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1
00:58:22,437 --> 00:58:27,204
l'm continuing my quest to discover
80 of the world's greatest man-made treasures.
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00:58:29,244 --> 00:58:30,711
l'm on Europe's doorstep,
3
00:58:30,879 --> 00:58:35,680
where East meets West in a glorious explosion
of cultures and religions.
4
00:58:37,919 --> 00:58:41,855
My treasures lie underground,
or concealed in busy cities.
5
00:58:42,223 --> 00:58:43,815
They come from man's efforts to create,
6
00:58:43,992 --> 00:58:47,223
for better or worse, an ideal world.
7
00:59:10,285 --> 00:59:13,254
Over the last four months
l've explored the Americas,
8
00:59:13,421 --> 00:59:17,380
Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
9
00:59:17,625 --> 00:59:21,083
Now from Egypt l'm about to arrive in Turkey.
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00:59:41,349 --> 00:59:42,839
l'm floating above Turkey -
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00:59:43,017 --> 00:59:45,850
- above a fantastical landscape,
12
00:59:46,020 --> 00:59:53,586
a fairy landscape - in which these strange
fairy-like chimneys are erupting from the land.
13
00:59:54,195 --> 00:59:58,723
People have burrowed into them,
inhabited them as they have the landscape,
14
00:59:58,900 --> 01:00:04,668
the rock itself below these
strange great rocky outcrops.
15
01:00:05,039 --> 01:00:10,204
This is a fantastic example of man
working creatively with nature.
16
01:00:14,816 --> 01:00:20,413
For thousands of years, this region,
called Cappadocia, was no-man's land,
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01:00:20,655 --> 01:00:22,953
where rival empires clashed.
18
01:00:23,124 --> 01:00:28,061
lt's a land of trouble,
a battleground for warring factions.
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01:00:42,477 --> 01:00:43,444
Over the centuries,
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01:00:43,611 --> 01:00:45,909
people fleeing war and persecution
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01:00:46,080 --> 01:00:49,811
found sanctuary in this labyrinthine landscape
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01:00:50,785 --> 01:00:53,652
formed by volcanoes millions of years ago.
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01:00:58,293 --> 01:01:01,888
My treasure lies beneath my feet,
deep underground.
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01:01:03,164 --> 01:01:06,156
lt was the last refuge of
the frightened and terrified.
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01:01:06,334 --> 01:01:12,967
At moments in history, a subterranean
safe haven for up to 30,000 people.
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01:01:35,797 --> 01:01:37,492
This place is - enormous.
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01:01:37,665 --> 01:01:39,496
lt goes on and on.
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01:01:40,501 --> 01:01:42,560
Different levels, twists and turns,
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01:01:42,737 --> 01:01:43,294
different staircases.
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01:01:43,471 --> 01:01:44,768
lt's a labyrinth.
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01:01:45,073 --> 01:01:46,734
But l suppose that's the point.
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01:01:47,041 --> 01:01:49,009
lt's a defence.
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01:01:49,744 --> 01:01:52,838
Any attacker would be frightfully confused.
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01:01:58,052 --> 01:02:01,886
lmagine it teeming with men, women, children
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01:02:02,056 --> 01:02:02,988
and animals,
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01:02:03,157 --> 01:02:05,751
and nothing but oil lamps for light.
37
01:02:07,595 --> 01:02:13,295
lt's like being a termite in a termite mound.
38
01:02:14,168 --> 01:02:19,401
These - are clearly houses, people's homes,
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01:02:19,674 --> 01:02:24,805
because there are - bed alcoves.
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01:02:26,247 --> 01:02:30,911
Some say all this was started by the Hittites
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01:02:31,085 --> 01:02:33,918
three and a half, four thousand years ago.
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01:02:36,424 --> 01:02:39,291
The Hittites were an ancient
and powerful civilisation
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01:02:39,460 --> 01:02:41,394
at war with the Egyptians.
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01:02:41,763 --> 01:02:44,391
But they would only have been
the first inhabitants.
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01:02:44,933 --> 01:02:46,332
Fifteen hundred years later
46
01:02:46,501 --> 01:02:49,402
it's thought Christians sought refuge here.
47
01:02:56,210 --> 01:02:59,839
You can imagine the congregation sheltering here,
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01:03:00,014 --> 01:03:04,348
perhaps from Roman persecutions
in the second century AD.
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01:03:04,519 --> 01:03:08,285
And this is the sort of rock-cut secret space
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01:03:08,656 --> 01:03:11,250
that forms the early Christian church.
51
01:03:11,659 --> 01:03:15,356
The great church has come -
from grottoes like this.
52
01:03:16,331 --> 01:03:20,529
And here - amazing evidence, look.
There's a cross.
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01:03:20,802 --> 01:03:23,498
Here's a cross cut into this recess.
54
01:03:24,505 --> 01:03:28,066
So it clearly has been a church at some time.
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01:03:35,016 --> 01:03:36,711
Although it feels unplanned,
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01:03:36,884 --> 01:03:40,911
slowly you realise how well organised it is.
57
01:03:42,290 --> 01:03:47,318
Ah. This was the wine store, or one of them.
58
01:03:47,929 --> 01:03:51,456
l suppose great flagons of the precious liquid
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01:03:52,934 --> 01:03:55,459
were placed in these recesses.
60
01:03:55,636 --> 01:04:01,836
And this surely was a bar.
61
01:04:04,512 --> 01:04:09,506
Feels like it. Excellent. Amazing. Now -
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01:04:10,752 --> 01:04:12,583
- ah, now this is what l've been looking for.
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01:04:13,421 --> 01:04:14,581
Fascinating.
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01:04:14,822 --> 01:04:18,383
Defence in depth. A great - stone wheel.
65
01:04:18,559 --> 01:04:22,859
That could with not too much difficulty,
a couple of people perhaps,
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01:04:23,031 --> 01:04:27,832
be pushed or rolled down to block the door.
67
01:04:28,403 --> 01:04:32,134
And here is a ramp going to the outside world.
68
01:04:39,647 --> 01:04:44,084
Good Lord, what a huge shaft.
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01:04:44,352 --> 01:04:46,786
So far down l can't see the bottom.
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01:04:46,954 --> 01:04:50,219
And so far up - l can't see the top.
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01:04:51,092 --> 01:04:53,560
lt's a ventilation shaft of course.
72
01:04:53,795 --> 01:04:56,593
Getting air into this - place, fresh air,
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01:04:56,764 --> 01:05:00,757
and the stale air out was a immense problem,
74
01:05:00,935 --> 01:05:03,665
and of course good ventilation
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01:05:03,838 --> 01:05:07,672
is the secret for the success of this as a refuge.
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01:05:18,686 --> 01:05:21,120
This must have been a very grim place
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01:05:21,289 --> 01:05:23,849
in which to live for any length of time.
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01:05:24,025 --> 01:05:28,325
The smell, the darkness, the noise.
79
01:05:28,529 --> 01:05:36,459
But it's also a monument to man's ability
to creatively manipulate nature,
80
01:05:36,637 --> 01:05:38,400
manipulate the landscape.
81
01:05:39,040 --> 01:05:46,811
But it is very strange. And erm, l suppose
one would get used to it, would feel safe.
82
01:05:46,981 --> 01:05:51,111
But no, it would have been
very difficult to be here.
83
01:06:16,377 --> 01:06:17,435
l need a haircut,
84
01:06:17,612 --> 01:06:20,308
and in town l hear of a man who cuts hair.
85
01:06:20,481 --> 01:06:23,075
He sounds like a barber, but he's not.
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01:06:23,251 --> 01:06:24,843
He collects the stuff.
87
01:06:25,019 --> 01:06:26,577
l must investigate.
88
01:06:27,922 --> 01:06:30,755
Big scissors up there, a promising sign.
89
01:06:31,926 --> 01:06:34,019
- How do you do? Hair.
- Hair.
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01:06:34,195 --> 01:06:35,389
Hair. My hair?
91
01:06:35,763 --> 01:06:38,561
- Only ladies' hair.
- Just ladies' hair.
92
01:06:38,733 --> 01:06:39,392
Just ladies.
93
01:06:39,567 --> 01:06:42,502
Why - why do you erm, silly question perhaps,
94
01:06:42,670 --> 01:06:44,262
why do you collect ladies' hair.
95
01:06:44,438 --> 01:06:46,099
- Why not?
- No, why not?
96
01:06:46,274 --> 01:06:47,673
That's a perfectly good answer.
97
01:06:47,975 --> 01:06:51,502
You just have a thing about ladies' hair.
So do l actually.
