my way to see one of his
most exquisite pieces of work

346
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:14,470
to try and discover its secrets.

347
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,430
One of his finest creations
was built in the 1550s,

348
00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:42,150
the Villa Barbaro.

349
00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:56,030
Gosh, this villa has immense
architectural presence,

350
00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,110
sitting on this high bit of land
in front of me,

351
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:01,670
commanding all before it.

352
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:04,950
The first thing that strikes one
is a rigid symmetry,

353
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:08,350
suggesting order, balance, harmony.

354
00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:35,750
The central section of the villa
is topped with a triangular pediment,

355
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:40,430
supported on giant columns.
It's a temple front.

356
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:45,030
It's meant to invoke the gravity,
the dignity of the golden age of Rome.

357
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:57,990
The focus of the villa
is this mighty cube,

358
00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:00,430
which defines the whole design.

359
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:08,150
Every detail of the wings and pavilions
is proportionate to this cube.

360
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:14,790
The result is harmony
and timeless beauty,

361
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:17,910
commissioned by
the Barbaro brothers of Venice.

362
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:20,510
This magnificent front

363
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:22,950
suggests the location
of the main rooms of the villa,

364
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:26,630
or at least the largest rooms,
but rather surprisingly,

365
00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:31,070
it doesn't contain the main door.
That's somewhere else.

366
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:57,950
Guests would have entered the villa
by walking along this arcade.

367
00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:02,950
It's very impressive, rather formal
for the countryside, indeed quite urban.

368
00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:05,870
I feel like I'm entering
a public building.

369
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,550
This is sensational.

370
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:25,830
This part in front of me,
this was the public world

371
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:30,630
where the Barbaro brothers entertained
in great style, great state.

372
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,630
It does look rather like

373
00:41:32,720 --> 00:41:36,790
a sort of great basilica,
a great church, a great hall. Fantastic.

374
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,550
The walls are decorated
by Paolo Veronese

375
00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:45,870
in a trompe l'oeil 3-D effect.

376
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,310
Painted figures
and architectural details

377
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:55,710
enhance the proportions
and sense of space.

378
00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:03,550
And here one has evidence
that there was a door right here,

379
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:05,590
built into the fabric of the structure.

380
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:08,590
There's a recess for the door
and here's a hinge.

381
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:12,590
This door separated
the public world here

382
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,070
from the very private world here.

383
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:21,750
This modest saloon
is shaped like a cube,

384
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:25,470
but it's trompe l'oeil ceiling
makes it appear monumental.

385
00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:32,750
The rooms on each side
of this cubical hall

386
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:36,350
show in a very direct way
how Palladio would relate

387
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:40,190
different parts of the building
in a most harmonious manner.

388
00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:44,790
This room is double square in plan,
a double cube,

389
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,390
it's twice as long as it is wide,

390
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:52,830
and a double square was one of
Palladio's ideal, divine proportions.

391
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:04,990
The proportions of the villa
are like musical notes,

392
00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:09,950
so the whole building resonates like
a carefully composed piece of music.

393
00:43:10,720 --> 00:43:13,990
All of this, the precise proportions,

394
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:17,790
the carefully considered relationships
between the different parts

395
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:21,230
was intended to give
an intense sense of pleasure.

396
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,430
As well as proportions,
Palladio embraced symmetry,

397
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:32,470
doorways mirror doorways,
in perfect alignment.

398
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:42,190
The dining room is quite simply
a Palladian jewel box.

399
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:01,030
One's drawn out of
the private part of the villa

400
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:04,550
by this fantastic exuberant confection.

401
00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:07,190
It's called a nymphaeum

402
00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:10,550
and it's decorated with images
from classical mythology.

403
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,510
It's as if the Barbaros
were inviting the gods

404
00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:16,230
to join them in their pleasure ground.

405
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:50,070
But Palladio's architecture wasn't just
for the private palaces of the rich.

406
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,190
In the nearby city of Vicenza,

407
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:04,710
Palladio created masterpieces
for the public to enjoy.

408
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:14,550
(PEOPLE CHEERING)

409
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:21,910
And it's home to what
is, for me, an architectural bible.

410
00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:30,270
In front of me is the first edition of
Palladio's Quattro libri,

411
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:34,350
the Four Books of Architecture,
published in 1570.

412
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:37,270
So, well over 400 years old.

413
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:39,790
Published, of course,
during his lifetime.

414
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:43,950
This is an amazing document to handle.

415
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:47,310
It's one of the most inspirational

416
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:51,430
and profoundly influential
architecture books ever published.

417
00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:02,870
Through the centuries,
people have tried to understand

418
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:05,950
how Palladio's buildings
achieved such beauty.

419
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:14,830
But what is the secret
of his architecture?

420
00:46:20,240 --> 00:46:24,030
Clearly it's to do with the use of
particular proportions,

421
00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:27,310
which he believed were divine in origin,

422
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,550
used in very precise relationships.

423
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:34,470
But will these proportions
and relationships

424
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:38,270
always lead to beauty,
to pleasure in architecture?

425
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:43,030
Well, of course, pleasure
is a very personal matter.

426
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,870
What one can say, though,
with certainty,

427
00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:49,230
is that Palladio's architecture
has given pleasure

428
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:53,310
to many people for over 400 years.

429
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:56,310
It's certainly stood the test of time.

430
00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:00,630
I personally find it
incredibly stimulating.