Original subtitles

[mysterious music]

- Tonight, sacred sites so vast

they defy our understanding of what's possible.

From a heavenly tower...

- The tower's three times the height

of the world's tallest modern-day skyscraper.

- For God, this is an affront to his power.

- So God destroys the partially built tower.

- To a mystifying statue...

- Part of the enduring mystery of the Sphinx is that

there is no other colossal statue like it in Egypt.

- To a hidden ancient city.

- It's still intact right where the Inca left it.

Whoever built this truly wanted to feel closer to heaven.

- What kinds of secrets could these wonders contain?

- It's fresh proof that a mega structure

did indeed once stand here.

- Now, the remarkable stories behind

some of history's most epic Holy Marvels.

[dramatic music]

The world's smallest independent nation

takes up less space than New York's Central Park,

but it's home to Christianity's largest church.

- Vatican City is the headquarters of

the Catholic church,

and the primary residence of the Pope.

It's roughly 120 acres that's completely surrounded

by the city of Rome, Italy.

And at the center of this microstate

stands the majestic St. Peter's Basilica.

- St. Peter's welcomes 10 million visitors per year.

The building literally looms over Rome,

and you can see its iconic dome from miles away,

in all directions.

- Its size is pretty impressive.

The dome is nearly 450 feet tall,

big enough to hold the entire Statue of Liberty,

pedestal and all.

- Inside, the basilica is over 163,000 square feet,

and it can hold upwards of 60,000 worshipers.

- [Dennis] It's not just the size of St. Peter's

that makes it so monumental.

- The finishes, objects, and artwork inside

are without equal.

There are gold statues, hand-carved wood.

There's exquisite marble and tile work.

Every inch of this place is a tribute to all things holy.

- The church also houses alleged pieces of the true cross

and the Holy Lance as well as body parts of various saints.

It's the largest collection of holy relics in the world.

- [Dennis] Surprisingly, the huge church is built in

what was once a questionable place.

- St. Peter's sits on a location known as Vatican Hill.

It's across the Tiber River from the famed

seven original hills of Rome.

In the days before the Roman Empire,

it was what we might today call a slum.

According to one Roman historian, it was unwholesome,

and frequented by the destitute.

- [Dennis] Why was such a magnificent church built here,

in a Roman slum, and not in Jerusalem?

- The church is positioned in this exact spot

because it's said that here lies the tomb of one

of the Bible's most iconic and important figures,

St. Peter himself,

from whom the church actually gets its name.

- [Dennis] According to the gospels,

St. Peter's story begins in Judea.

- Peter is a fisherman from Galilee,

who is recruited by Jesus to become an apostle,

and ultimately becomes a leader among the group.

- According to the Bible, after Jesus is crucified,

Peter travels around to spread the teachings of Christ.

- It's believed that Peter ends up in Rome

during the rule of Emperor Nero,

who reigns from 54 to 68 AD.

After Peter arrives,

he founds Rome's first Christian church.

- Peter comes at a particularly bad moment

to be a Christian in Rome.

Christians are regarded with fear and suspicion.

Many see the rise of this new religion as a threat to Rome,

including the emperor himself.

- [Dennis] It's no surprise that when a devastating fire

engulfs this city in 64 AD,

Nero uses it as an opportunity to attack Christians.

- The Great Fire of Rome destroys over 70% of the city,

killing hundreds of citizens.

The Roman historian, Tacitus

writes that Nero blames the Great Fire on the Christians,

and starts killing them in creative ways,

like burning them, or making them fight to the death.

It is believed that one of these early Christian martyrs

is St. Peter.

- According to various Christian accounts, Peter is captured

by Nero's army and he's crucified

in front of a crowd of spectators,

making his death even more grisly.

His own wish is to be crucified upside down,

because he's not worthy to be compared

in any way to his Lord Jesus.

- The exact date and location of Peter's death are unknown,

but it's said to be on Vatican Hill,

in an arena called the Circus of Nero.