98
01:06:54,649 --> 01:06:56,446
You've got - you've got to volunteer to be -
99
01:06:56,717 --> 01:06:58,708
this is absolutely appalling -
l mean, absolutely wonderful.
100
01:06:58,886 --> 01:07:01,047
Every piece of hair has a label on it.
101
01:07:08,496 --> 01:07:10,726
l haven't met so many women
in the world actually.
102
01:07:11,465 --> 01:07:12,454
No, look.
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01:07:13,000 --> 01:07:14,160
They're everywhere.
104
01:07:18,439 --> 01:07:20,600
They all seem to be blonde,
and you're both blonde.
105
01:07:21,375 --> 01:07:22,967
This is even more peculiar.
106
01:07:24,111 --> 01:07:25,976
So no, no chaps, no men's hair at all.
107
01:07:26,147 --> 01:07:28,047
No, that - that would break the spell.
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01:07:36,891 --> 01:07:38,358
l head north to lstanbul,
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01:07:38,526 --> 01:07:40,187
the capital of modern Turkey,
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01:07:40,361 --> 01:07:43,626
but once heart of the great empire of Byzantium.
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01:07:52,273 --> 01:07:54,833
l'm crossing the Bosphorus at lstanbul,
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01:07:55,009 --> 01:08:00,470
crossing from - Asia,
over there on my left - to Europe.
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01:08:00,982 --> 01:08:03,951
Always an historic and a emotional moment,
114
01:08:04,118 --> 01:08:06,643
this leaping from one world to the other,
115
01:08:06,821 --> 01:08:09,119
but particularly so now for me,
116
01:08:09,290 --> 01:08:14,057
because it means l'm coming - to the end
of my epic around-the-world journey.
117
01:08:14,562 --> 01:08:17,429
l'm entering - familiar territory.
118
01:08:17,765 --> 01:08:19,164
l'm nearing home.
119
01:08:27,942 --> 01:08:31,275
When l land l'm going to see
one of the greatest buildings in the world,
120
01:08:31,445 --> 01:08:35,973
a building that had a huge influence
on Western architecture.
121
01:08:40,187 --> 01:08:41,211
Thank you.
122
01:08:49,897 --> 01:08:53,560
lstanbul still feels like a city
where two worlds meet,
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01:08:54,001 --> 01:08:57,334
the Christian world and the lslamic world.
124
01:08:59,006 --> 01:09:00,667
At its heart is my treasure -
125
01:09:00,841 --> 01:09:03,332
once a church, then a mosque.
126
01:09:11,552 --> 01:09:13,850
Hagia Sophia was built my the emperor Justinian
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01:09:14,021 --> 01:09:15,989
in the 6th century AD.
128
01:09:16,757 --> 01:09:20,386
When completed,
it was the greatest church in the world.
129
01:09:44,018 --> 01:09:46,851
What an astonishing space.
130
01:09:47,154 --> 01:09:52,888
When - Justinian walked in here in 537,
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01:09:53,194 --> 01:09:54,593
after nearly six years of construction,
132
01:09:54,762 --> 01:09:58,289
he stood - probably - about here,
133
01:09:58,933 --> 01:10:04,303
and said, 'oh, Solomon, l have surpassed thee.'
134
01:10:04,472 --> 01:10:05,200
An incredible statement,
135
01:10:05,373 --> 01:10:09,241
referring of course - to Solomon's temple,
136
01:10:09,477 --> 01:10:18,044
the great temple that had inspired
so many churches around the word.
137
01:10:19,520 --> 01:10:25,049
And l must say - Justinian had a point.
138
01:10:25,459 --> 01:10:34,094
This is - remains -
one of the greatest sacred places ever.
139
01:10:59,894 --> 01:11:03,193
The name Hagia Sophia means divine wisdom.
140
01:11:03,364 --> 01:11:10,099
And here divine wisdom is made manifest -
through elegant scientific construction,
141
01:11:10,271 --> 01:11:17,677
a construction that reveals the forces of nature,
the power of god's creation.
142
01:11:18,746 --> 01:11:25,083
And in particular, the manifestation here
is revealed through this mighty dome that sits,
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01:11:25,252 --> 01:11:29,746
appears to float above the space
in which l'm standing.
144
01:11:30,124 --> 01:11:32,058
This is how it works.
145
01:11:32,226 --> 01:11:39,189
lt's supported by a series of half domes
and rises off great masonry piers,
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01:11:39,366 --> 01:11:41,459
almost concealed in the structure.
147
01:11:41,669 --> 01:11:46,129
So the outward thrust of the dome,
the horizontal lateral thrust, is -
148
01:11:46,307 --> 01:11:49,640
- countered by an almost equal thrust -
149
01:11:49,810 --> 01:11:54,406
- from this series of half domes
and quarter domes below.
150
01:12:10,364 --> 01:12:14,095
l'm on a gallery immediately below the dome,
151
01:12:14,268 --> 01:12:20,264
and right down there is the er -
the area where emperors were crowned.
152
01:12:20,508 --> 01:12:22,066
A long way down indeed.
153
01:12:22,276 --> 01:12:24,471
lt's very, very exhilarating being up here.
154
01:12:24,912 --> 01:12:29,315
You see the gallery doesn't feel that
it'll take my weight if l toppled against it.
155
01:12:37,491 --> 01:12:42,758
This became a great prototype,
a pioneering construction -
156
01:12:42,930 --> 01:12:45,990
- the first time a church had a great dome,
157
01:12:46,166 --> 01:12:47,565
a symbol - of the heavens.
158
01:12:47,735 --> 01:12:49,726
But after this, every great church,
159
01:12:49,904 --> 01:12:52,498
every great cathedral, had to have a dome.
160
01:12:52,673 --> 01:12:54,072
The Duomo in Florence,
161
01:12:54,241 --> 01:12:55,503
St Peter's in Rome,
162
01:12:55,676 --> 01:12:59,271
and of course St Paul's in London.
163
01:13:05,152 --> 01:13:08,053
With the rise of the Ottoman Empire
in the 15th century,
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01:13:08,222 --> 01:13:10,190
Aya Sophia became a mosque.
165
01:13:11,058 --> 01:13:12,525
Today it's a secular space,
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01:13:12,693 --> 01:13:16,390
with sacred meaning to
both Christians and Muslims.
167
01:13:20,868 --> 01:13:21,527
Good evening.
168
01:13:21,702 --> 01:13:24,466
- How do you do? Hello.
- Hello. Welcome.
169
01:13:24,638 --> 01:13:26,037
How do you do?
170
01:13:26,740 --> 01:13:29,868
l want to - l've been travelling
round the world for four months.
171
01:13:30,044 --> 01:13:31,534
l want a little bit of a haircut.
172
01:13:31,879 --> 01:13:32,811
Please, please.
173
01:13:32,980 --> 01:13:33,537
Wash.
174
01:13:33,714 --> 01:13:35,079
Wash. Okay, wash.
175
01:13:35,616 --> 01:13:37,379
Gentle massage, oh dear.
176
01:13:42,389 --> 01:13:43,253
Oh my god.
177
01:13:59,873 --> 01:14:01,306
Oh my god, what's happening?
178
01:14:02,042 --> 01:14:03,134
Don't worry, sir.
179
01:14:04,311 --> 01:14:05,972
Ow. Ow!
180
01:14:06,647 --> 01:14:12,381
My ear's burnt. The smell of the burning flesh.
181
01:14:16,390 --> 01:14:17,948
Sorry, who asked for this?
182
01:14:26,900 --> 01:14:27,764
Good night.
183
01:14:28,035 --> 01:14:29,297
- A pleasure.
- Thank you.
184
01:14:32,573 --> 01:14:33,801
Good evening.
185
01:14:35,976 --> 01:14:39,139
Brain, lamb's brain. Absolutely. Maybe a couple.
186
01:14:45,019 --> 01:14:51,356
Mm, reminds me of the
testicles l had outside Petra.
187
01:14:52,526 --> 01:14:53,686
Bit better actually.
188
01:14:55,262 --> 01:14:57,594
Definitely a bit better than testicles.
189
01:14:57,765 --> 01:15:02,702
Ah. Though testicles are very good.
190
01:15:06,540 --> 01:15:09,805
From lstanbul l fly to Russia.
191
01:15:18,552 --> 01:15:21,783
l haven't been here since
this was the Soviet Union.
192
01:15:22,289 --> 01:15:27,522
Advertising neon-adorned walls
once boasting Communist slogans.
193
01:15:35,636 --> 01:15:38,264
But Red Square remains what it always has been,
194
01:15:38,439 --> 01:15:43,741
a glorious testament to Russia's
might and totalitarian history.
195
01:15:57,024 --> 01:15:59,151
And this is where l'm heading.
196
01:16:01,061 --> 01:16:03,529
My treasure is - experienced,
197
01:16:03,697 --> 01:16:08,225
enjoyed by over seven million people a day.
198
01:16:12,206 --> 01:16:18,236
lt's a world within a world,
and l'm already in it.
199
01:16:23,650 --> 01:16:24,708
Hello.
200
01:16:25,018 --> 01:16:26,383
Er, one ticket...
201
01:16:27,387 --> 01:16:29,480
This is the Moscow metro,
202
01:16:29,656 --> 01:16:33,057
the greatest underground railway in the world.
203
01:16:33,494 --> 01:16:35,689
Construction began in 1931,
204
01:16:35,863 --> 01:16:37,956
and the intention was simple:
205
01:16:38,132 --> 01:16:41,533
to show the world that
Soviet technical and artistic excellence
206
01:16:41,702 --> 01:16:44,034
was better than anywhere else.
207
01:16:44,438 --> 01:16:48,033
We're only being allowed down here
to film with a guide -
208
01:16:48,208 --> 01:16:51,575
- a charming woman with a lovely red hat.
209
01:16:55,048 --> 01:16:58,381
And now l arrive at this great classical hall,
210
01:16:58,552 --> 01:17:00,452
like a palace ballroom.
211
01:17:00,921 --> 01:17:06,359
Barrel vault, chandeliers, mosaics on the wall -
212
01:17:06,593 --> 01:17:09,391
- and rich and inventive classical detail.
213
01:17:17,704 --> 01:17:20,639
This is the great Komsomolskaya Station.
214
01:17:20,841 --> 01:17:23,207
lt sits at the very heart of the network.
215
01:17:27,447 --> 01:17:29,608
You may think that this opulence is associated -
216
01:17:29,783 --> 01:17:33,879
- with the Tsarist times
and with at least palace life.
217
01:17:34,054 --> 01:17:35,578
But that is the one thing the Soviet authorities
218
01:17:35,756 --> 01:17:37,883
would have rejected in 1931
219
01:17:38,058 --> 01:17:40,049
when the decision was made to build the metro.
220
01:17:40,227 --> 01:17:41,956
But things were more sophisticated than that.
221
01:17:42,129 --> 01:17:47,362
lt was recognised this great palatial decoration
had great meaning for ordinary people.
222
01:17:47,534 --> 01:17:49,126
lt would enrich their lives,
223
01:17:49,303 --> 01:17:51,931
would make travel through the city a pleasure.
224
01:17:52,105 --> 01:17:54,335
And - within this architecture
225
01:17:54,508 --> 01:17:59,844
is embedded various significant images
and symbols about the Soviet triumph.
226
01:18:00,013 --> 01:18:03,210
lt really is a very, very - clever piece of work,
227
01:18:03,383 --> 01:18:08,377
presided over and given meaning and pedigree
by the great man himself -
228
01:18:08,555 --> 01:18:09,419
Lenin.
229
01:18:12,926 --> 01:18:15,190
This station is only one of the many lavish
230
01:18:15,362 --> 01:18:18,126
and themed stations on the Moscow metro.
231
01:18:19,366 --> 01:18:21,027
One need only pop onto a train
232
01:18:21,201 --> 01:18:23,431
to discover new wonders.
233
01:18:34,715 --> 01:18:36,046
At Mayakovsky Station
234
01:18:36,316 --> 01:18:42,050
you really get the idea of the metro system
as an idealised underground city,
235
01:18:42,289 --> 01:18:43,881
clean and beautiful,
236
01:18:44,057 --> 01:18:48,323
because in the vaults above my head
are these - mosaics.
237
01:18:48,495 --> 01:18:51,487
Here, your window into the world above.
238
01:18:51,765 --> 01:18:58,796
A worm's eye view of the city.
lt shows sky, planes and bits of buildings.
239
01:18:58,972 --> 01:19:03,875
l really do feel - l'm walking below the real,
240
01:19:04,044 --> 01:19:07,241
dangerous and rather ugly world above.
241
01:19:09,750 --> 01:19:12,344
Within only 25 years of being commissioned,
242
01:19:12,519 --> 01:19:16,046
the Moscow metro had 41 miles of track,
243
01:19:17,357 --> 01:19:18,619
and 45 stations,
244
01:19:18,792 --> 01:19:20,885
employing only Russian materials,
245
01:19:21,061 --> 01:19:23,188
designers and engineers.
246
01:19:25,899 --> 01:19:28,925
This is Revolution Square, and er,
247
01:19:30,304 --> 01:19:35,332
here is an amazing figure
commemorating the October Revolution,
248
01:19:35,509 --> 01:19:37,204
October 1917.
249
01:19:37,377 --> 01:19:43,782
A sailor armed with a gun with
the hammer cocked. lncredible stuff.
250
01:19:47,387 --> 01:19:50,083
One can't help but compare
these heroic bronze figures
251
01:19:50,257 --> 01:19:52,191
fighting for a better world
252
01:19:52,359 --> 01:19:54,657
with the inheritors of that world.
253
01:19:55,028 --> 01:19:57,326
Only now the struggle is for Capitalism
254
01:19:57,497 --> 01:19:59,328
to deliver a better future.
255
01:20:07,674 --> 01:20:10,541
The Soviet era may have come
to grief above ground,
256
01:20:10,711 --> 01:20:13,339
but it certainly lives on down here.
257
01:20:23,857 --> 01:20:25,722
Well, l've come to Mayakovsky Park on the edge -
258
01:20:25,892 --> 01:20:27,723
- of the centre of Moscow.
259
01:20:27,894 --> 01:20:29,919
This is the great Sunday market.
260
01:20:30,430 --> 01:20:31,624
Everything can be purchased here.
261
01:20:31,798 --> 01:20:32,730
l'm looking for a hat,
262
01:20:32,899 --> 01:20:37,302
because this one, l have to admit,
after four months is,
263
01:20:37,471 --> 01:20:39,632
well, worn-out and maybe slightly inappropriate
264
01:20:39,806 --> 01:20:42,240
because l'm entering
northern Europe and coldness,
265
01:20:42,409 --> 01:20:43,706
even snow.
266
01:20:45,445 --> 01:20:46,673
l know what l want erm,
267
01:20:47,447 --> 01:20:49,881
black hairy hat with ear - earflaps.
268
01:20:51,918 --> 01:20:53,146
- Hello.
- Hello.
269
01:20:59,092 --> 01:21:00,423
Okay, thank you.
270
01:21:01,962 --> 01:21:03,520
Too small. My head's too big.
271
01:21:05,766 --> 01:21:07,961
Too - too small.
272
01:21:11,571 --> 01:21:13,198
Ah, hat.
273
01:21:14,441 --> 01:21:15,772
This is more like it.
274
01:21:17,144 --> 01:21:18,771
No, l don't want - l don't want
- l don't want mink.
275
01:21:18,945 --> 01:21:20,071
No, l don't want mink.
276
01:21:20,547 --> 01:21:21,946
And this one is -
277
01:21:29,456 --> 01:21:32,550
How much does a proper skin hat cost?
278
01:21:35,028 --> 01:21:36,188
ln such good condition.
279
01:21:37,464 --> 01:21:38,488
Oh, you've found a hat.
280
01:21:39,299 --> 01:21:41,199
He really wants to make a sale.
281
01:21:42,369 --> 01:21:43,996
Oh yes, that's very good.
282
01:21:46,073 --> 01:21:47,040
Okay.
283
01:21:49,709 --> 01:21:52,507
Four thousand. Get it - get it down.
Let's get it down.
284
01:21:52,679 --> 01:21:54,738
- How much? - Four thousand.
285
01:21:54,915 --> 01:21:57,042
At last l find a hat that fits.
286
01:21:57,851 --> 01:21:58,681
But Russian free trade
287
01:21:58,852 --> 01:22:04,313
seems to depend on confusing the buyer
into paying an exorbitant price.
288
01:22:04,491 --> 01:22:05,651
You said a thousand.
289
01:22:05,826 --> 01:22:06,622
Okay, one five.
290
01:22:06,793 --> 01:22:08,954
l'm not - you can't mess me about like this.
291
01:22:09,129 --> 01:22:11,120
You - you gave me a price.
292
01:22:11,364 --> 01:22:13,798
You said one - thousand, you said one thousand.
293
01:22:17,804 --> 01:22:19,431
Why fall out over 50 pence?
294
01:22:21,341 --> 01:22:22,968
Okay, there you go.
295
01:22:24,945 --> 01:22:27,937
We should have shaken -
we should have shaken before.