The emperor holds chariot races there,

along with executions.

- The site was marked by an 83-foot tall

ancient Egyptian obelisk,

which was brought to Rome by the Emperor Caligula

and the persecution of Christians continues

in places like this,

and all across the empire for centuries.

- [Dennis] Then, around 250 years after Peter's death,

Roman emperor Constantine converts to Christianity,

and makes his new faith the empire's official religion.

To celebrate, he decides to build a church

dedicated to St. Peter.

- He wants to put his church right where Peter was buried.

And we don't have any written evidence that

Constantine actually locates the remains of St. Peter,

but he does have a pretty good landmark for where to build

because the obelisk is still there,

along with the ruins of the Circus of Nero.

- Constantine builds his church right on top of these ruins,

and he keeps the obelisk as a central feature of its design.

He names it St. Peter's,

and it takes about 40 years to complete the project.

- But after centuries of political

and religious upheaval,

including the Barbarian Invasions,

St. Peter's falls into disrepair.

- [Dennis] Around 1506,

Pope Julius II decides to rebuild the Basilica,

and he stops at nothing to express the power

and magnificence of the church.

- Construction takes more than 120 years.

It's overseen by several subsequent popes,

and multiple architects.

The final price tag, a whopping 47 million ducats,

equal to over $7 billion today.

- The Egyptian obelisk is moved into a vast public square

leading into the imposing bronze doors.

But during construction, no trace of Peter's actual remains

are found in the crypts beneath the church.

- [Dennis] About 300 years later,

another project reopens the mystery.

- In 1942, during excavations for the burial of Pope Pius XI

who wants to be buried as close as possible to St. Peter,

they find multiple fragments of human bones

right underneath the Basilica's altar.

- The new pope, Pius XII, downplays the find.

He says the remains can't be identified

with absolute certainty and he places the bones in storage.

- It takes another 20 years

before the bones are finally put under a microscope.

And a huge revelation comes when they examine the feet.

It looks like the feet were viciously cut,

which the Romans often did after crucifying someone.

Because cutting the feet is easier

than trying to pull out the nails

that held victims to the cross.

- By now, Paul VI is pope,

and he decides that this is all the proof he needs.

In 1968, he announces to the world

that the remains of St. Peter have been found,

miraculously preserved under the sacred altar

for 1,900 years.

- Today, the bones are protectively sealed

in plexiglass boxes under the high altar of the Basilica.

It features a massive four-pillared bronze canopy

that's 98 feet tall and weighs over 100 tons,

adorned with shining gold leaf.

- So if these really are St. Peter's remains,

it's a fitting tribute.

He rests beneath the most majestic feature

of the largest church on Earth.

- And if you go to St. Peter's,

don't forget to stop by one very important spot.

A lot of people just walk by it without noticing it,

A lot of people just walk by it without noticing it,

but it's the original obelisk,

still standing there front and center,

where St. Peter was said to be crucified.

Or as some popes like to say,

the last surviving witness to his martyrdom.

- Centuries before St. Peter's Basilica is dedicated,

another famous building project begins.

This one becomes a metaphor

about the limits of human ambition.

- In the Book of Genesis, 100 years after the Great Flood,

mankind has made a comeback.

Descendants of Noah, united under a single language,

move eastward until they reach the land of Shinar,

where they plan to build a great city.

- According to the Bible, the King James version,

it says, "And they said to one another,

'Let us make brick and burn them thoroughly.'

And they had brick for stone, and slime they had for mortar.

And they said,

'Let us build a tower whose top may reach on to heaven,

and let us make us a name for ourselves.'"

- Well, for God, this is too close for comfort,

and an affront to his power.

- So God decides to bring the humans

back down to Earth, literally.

According to the best known versions of the Bible story,

God destroys the city and the partially built tower.

- [Dennis] The tale of the Tower of Babel

captivates the world and sparks intrigue

in theologians and historians alike.