296
01:22:28,381 --> 01:22:29,040
Thank you. Bye.
297
01:22:29,216 --> 01:22:30,877
Been good doing business with you.
298
01:22:34,121 --> 01:22:35,088
What a rogue.
299
01:22:36,857 --> 01:22:38,722
Soothed by Aeroflot chintz,
300
01:22:38,892 --> 01:22:41,690
l head north to St Petersburg.
301
01:22:51,605 --> 01:22:55,336
St Petersburg was the vision of one man:
302
01:22:55,509 --> 01:23:01,505
Tsar Peter the Great, who forced thousands
of peasants and prisoners of war to build it.
303
01:23:02,649 --> 01:23:06,517
ln 1703 this was bleak marshland.
304
01:23:07,387 --> 01:23:08,820
Just a few decades later
305
01:23:08,989 --> 01:23:11,287
the magnificent city we see today
306
01:23:11,458 --> 01:23:13,722
was rising out of the swamp.
307
01:23:14,995 --> 01:23:17,429
lt remains one of the most
impressive and ruthless feats
308
01:23:17,597 --> 01:23:20,532
of city building of the modern age.
309
01:23:21,735 --> 01:23:26,172
l'm arriving at St Petersburg much
as a Russian nobleman would have done
310
01:23:26,339 --> 01:23:31,800
200 years - or so ago er,
give or take the traffic jams.
311
01:23:32,412 --> 01:23:38,578
Erm, this is Nevsky Prospect, which is
the backbone of the city, its great street.
312
01:23:38,752 --> 01:23:45,521
And it was erm, commissioned by Peter er,
from a French architect -
313
01:23:45,692 --> 01:23:52,791
- and built by Swedish prisoners of war
in the very early 1720s, mostly.
314
01:23:52,966 --> 01:23:56,527
lt was to be the great showcase of St Petersburg,
315
01:23:56,703 --> 01:24:00,264
lined with palaces and great public buildings.
316
01:24:00,440 --> 01:24:02,738
The point was to reveal to the world
317
01:24:02,909 --> 01:24:06,504
that Russia was no longer a cultural - backwater,
318
01:24:06,680 --> 01:24:10,707
but one of the great powers of Europe -
military power
319
01:24:10,884 --> 01:24:13,318
and a great place of culture.
320
01:24:24,231 --> 01:24:25,721
The street's narrowing.
321
01:24:26,466 --> 01:24:29,924
One's whole sense is that one's being
directed towards something special,
322
01:24:30,103 --> 01:24:31,570
this funnelling effect.
323
01:24:31,771 --> 01:24:33,762
lt's very dramatic, very theatrical.
324
01:24:35,308 --> 01:24:38,471
We're going below this arch,
325
01:24:39,112 --> 01:24:41,307
full of military trophies,
326
01:24:41,548 --> 01:24:43,573
incredible neo-classical details,
327
01:24:43,750 --> 01:24:46,844
lovely masks of ancient - warriors.
328
01:24:51,224 --> 01:24:52,748
One arch, another arch.
329
01:24:52,926 --> 01:24:55,053
And then, this is amazing,
330
01:24:55,228 --> 01:24:59,164
suddenly the space that's been
funnelling in like that exposed,
331
01:24:59,332 --> 01:25:00,356
opens up and
332
01:25:00,533 --> 01:25:03,093
one's in this spectacular square.
333
01:25:03,303 --> 01:25:04,497
The palace square.
334
01:25:04,738 --> 01:25:09,175
ln front of me -
is the Winter Palace of the Tsars.
335
01:25:18,018 --> 01:25:21,078
All these buildings were completed -
after Peter's death.
336
01:25:21,254 --> 01:25:22,380
But that's not the point.
337
01:25:22,555 --> 01:25:25,183
They're realising, confirming his vision.
338
01:25:25,358 --> 01:25:26,347
An amazing thought,
339
01:25:26,526 --> 01:25:29,222
less than a hundred years after the plan
340
01:25:29,396 --> 01:25:33,230
was made to create a city here,
a city was completed -
341
01:25:33,400 --> 01:25:37,769
a city that is one of the
greatest cities in the world.
342
01:25:40,407 --> 01:25:45,367
But, perhaps strangely,
none of this is my treasure.
343
01:25:55,455 --> 01:25:58,424
This little building may look rather drab,
344
01:25:58,591 --> 01:26:02,789
but it contains the secret of St Petersburg
345
01:26:02,962 --> 01:26:06,090
hidden like ajewel in a casket.
346
01:26:17,243 --> 01:26:19,677
This - is where it all started.
347
01:26:20,080 --> 01:26:21,570
This simple cabin
348
01:26:21,748 --> 01:26:26,412
is the first building created in St Petersburg.
349
01:26:26,820 --> 01:26:31,314
lt was built in the summer of 1703,
in three days,
350
01:26:31,491 --> 01:26:33,618
by a party of soldiers.
351
01:26:34,194 --> 01:26:36,025
lt was built for Peter the Great;
352
01:26:36,196 --> 01:26:39,757
it was here that he sat imagining,
353
01:26:39,933 --> 01:26:43,391
conceiving the great city of St Petersburg.
354
01:26:47,006 --> 01:26:49,702
This cabin is the smallest palace in Russia,
355
01:26:49,876 --> 01:26:52,401
but to my mind the most moving.
356
01:26:53,680 --> 01:26:57,639
Through these windows Peter would
have seen just marshland and forest.
357
01:26:58,518 --> 01:26:59,348
At that desk
358
01:26:59,519 --> 01:27:02,488
he realised his vision for a magnificent city.
359
01:27:05,091 --> 01:27:08,822
This cabin is a - remarkable and moving survival,
360
01:27:08,995 --> 01:27:11,156
but what does it mean?
361
01:27:11,331 --> 01:27:14,789
Well, the key is that Peter himself
362
01:27:14,968 --> 01:27:18,369
ordered its preservation in 1723.
363
01:27:19,406 --> 01:27:20,930
lt's very much a political statement.
364
01:27:21,274 --> 01:27:25,404
lts simplicity was meant
to create a myth about Peter:
365
01:27:25,645 --> 01:27:28,614
a simple, modest, self-effacing man.
366
01:27:31,451 --> 01:27:33,510
So revered is the structure that no one,
367
01:27:33,686 --> 01:27:36,450
including me, is allowed inside.
368
01:27:42,495 --> 01:27:48,161
This little - sort of closet really -
was his bedroom.
369
01:27:48,334 --> 01:27:49,301
lncredible.
370
01:27:49,469 --> 01:27:52,131
The fellow stood six foot eight inches tall.
371
01:27:52,305 --> 01:27:55,001
There's his coat and trousers over there.
372
01:27:55,608 --> 01:27:58,475
And he - well, he'd hardly fit in here.
373
01:27:59,446 --> 01:28:03,542
This shrine shows the almost monkish existence
374
01:28:03,716 --> 01:28:07,777
he lived here while
he conceived in his imagination
375
01:28:07,954 --> 01:28:10,252
the great city of St Petersburg.
376
01:28:14,828 --> 01:28:20,562
Surely this must be one of the most
beautiful visions of a city any man ever had.
377
01:28:30,777 --> 01:28:32,870
l fly north towards the White Sea,
378
01:28:33,046 --> 01:28:36,743
to a part of Russia
that seems like another world.
379
01:28:37,217 --> 01:28:37,979
And the coldest leg
380
01:28:38,151 --> 01:28:40,119
of my journey so far.
381
01:29:13,720 --> 01:29:16,518
l'm a hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle,
382
01:29:16,689 --> 01:29:20,284
and entering a region of myth and folklore.
383
01:29:20,527 --> 01:29:23,155
Ahead of me - lies a group of islands,
384
01:29:23,329 --> 01:29:25,354
and they are my destination,
385
01:29:25,532 --> 01:29:27,830
because there - on one of these islands,
386
01:29:28,001 --> 01:29:32,165
is a place that in itself
tells the history of Russia.
387
01:29:45,385 --> 01:29:49,845
ln 1429 two monks,
388
01:29:50,490 --> 01:29:55,086
one called Savati, the other called German,
389
01:29:55,395 --> 01:29:58,694
landed here on Solovski lsland.
390
01:29:58,865 --> 01:30:01,595
They'd made a two-day trip from the mainland,
391
01:30:01,768 --> 01:30:03,326
a dangerous journey.
392
01:30:03,937 --> 01:30:08,340
They came here because it was deserted,
that was the point.
393
01:30:08,575 --> 01:30:11,840
They were hermits really.
They wanted to live in solitude,
394
01:30:12,011 --> 01:30:14,707
to contemplate their god alone.
395
01:30:15,081 --> 01:30:16,309
They landed about here,
396
01:30:16,482 --> 01:30:23,411
and somewhere over there they started to
build a chapel and two cells in which to live.
397
01:30:27,594 --> 01:30:30,085
Word spread about the two hermits at Solovki,
398
01:30:30,263 --> 01:30:33,061
and a religious community grew up around them.
399
01:30:33,533 --> 01:30:35,160
A little over a hundred years later,
400
01:30:35,335 --> 01:30:39,567
they built a fantastic stronghold
to ensure their survival.
401
01:30:51,517 --> 01:30:53,417
ln a beautiful and dramatic way
402
01:30:53,586 --> 01:30:56,851
the monastery is a microcosm of Russia.
403
01:30:57,123 --> 01:30:58,681
Many of the great characters
404
01:30:58,858 --> 01:31:01,452
and social events in the nation's history
405
01:31:01,628 --> 01:31:04,188
have left their mark here.
406
01:31:04,831 --> 01:31:05,559
To enter the monastery
407
01:31:05,732 --> 01:31:09,031
is to enter the soul of Russia,
408
01:31:09,469 --> 01:31:13,462
to see its dark side, but also its glory.
409
01:31:19,946 --> 01:31:23,211
lt seems more a fortress than a monastery,
410
01:31:23,383 --> 01:31:27,820
but then it is a monastery with a difference.
411
01:31:28,154 --> 01:31:29,678
A place of worldly power,
412
01:31:29,856 --> 01:31:32,586
of trade as well, and of God.
413
01:31:32,759 --> 01:31:37,162
lt was the capital of this part of Russia,
414
01:31:37,330 --> 01:31:41,164
and also a great bastion against invasion,
415
01:31:41,334 --> 01:31:46,067
a great defence against the Swedes, the Danes,
and indeed against the English,
416
01:31:46,239 --> 01:31:47,399
who in the early 17th century
417
01:31:47,573 --> 01:31:49,006
wanted to seize this area
418
01:31:49,175 --> 01:31:55,478
because this was, they said,
the richest place of its date in the world.
419
01:31:57,083 --> 01:32:00,575
The monks became so confident
that they rebelled against the Tsar
420
01:32:00,753 --> 01:32:03,187
when he introduced church reforms.
421
01:32:04,057 --> 01:32:06,355
ln retaliation, in 1668,
422
01:32:06,526 --> 01:32:08,118
an army was sent from Moscow
423
01:32:08,294 --> 01:32:10,956
and an eight-year siege ensued.
424
01:32:12,832 --> 01:32:17,098
Eventually it was a monk
that betrayed the monastery.
425
01:32:17,270 --> 01:32:21,434
He told the Tsarist soldiers
about a small door in the wall,
426
01:32:21,607 --> 01:32:25,065
a postern, that was very poorly bricked up.
427
01:32:25,578 --> 01:32:27,375
They went to that door by night -
428
01:32:28,014 --> 01:32:32,610
- and broke it open, just over there,
then they entered secretly -
429
01:32:32,785 --> 01:32:36,277
and took the monks entirely by surprise.
430
01:32:36,456 --> 01:32:39,050
The soldiers' blood was up. They were angry.
431
01:32:39,225 --> 01:32:40,385
They attacked the monks
432
01:32:40,560 --> 01:32:42,289
and almost 40 were killed.
433
01:32:42,462 --> 01:32:44,327
Some were hung up by their heels
434
01:32:44,497 --> 01:32:45,987
and beaten till they died,
435
01:32:46,165 --> 01:32:48,224
others were tied behind horses
436
01:32:48,401 --> 01:32:50,869
and dragged to their deaths.
437
01:32:54,741 --> 01:32:56,436
Back under Tsarist control,
438
01:32:56,609 --> 01:32:59,703
Peter the Great used Solovki as a prison.
439
01:33:00,446 --> 01:33:02,107
And though monastic life returned,
440
01:33:02,281 --> 01:33:05,682
Solovki would once again sink into despair.
441
01:33:08,154 --> 01:33:11,055
After the Communist revolution of 1917,
442
01:33:11,224 --> 01:33:14,523
it was here, in and around the monastery,
443
01:33:14,694 --> 01:33:18,357
that the Soviet regime set up the first Gulag -
444
01:33:18,531 --> 01:33:22,433
a concentration camp for political prisoners.
445
01:33:23,002 --> 01:33:23,969
At its peak,
446
01:33:24,137 --> 01:33:26,503
50,000 were held at Solovki,
447
01:33:26,672 --> 01:33:29,334
and very many died here.
448
01:33:31,577 --> 01:33:37,038
This is one of the most infamous rooms
in Russian history.
449
01:33:37,817 --> 01:33:40,377
This was built in the mid-19th century
450
01:33:40,553 --> 01:33:43,317
as the cathedral - of the Holy Trinity,
451
01:33:43,489 --> 01:33:50,258
but in 1924 became Company 13.
452
01:33:51,264 --> 01:33:54,631
This was where all male prisoners
453
01:33:54,801 --> 01:33:59,101
who were brought to this Gulag
were placed for three months.
454
01:34:00,106 --> 01:34:04,600
ln this space, from 1924 to 1937,
455
01:34:05,144 --> 01:34:09,410
lived at any one time 800-850 men,
456
01:34:11,384 --> 01:34:15,150
in bunks tiered up - towards the ceiling.
457
01:34:15,388 --> 01:34:17,879
And below this world of bunks,
458
01:34:18,057 --> 01:34:19,888
living in filth, were children.
459
01:34:20,493 --> 01:34:21,721
They weren't know about, they weren't documented,
460
01:34:21,894 --> 01:34:23,759
weren't fed by the camp authorities.
461
01:34:23,930 --> 01:34:27,832
They skulked in this room
below the bunks of the - of the men.
462
01:34:28,000 --> 01:34:29,467
lt's a heartbreaking and terrible story.
463
01:34:29,635 --> 01:34:33,833
And here l'm looking at the main altar
at the east end,
464
01:34:34,006 --> 01:34:36,600
this was given over to the latrines.
465
01:34:38,511 --> 01:34:39,910
A frightful insult.
466
01:34:40,146 --> 01:34:43,877
And up there,
where there had been a picture of Christ,
467
01:34:44,050 --> 01:34:46,814
was a picture of Lenin,
468
01:34:46,986 --> 01:34:49,454
a mockery really, the whole thing.
469
01:34:49,622 --> 01:34:51,089
A form of psychological warfare
470
01:34:51,257 --> 01:34:57,321
to destroy the will and souls
of these poor human beings
471
01:34:58,397 --> 01:35:02,060
who for all those years suffered in this space.
472
01:35:02,602 --> 01:35:06,971
And the only way out, of course, was death.
473
01:35:19,685 --> 01:35:23,553
Around the monastery life still seems very bleak.
474
01:35:24,957 --> 01:35:28,449
As if the people are stuck in
the dying years of Communism.
475
01:35:29,128 --> 01:35:32,655
This is the - town square, l suppose.
476
01:35:32,999 --> 01:35:37,231
Golly, erm, this - building
is one of the Gulag buildings
477
01:35:37,403 --> 01:35:39,769
dating from the late 1920s -
478
01:35:40,273 --> 01:35:42,104
- where prisoners were confined.
479
01:35:42,642 --> 01:35:45,543
There's still the air of a Gulag
about this place,
480
01:35:45,711 --> 01:35:48,509
still a sense of people being confined here.
481
01:35:51,384 --> 01:35:53,477
People are emerging. Ah.
482
01:35:54,353 --> 01:35:56,685
Good morning. Hello.
483
01:35:59,959 --> 01:36:00,482
Good morning.
484
01:36:00,660 --> 01:36:02,491
Can l get a drink in there?
485
01:36:02,962 --> 01:36:04,259
No, it's closed.
486
01:36:04,497 --> 01:36:08,331
Ah. No, no good. Closed at the moment.
487
01:36:10,903 --> 01:36:13,064
My goodness, what a bleak place this is.
488
01:36:13,239 --> 01:36:15,503
l say, these people look -
look like they're prisoners themselves -
489
01:36:15,675 --> 01:36:19,133
- that they've left -
been left over from the Gulag.
490
01:36:20,246 --> 01:36:21,508
Very odd.
491
01:36:39,999 --> 01:36:42,263
Since the fall of the Soviet regime,
492
01:36:42,668 --> 01:36:45,136
monks have returned to the monastery.
493
01:36:45,504 --> 01:36:47,631
History has come full circle.
494
01:36:48,374 --> 01:36:52,538
Life is lived here much as
it would have been 400 years ago.