- At least as far back as 100 BC, we have people writing

and speculating about the Tower of Babel.

An ancient Jewish text called the Book of Jubilee says

that the tower's height is 5,433 cubits.

That's about 8,150 feet, or 1.5 miles tall,

which is three times the height

of the world's tallest modern-day skyscraper,

Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

- [Dennis] While most scholars are skeptical about the scale,

some think an actual tower existed.

The problem is,

the Bible doesn't provide an exact location.

- In Genesis, it's referred to as the "city" and the "tower,"

which doesn't give us very much to work with.

But there is one other clue.

- It says that the city gets its name

because God "confuses the language of the people."

In ancient Hebrew,

the word that they use for confusion is "babel,"

so that's why it's become known as the Tower of Babel.

- Babel is also the Hebrew name for Babylon,

an infamous city located in southern Mesopotamia.

It's along the Euphrates River, in what's present day Iraq.

Babylon is all over the Old Testament,

and it's also a real place.

- The city of Babylon first appears

in the historical record about 2200 BC.

And it eventually becomes the seat of a mighty empire.

And according to the writers of the time,

it was the largest city on Earth for several centuries.

- Babylon has its ups and downs.

But it sort of slips into historical obscurity.

By the 13th century AD,

it's referred to by one Arab scholar named Al-Khasawneh

as nothing more than a small village

that's only good for one thing.

- [Dennis] But that one thing might be the key

to unlocking this mystery.

- Al-Khasawneh and other medieval Arabic writers

describe Babylon as a major source for ready-made,

baked bricks.

The area is littered with them by the millions.

- Why is this important?

Well, remember that the Biblical account

of the Tower of Babel describes how the people made bricks

and burned them thoroughly.

It's an odd detail in a story

that has very few details otherwise.

- Most places in the Middle East use simple bricks

that are made out of water and mud and straw,

and then they're baked in the sun.

But this type of brick crumbles really quickly.

- The ones made in Babylon, on the other hand,

are held together with bitumen,

which acts as a kind of oil-based glue.

These Babylonian bricks can last centuries,

and become more valuable than gold.

- [Dennis] That's all the proof

one German archeologist needs to start digging.

- The first real major archeological work at Babylon

starts in 1899,

and it's led by a German named Robert Koldewey.

And as he and 200 workers begin excavating,

they quickly find evidence

of what these Middle Eastern writers were talking about.

- In the first year,

the team unearthed Babylon's central boulevard,

which is paved with these prized bricks.

They also dig up the remnants of a brick temple,

and a palace.

- [Dennis] While Koldewey doesn't find a tower,

he does uncover something else that's intriguing.

- In 1917, Robert Koldewey's research

locates a royal inscription

from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar II

in the 6th century BC.

And it says, "The Ziggurat of Babylon, I made it.

The wonder of the people of the world,

I raised its top to heaven, made doors for the gates,

and I covered it with bitumen and bricks."

- This inscription is incredible.

A ziggurat is basically a stepped tower,

and this tower is described as reaching heaven,

using a lot of the exact same words as the Book of Genesis.

- City records show that in the 580s BC,

Nebuchadnezzar II is actually rebuilding

and expanding this tower,

which existed there long before his reign.

- [Dennis] But if it's not the actual Tower of Babel,

could it have inspired the tale?

- Genesis is thought to have been written by Jewish authors

around the 6th century BC.

During this same time, we know

that the Jewish people suffered a great tragedy.

And this starts with the destruction of Jerusalem

in 586 BC by none other than

King Nebuchadnezzar II.

And in the years after the Holy City falls,

many of the surviving Jews are deported to Babylon

to live in exile.

- The Jewish people are deeply affected

by what they see in Babylon.

They are disturbed by this strange pagan kingdom,

full of massive temples and towers.

- And right in the middle, at the heart of this place,

Nebuchadnezzar is currently reconstructing

the tallest tower they've ever seen.