495
01:37:18,137 --> 01:37:19,627
l fly south to Poland.
496
01:37:19,805 --> 01:37:24,504
l'm on ajourney into my own past,
into my memory.
497
01:37:38,090 --> 01:37:43,027
As a child - a very young child,
l lived for some years in Poland.
498
01:37:43,195 --> 01:37:46,961
My father was a - ajournalist based in Warsaw.
499
01:37:47,133 --> 01:37:49,124
This is almost 50 years ago.
500
01:37:49,301 --> 01:37:51,769
A very, very different place now.
501
01:37:52,505 --> 01:37:57,374
We came here, Krakow, for a holiday.
502
01:37:58,944 --> 01:38:00,138
Beautiful city.
503
01:38:00,312 --> 01:38:01,574
lt was here - and it comes back to me now -
504
01:38:01,747 --> 01:38:04,443
- as l stand in this delightful square -
505
01:38:04,617 --> 01:38:09,281
it was here
that l fell in love with architecture.
506
01:38:13,459 --> 01:38:16,019
Miraculously, Krakow escaped the destruction
507
01:38:16,195 --> 01:38:17,856
of the Second World War.
508
01:38:18,731 --> 01:38:22,861
Legend has it, the German Commandant
refused to obey orders from Hitler
509
01:38:23,035 --> 01:38:26,004
in the dying days of the war to flatten the city.
510
01:38:54,300 --> 01:38:57,599
There's a sound that cuts
through me like a knife,
511
01:38:57,770 --> 01:38:59,203
brings back such memories.
512
01:38:59,371 --> 01:39:02,340
Every hour, that chap up there playing his bugle,
513
01:39:02,508 --> 01:39:06,069
the sound of that very haunting little tune.
514
01:39:06,245 --> 01:39:07,906
The story is in the 13th century
515
01:39:08,080 --> 01:39:12,414
there was a watchman up there looking around
at the fields, the plains around the town,
516
01:39:12,585 --> 01:39:13,347
watching for attackers,
517
01:39:13,519 --> 01:39:14,645
and when the attackers came,
518
01:39:14,820 --> 01:39:17,880
these fearsome nomadic warriors, the Tartars,
519
01:39:18,057 --> 01:39:19,319
he sounded a warning note,
520
01:39:19,492 --> 01:39:21,824
but a Tatar arrow got him in the throat
521
01:39:21,994 --> 01:39:23,859
just as he was finishing the warning,
522
01:39:24,029 --> 01:39:29,296
and that's why that note ends
on a haunting broken note
523
01:39:29,468 --> 01:39:31,959
as the arrow severs his neck.
524
01:39:39,678 --> 01:39:41,339
l must head to the edge of town,
525
01:39:41,514 --> 01:39:44,915
to find a treasure
that transports me back in time
526
01:39:45,084 --> 01:39:47,450
to Communist Poland of 1957,
527
01:39:47,620 --> 01:39:49,588
when l was eight years old.
528
01:39:50,489 --> 01:39:52,957
This is the Wieliczka salt mines
529
01:39:53,125 --> 01:39:55,059
a few miles from the centre of Krakow.
530
01:39:55,227 --> 01:39:57,695
This is a very exciting moment for me.
531
01:39:57,863 --> 01:40:00,127
When l came here as a child,
532
01:40:00,299 --> 01:40:03,530
this place absolutely gripped my imagination,
533
01:40:03,702 --> 01:40:07,001
and indeed has haunted my imagination -
ever since.
534
01:40:07,173 --> 01:40:12,543
Will this - experience l'm about to
have now live up to my memories,
535
01:40:12,711 --> 01:40:14,975
or will it be a bitter disappointment?
536
01:40:22,087 --> 01:40:25,784
The Wieliczka salt mine began operating
in the 13th century.
537
01:40:26,392 --> 01:40:30,294
At one point
it created 30 per cent of Poland's income.
538
01:40:31,096 --> 01:40:33,530
The mine is 327 metres deep,
539
01:40:33,699 --> 01:40:37,897
and the chambers and passages
stretch for over 300 kilometres.
540
01:40:39,305 --> 01:40:41,705
lt's not the size of the mine
that is so haunting,
541
01:40:41,874 --> 01:40:45,469
but the extraordinary art
that the miners have created inside it.
542
01:40:52,985 --> 01:40:55,283
This is the Chapel of the Blessed Kinga,
543
01:40:55,454 --> 01:40:58,446
the patron saint of Polish miners.
544
01:40:58,691 --> 01:41:00,955
Started in 1896,
545
01:41:01,260 --> 01:41:05,094
everything here is carved out of salt by miners.
546
01:41:05,531 --> 01:41:09,627
lncluding the walls, floor,
statues and chandeliers.
547
01:41:12,071 --> 01:41:13,766
Memories coming back.
548
01:41:14,139 --> 01:41:15,572
This is incredible.
549
01:41:15,808 --> 01:41:18,333
This is erm, yes, St Anthony's Chapel.
550
01:41:19,178 --> 01:41:22,204
From the late 17th - century.
551
01:41:23,382 --> 01:41:27,978
This is where l discovered that er,
fairyland is real.
552
01:41:28,420 --> 01:41:33,983
Look at this fantastic stuff. From the salt,
architecture, classical architecture,
553
01:41:34,159 --> 01:41:37,458
really from primitive salt, lovely, been carved.
554
01:41:41,033 --> 01:41:42,898
And figures of saints.
555
01:41:48,173 --> 01:41:52,974
Look at this - a chandelier of salt.
Salt crystals.
556
01:41:53,145 --> 01:41:55,204
lsn't that absolutely brilliant?
557
01:41:57,783 --> 01:42:00,581
All made by the miners, that's the thing.
558
01:42:00,753 --> 01:42:05,087
This is working man's art -
not the art of artists,
559
01:42:05,257 --> 01:42:10,217
but ordinary people celebrating their god
in their place of work.
560
01:42:10,396 --> 01:42:11,260
lt's fantastic.
561
01:42:11,430 --> 01:42:13,694
Yes - yes, this is - this is it.
562
01:42:15,901 --> 01:42:19,268
But as l penetrate deeper,
there are more new additions.
563
01:42:36,655 --> 01:42:39,180
Well, l said this place was like fairyland,
564
01:42:39,358 --> 01:42:43,385
when l first came here, but l didn't mean like -
this, sort of gnomeland.
565
01:42:43,595 --> 01:42:45,187
This is quite astonishing.
566
01:42:45,364 --> 01:42:47,355
What on earth is going on?
567
01:42:55,174 --> 01:42:57,199
What was so moving is now in danger of
568
01:42:57,376 --> 01:43:00,311
being tarnished to attract more tourists.
569
01:43:00,479 --> 01:43:02,709
Only Snow White is missing.
570
01:43:02,915 --> 01:43:06,180
- Ah - excuse me.
- Yeah.
571
01:43:06,552 --> 01:43:09,248
l can see by your tie that you are a guide.
572
01:43:09,421 --> 01:43:09,944
Yes, l am.
573
01:43:10,122 --> 01:43:10,781
We are from the BBC
574
01:43:10,956 --> 01:43:12,719
making a little programme about the salt mines,
575
01:43:12,891 --> 01:43:17,055
and l have memories of this place
many years ago and erm,
576
01:43:17,262 --> 01:43:19,958
l remember it slightly less
presented as a museum.
577
01:43:20,132 --> 01:43:23,124
Are there still parts of the mine
which are more authentic,
578
01:43:23,302 --> 01:43:26,203
which are more as it would have been
when it was a living, working mine?
579
01:43:26,372 --> 01:43:27,634
Of course, if you would like to,
580
01:43:27,806 --> 01:43:29,831
l can take you to another point of the mine
581
01:43:30,008 --> 01:43:31,373
which is not so beautiful.
582
01:43:31,543 --> 01:43:35,104
lt's part of the tour,
and you will be really satisfied.
583
01:43:35,280 --> 01:43:36,713
Oh well, lovely. Satisfaction.
584
01:43:36,882 --> 01:43:39,316
Excellent, thank you very much. Er, lead on.
585
01:43:45,657 --> 01:43:49,753
Commercial salt production at Wieliczka
stopped ten years ago.
586
01:43:50,396 --> 01:43:51,624
But one part of the mine
587
01:43:51,797 --> 01:43:54,265
is still being used by mineralogists.
588
01:43:54,767 --> 01:43:56,200
We walk for an hour.
589
01:43:56,802 --> 01:43:59,134
l'm hoping to see more carving.
590
01:43:59,972 --> 01:44:03,135
Obviously the miners felt in some state of peril,
591
01:44:03,308 --> 01:44:07,210
asking for protection as they worked the salt.
592
01:44:10,849 --> 01:44:12,146
This is the power of nature.
593
01:44:12,317 --> 01:44:13,181
The power of nature.
594
01:44:13,352 --> 01:44:16,947
Yes. The mine - such huge props,
595
01:44:17,122 --> 01:44:19,920
they were cracked,
they are cracked like matches here.
596
01:44:20,092 --> 01:44:21,184
l think l'll move on.
597
01:44:21,794 --> 01:44:23,227
- Not sure what's happening up here.
- Yeah, of course.
598
01:44:23,395 --> 01:44:24,419
- That's cracked too.
- Yeah.
599
01:44:24,596 --> 01:44:27,497
Well, the whole thing's in movement.
And look at this, the - the er -
600
01:44:27,666 --> 01:44:30,726
Yeah, salt crystallised. Yeah.
601
01:44:31,036 --> 01:44:34,130
That's fantastic. That's coming out of the rock.
602
01:44:35,073 --> 01:44:36,597
There is a seepage of the salt.
603
01:44:36,775 --> 01:44:38,174
lt's salty, l think.
604
01:44:38,610 --> 01:44:42,774
- Beautiful stalagtite, if you look in here.
- Yeah.
605
01:44:49,288 --> 01:44:56,194
This is erm, this crystal is - salt
- white gold.
606
01:44:56,361 --> 01:45:01,196
ln the past,
salt was as valuable as gold or silver
607
01:45:01,366 --> 01:45:06,804
because of the huge demand but limited supply.
608
01:45:07,973 --> 01:45:10,271
Poles take great pride in them,
609
01:45:10,442 --> 01:45:14,776
what they represent, the industry,
the activity and the natural beauty.
610
01:45:14,947 --> 01:45:21,511
They are, in their strange way,
the heart of the nation.
611
01:45:25,190 --> 01:45:26,521
l fly to Germany,
612
01:45:26,692 --> 01:45:30,458
the country which more than any other
has shaped the modern world
613
01:45:30,629 --> 01:45:34,326
through its catastrophic embrace
of fascism and genocide.
614
01:45:36,168 --> 01:45:37,567
No European city has endured
615
01:45:37,736 --> 01:45:40,102
such upheavals as Berlin.
616
01:45:40,739 --> 01:45:43,333
lts pre-war innocence shattered by Hitler,
617
01:45:43,742 --> 01:45:46,302
its fabric smashed by allied bombing,
618
01:45:46,478 --> 01:45:50,278
it's post-war years
caught up in a Cold War nightmare.
619
01:45:52,718 --> 01:45:55,084
After the wall came down in 1989,
620
01:45:55,254 --> 01:45:58,690
the city began a frantic reinvention of itself.
621
01:45:59,992 --> 01:46:02,790
l want a treasure here that's contemporary yet
622
01:46:02,961 --> 01:46:07,955
also transports me unflinchingly
back into this country's dark past.
623
01:46:11,036 --> 01:46:13,664
l've come to Berlin to see a car,
624
01:46:13,839 --> 01:46:17,798
that most problematic,
emblematic of modern objects.
625
01:46:17,976 --> 01:46:20,740
But this is not just any car.
626
01:46:20,913 --> 01:46:22,813
lt was commissioned by Adolf Hitler,
627
01:46:22,981 --> 01:46:27,077
who in 1934 ordered the production of a car
628
01:46:27,252 --> 01:46:30,119
that all could afford to use and to run.
629
01:46:30,289 --> 01:46:34,248
lt was to contain two adults and three children,
630
01:46:34,426 --> 01:46:35,654
the ideal family, l suppose,
631
01:46:35,827 --> 01:46:38,295
and toot along at 60 miles an hour.
632
01:46:38,463 --> 01:46:42,297
And its form was to be inspired
by natural history.
633
01:46:42,467 --> 01:46:45,732
And this is it.
634
01:46:55,213 --> 01:46:59,479
The Volkswagen beetle
is a familiar sight for all road users,
635
01:47:00,218 --> 01:47:02,311
and it's easy to forget that the love bug,
636
01:47:02,487 --> 01:47:06,548
as it later became known,
was a Nazi prestige project.
637
01:47:07,426 --> 01:47:10,156
Hitler said to Ferdinand Porsche, the designer,
638
01:47:10,429 --> 01:47:12,420
the car should look like a beetle -
639
01:47:12,598 --> 01:47:16,500
- look to nature to find out
what streamlining's all about.
640
01:47:16,768 --> 01:47:19,965
Nature being the inspiration
for functional design.
641
01:47:20,372 --> 01:47:23,341
And erm, on that note of functional design and -
642
01:47:23,508 --> 01:47:26,306
- economic design, of course,
the engine is at the back.
643
01:47:26,478 --> 01:47:28,776
Here it is, a beautiful little thing,
at the back,
644
01:47:28,947 --> 01:47:32,178
immediately above the rear wheels,
the driving wheels,
645
01:47:32,351 --> 01:47:34,251
to make construction cheaper.
646
01:47:34,419 --> 01:47:36,250
And erm, what a lovely little engine it is.
647
01:47:36,421 --> 01:47:38,548
Look at it. Beautiful thing. Very elegant.
648
01:47:39,191 --> 01:47:44,493
Now l shall give this
wonderful machine a road test.
649
01:47:45,163 --> 01:47:46,687
Oh, bit of a tight fit,
650
01:47:46,865 --> 01:47:51,427
but when l get my leg under the steering wheel,
651
01:47:51,603 --> 01:47:52,900
it's actually rather spacious.
652
01:47:53,438 --> 01:47:58,034
And indeed, here's me, my wife here,
three children in the back -
653
01:47:58,210 --> 01:48:00,701
and there's room for storage.
654
01:48:01,279 --> 01:48:02,439
Very spacious.
655
01:48:07,486 --> 01:48:09,647
lndicators. Yes.
656
01:48:09,821 --> 01:48:11,982
Windscreen wipers, yes.
657
01:48:12,691 --> 01:48:16,320
Okay, well, let's take it - for a spin.
658
01:48:18,697 --> 01:48:20,028
lt works.
659
01:48:22,401 --> 01:48:26,360
The beetle first rolled off
the production line in 1941.
660
01:48:26,538 --> 01:48:28,563
This particular car l'm driving
661
01:48:28,740 --> 01:48:32,938
was made during the war
and belonged to Reichsminister Alfred Rosenberg,
662
01:48:33,478 --> 01:48:34,968
a member of Hitler's inner circle
663
01:48:35,147 --> 01:48:38,207
in control of the conquered Eastern territory.
664
01:48:39,251 --> 01:48:42,049
After the war,
Rosenberg was found guilty of crimes
665
01:48:42,220 --> 01:48:46,418
against humanity at the Nuremberg trials
and was executed.
666
01:48:50,095 --> 01:48:53,326
By the way, this particular model is erm,
a delight to drive,
667
01:48:53,498 --> 01:48:56,899
except there appears to be
virtually no footbrake.
668
01:48:57,069 --> 01:48:58,400
l guess all old cars are like this,
669
01:48:58,570 --> 01:49:04,008
but erm, when one puts one's foot down
to stop very little happens, at first anyway.
670
01:49:06,144 --> 01:49:07,008
There we are.
671
01:49:07,179 --> 01:49:13,675
l've now halted this machine,
using partly the handbrake.
672
01:49:32,104 --> 01:49:35,130
The Volkswagen beetle is a wonderful,
673
01:49:35,307 --> 01:49:41,405
wonderful machine that's risen above
its troubled origins, its troubled history.
674
01:49:42,013 --> 01:49:45,346
lt is a great monument to utilitarian,
675
01:49:45,517 --> 01:49:48,042
practical, functional design.
676
01:49:48,920 --> 01:49:51,582
And l,
along with millions of people in the world,
677
01:49:51,823 --> 01:49:52,687
love it.
678
01:49:53,525 --> 01:50:01,762
But l am aware that er,
cars are entirely problematic creations,
679
01:50:01,933 --> 01:50:07,098
leading to pollution of the cities
and their roads,
680
01:50:07,272 --> 01:50:13,541
the roads on which they run wrecking the
countryside and damaging historic places.
681
01:50:13,712 --> 01:50:17,546
So it's a bit worrying to love
something like this, l guess,
682
01:50:17,716 --> 01:50:21,482
something which is ultimately rather devilish.
683
01:50:24,055 --> 01:50:26,285
Last of all, but no less importantly,
684
01:50:26,458 --> 01:50:29,985
the beetle is also the means of
transport to my next treasure.