And he's brashly proclaiming that it reaches heaven.

So what do the Jewish people do?

Some scholars believe they write it down

into the story of the Tower of Babel,

and they even use some of Nebuchadnezzar's exact words.

- After watching their own city and temple burn

at the hands of the Babylonians,

these exiled Jews are angry,

and they're offended by this heathen tower.

They can't really fight back, but they can write about it.

So they write about a tower like this,

being destroyed by the power of God.

And it's a thinly veiled criticism

of the excesses of Babylon.

- [Dennis] Today, over 100 years

after Koldewey's work first began,

others continue his archeological research

in Babylon.

- Full-scale digs aren't possible yet,

because Iraq has other more urgent problems,

but for the first time, cutting-edge,

non-invasive technology is being used

to look for the Tower of Babel.

- Drone photography and LiDAR scans

are being conducted by the World Monument Fund,

working with the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities,

and the US State government.

And amazingly, in 2015,

they reveal the foundations of a huge tower.

It's still too early to know if this is Nebuchadnezzar's,

or a different one, but it's fresh proof

that a mega structure did indeed once stand here.

- In a land long torn apart

by conflicts of culture and religion,

wouldn't it be amazing if an international team

speaking multiple languages eventually proves

that the Tower of Babel was a real thing?

[intense music]

- While we may never know

how high the Tower of Babel actually got,

there's one sacred city that still reaches into the skies.

At nearly 8,000 feet above sea level,

this incredible feat of ancient construction

continues to mystify us.

- Machu Picchu is one of the world's

most popular tourist destinations.

Millions of visitors come every year,

as many as 4,500 a day.

- Machu Picchu lies on a narrow ridge,

a mile and a half up in the Peruvian Andes.

It is a spot that could not be more rugged and remote,

and the views are stunning.

- When you're there,

you feel like you're on top of the world,

walking amongst the clouds.

And you get the sense that whoever built this

truly wanted to feel closer to heaven.

- Equally amazing as the site itself are the buildings.

They're very ancient, made from polished granite stones

that can weigh as much as 15 tons,

and the construction techniques are incredibly precise.

They didn't use any mortar

and the blocks are stacked so tightly

that not even a piece of paper can fit between them.

- [Dennis] But as incredible as this city is,

it was nearly lost to time.

- The first written reference we have to Machu Picchu,

maybe, is in the 15th century,

from a Spanish conquistador named Baltasar de Ocampo,

who's in Peru as part of a campaign

to conquer the indigenous Inca empire.

- Ocampo writes a letter to his king back in Spain,

and describes a mountain fortress

with elaborate stone carvings.

"In the center of town," he writes,

"is a wide, level space with huge buildings,

and door lintels made of marble."

We don't 100% know that he was referring to Machu Picchu,

but it sounds like he might have been.

- Unfortunately, Ocampo never explains the precise location

or the purpose of the site, or who lives here.

And not long after this passing reference,

the Inca Empire meets a brutal end

at the hands of the Spanish.

- As a result, Machu Picchu

was slowly swallowed up by the jungle.

Its thatched roofs and bridges collapse,

and eventually its network of trails disappear.

- [Dennis] For more than 300 years,

the site sits forgotten by everyone,

except for a few locals.

- Then in 1911,

American historian Hiram Bingham arrives in Peru,

looking for lost cities of the Inca.

He hires a local guide named Melchor Arteaga to help him.

- Arteaga knows very little about the Inca,

because its culture had been largely erased

by the Spanish Catholic church.

But he does know about an ancient town

high up on a mountaintop,

and he agrees to take Bingham there.

- It's a difficult trek, but it certainly pays off.

They reach an abandoned Incan city called Machu Picchu,

which in the local Quechua language means "old mountain."

And despite being overgrown, it's largely intact.

The devastation of the war never made it up here.

It's the quintessential definition of a lost city.

- Bingham returns the following year with an excavation team

and after they clear away centuries of foliage,

he is finally able to grasp the full scope of this place.