685
01:50:42,073 --> 01:50:45,167
l've driven to the Bauhaus in Dessau.
686
01:50:45,377 --> 01:50:49,006
This epoch-making, inspirational design school -
687
01:50:49,181 --> 01:50:50,614
- that during the 1920s,
688
01:50:50,782 --> 01:50:54,775
until it was closed by the Nazis in 1933,
689
01:50:54,953 --> 01:50:58,650
really - did much to forge the modern world.
690
01:50:58,824 --> 01:51:01,156
Many objects we now take for granted
691
01:51:01,459 --> 01:51:02,391
originated - here.
692
01:51:02,561 --> 01:51:05,621
Also the spirit of this place inspired designers,
693
01:51:05,797 --> 01:51:10,530
architects - interior designers,
designers of furniture - throughout the world.
694
01:51:10,702 --> 01:51:13,136
l've come here to find one object
695
01:51:13,305 --> 01:51:17,469
that captures the spirit
of this truly extraordinary
696
01:51:17,642 --> 01:51:20,440
and amazing institution, the Bauhaus.
697
01:51:23,114 --> 01:51:25,810
The Bauhaus school opened in 1919.
698
01:51:26,585 --> 01:51:29,816
lt rejected history
as an inspiration for creativity.
699
01:51:30,288 --> 01:51:33,689
lnstead, students here embraced
the technological age.
700
01:51:34,292 --> 01:51:37,489
They wanted function
to define architecture and design,
701
01:51:37,662 --> 01:51:40,358
and they wanted to use new materials.
702
01:51:42,267 --> 01:51:44,827
This building, constructed in 1926,
703
01:51:45,003 --> 01:51:47,369
captures their ideas perfectly.
704
01:51:48,673 --> 01:51:50,937
But my treasure is not a building,
705
01:51:51,543 --> 01:51:53,738
it's something small and commonplace.
706
01:51:53,945 --> 01:51:55,173
lt's a chair.
707
01:51:56,248 --> 01:51:59,149
Before Bauhaus no one had dreamt
of starting a revolution
708
01:51:59,317 --> 01:52:00,477
with a chair.
709
01:52:00,652 --> 01:52:02,745
But that's exactly what happened.
710
01:52:03,088 --> 01:52:05,613
So which chair to choose?
711
01:52:07,726 --> 01:52:10,490
Herr Messerschmitt, the Bauhaus archivist,
712
01:52:10,662 --> 01:52:15,429
has granted me exclusive access
to the Bauhaus archives,
713
01:52:15,600 --> 01:52:18,501
just here through this secure door.
714
01:52:26,978 --> 01:52:29,811
Ah now, yeah, an old favourite.
715
01:52:30,815 --> 01:52:31,747
Danke schoen.
716
01:52:32,117 --> 01:52:35,280
The Wassily chair, designed in 1925.
717
01:52:35,453 --> 01:52:37,512
Very pioneering indeed.
718
01:52:37,722 --> 01:52:42,386
lt was the first time tubular steel
was used in the construction of a chair.
719
01:52:43,128 --> 01:52:43,958
lt's great - in many ways,
720
01:52:44,129 --> 01:52:46,393
but now looks a little clumsy.
721
01:52:46,865 --> 01:52:48,696
A bit like a bird's nest, a lot going on,
722
01:52:48,867 --> 01:52:52,769
and not quite the elegance and simplicity
l'm looking for.
723
01:52:53,038 --> 01:52:55,632
So erm, come back to perhaps.
724
01:52:56,441 --> 01:52:58,432
Herr Messerschmitt, next one please.
725
01:52:58,910 --> 01:53:00,275
For me to inspect.
726
01:53:03,915 --> 01:53:05,280
Ah yes.
727
01:53:06,351 --> 01:53:07,545
Danke schoen, thank you.
728
01:53:07,719 --> 01:53:09,050
A simpler design.
729
01:53:10,288 --> 01:53:12,188
A bit later, 1929.
730
01:53:12,657 --> 01:53:14,557
l choose this really because it is so simple.
731
01:53:14,726 --> 01:53:17,024
lt's a chair we've all seen and used, l think.
732
01:53:17,329 --> 01:53:21,732
Making the point that er,
the Bauhaus succeeded in its aim
733
01:53:21,900 --> 01:53:24,960
of providing elegant, functional,
simple objects for everyday use,
734
01:53:25,136 --> 01:53:27,832
for ordinary people like you and me to enjoy.
735
01:53:28,006 --> 01:53:32,409
Here you have a very - simple chair,
designed, as l say, in 1929 -
736
01:53:32,577 --> 01:53:36,104
and still in use and
still looking entirely modern.
737
01:53:36,314 --> 01:53:40,080
So a glorious example of the
Bauhaus ideal being achieved.
738
01:53:40,518 --> 01:53:42,213
Herr Messerschmit - the third one.
739
01:53:43,655 --> 01:53:46,715
l am now all a-tremble,
because l know what this is.
740
01:53:49,060 --> 01:53:51,221
l hope. Ah, yes.
741
01:53:55,333 --> 01:53:59,599
What can l say? One or two things, actually.
742
01:54:01,206 --> 01:54:04,972
Designed by a different Bauhaus master,
Mies van der Rohe.
743
01:54:05,276 --> 01:54:08,370
Designed 1929-1930.
744
01:54:08,747 --> 01:54:14,344
Mies was - the last director
of the Bauhaus in 1930,
745
01:54:14,519 --> 01:54:15,679
so this is a very appropriate -
746
01:54:15,854 --> 01:54:17,913
monument to him and to the Bauhaus.
747
01:54:18,089 --> 01:54:19,488
Just look at this thing.
748
01:54:19,657 --> 01:54:21,318
The steel had to be manufactured and tested,
749
01:54:21,493 --> 01:54:24,462
so research was, as l say,
very much part of the modern tradition.
750
01:54:24,629 --> 01:54:25,357
Cantilever principle,
751
01:54:25,530 --> 01:54:26,963
very simple construction,
752
01:54:27,132 --> 01:54:29,498
but the weight of the person, in a sense,
holds the chair steady,
753
01:54:29,667 --> 01:54:32,397
makes it work as a - as an object.
754
01:54:32,737 --> 01:54:34,762
Look at the simplicity of it. Just look.
755
01:54:36,674 --> 01:54:43,910
What elegance. What function.
What pure joyful simplicity.
756
01:54:44,082 --> 01:54:47,279
A beautiful thing to handle, to hold.
757
01:54:47,452 --> 01:54:49,352
God, just look at the form, the shape,
758
01:54:49,521 --> 01:54:51,284
as one - turns it round.
759
01:54:51,556 --> 01:54:54,252
The thing - comes alive, doesn't it?
760
01:54:54,926 --> 01:54:56,894
Put it down. And now the great test,
761
01:54:57,062 --> 01:54:59,758
to sit in it and see really -
if it is functional.
762
01:54:59,931 --> 01:55:03,196
lt looks functional, it looks beautiful,
minimal and simple.
763
01:55:03,468 --> 01:55:05,663
But will it take the mighty load?
764
01:55:05,837 --> 01:55:12,504
Oh, gosh. The chair's a-tremble and vibrating
765
01:55:12,677 --> 01:55:14,201
with my weight and movement.
766
01:55:15,113 --> 01:55:18,082
This without doubt,
because of its functional qualities,
767
01:55:18,249 --> 01:55:23,585
because of its minimalism,
because it really works - does its job,
768
01:55:24,456 --> 01:55:28,051
and of course at the end
looks terrific and beautiful,
769
01:55:28,760 --> 01:55:32,719
has got to be, and is, my Bauhaus treasure.
770
01:55:55,520 --> 01:55:58,819
ln 1933 the Nazis closed down the Bauhaus
771
01:55:58,990 --> 01:56:01,550
believing it had Communist sympathies.
772
01:56:02,227 --> 01:56:05,492
But within 20 years designs
inspired by the Bauhaus
773
01:56:05,663 --> 01:56:07,756
would define the modern world.
774
01:56:09,934 --> 01:56:10,958
lt's a strange thing,
775
01:56:11,136 --> 01:56:13,502
although Hitler closed down the Bauhaus,
776
01:56:13,671 --> 01:56:16,868
he was instrumental in the creation of an object
777
01:56:17,041 --> 01:56:20,568
that follows the true principles of the Bauhaus.
778
01:56:20,912 --> 01:56:24,211
ln fact, l think it's fair to say
the Volkswagen beetle,
779
01:56:24,382 --> 01:56:28,751
because of its social purpose,
utilisation of mass production techniques,
780
01:56:28,920 --> 01:56:32,617
is the greatest object the Bauhaus never made.
62551
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