- There are about 200 buildings arranged around

an east, west, central square.

Past the buildings are 12 acres of terraced farmland.

- The city has a water and drainage system

on par with anything built today.

At least 130 pipes run through the stairways

and building interiors,

all designed to keep the water supply fresh and flowing.

- [Dennis] It's a stunning feat of engineering.

But how did the Inca build it?

- Bingham is flummoxed. The Inca didn't have steel tools.

They didn't even have the wheel.

Even today, no one really knows

how they could have built Machu Picchu.

Scientists have tested various levers

and ladder-like methods to move the stones,

but few can agree on a single solution.

- While we still don't know how it was built,

thanks to years of collective research,

we do know when it was built.

The most recent carbon-14 dating suggests the construction

likely started in the 1430s.

It would've been overseen by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui,

the ninth Inca ruler,

and one of the empire's greatest warriors.

- He leaves his empire to his son, who finishes Machu Picchu

before the first Spanish ships land on Peruvian shores.

Estimates on how long it took to complete vary,

ranging from 30 to 90 years.

- [Dennis] Though its construction is dazzling,

Machu Picchu's purpose remains a mystery.

Until 2012, when a researcher notices something unusual.

- American archeologist, Bethany Turner

finds something strange.

Fewer than 200 skeletons have ever been discovered

at Machu Picchu.

- The small numbers of human remains,

combined with the number of buildings

that seem to be religious in nature,

have led some scholars to argue that Machu Picchu

might have been built as a special funerary site

for the elite, where only the greatest members of society

were given last rites and buried.

- But if it's an elite place of burial,

it's odd that it didn't include the two kings

who built the place.

Their mummies are enshrined near Cusco,

and they're venerated long after their deaths.

- [Dennis] In 2013, a Polish team suggests this amazing city

could have served a different function.

- They determined that one building,

later dubbed the Temple of the Sun,

could have been an observatory.

It features a set of reflecting pools

that might act as mirrors to view the sky,

and several of its windows align

with important constellations.

- Astronomy is very important for the Inca civilization,

especially because of agriculture.

It's able to help them track dates and seasons,

and plan for their crops and harvests.

Whatever the reason behind its creation,

one thing is certain.

Machu Picchu meant a great deal to the people

who went to all the trouble

to construct something this large.

- Thousands of miles from the high mountains of Peru,

the golden sands of Egypt are home to an ancient monument,

the Great Sphinx.

And while millions have paid it a visit,

we still don't fully understand the many secrets it holds.

- The Great Sphinx is set among

what might be the world's most famous archeological ruins.

Located five miles west of the Nile River

on Egypt's Giza Plateau,

the Sphinx is part of the Giza Necropolis,

a huge complex of tombs and temples,

famous for their three massive pyramids.

And the Sphinx is in front of the whole complex,

almost like it's standing guard.

- The Great Sphinx is a statue of a creature

that has the body of a lion and the head of a human.

- The statue measures a whopping 241 feet long,

66 feet tall, and 62 feet wide.

And it's believed to weigh around 20,000 tons,

nearly twice as much as the wrought-iron Eiffel Tower.

Its tail alone is 73 feet,

longer than a typical bowling lane.

- Part of the enduring mystery of the Sphinx

is that there is no other colossal statue

like it in Egypt.

There are over 100 pyramids that rise along the Nile,

from Giza to Sudan, but there is only one Great Sphinx.

That not only makes it special, it makes it an anomaly.

- Unlike the pyramids behind it,

the Sphinx is not built boulder by boulder.

Instead, it's painstakingly carved

out of the existing limestone bedrock.

- This is a time before iron tools and wheeled vehicles.

Some researchers have estimated

that it would've taken 100 workers wielding stone hammers

and copper chisels three years to complete the statue.

- [Dennis] Since no written records exist,

researchers speculate on exactly who built it, and when.

- Because it sits in the royal Necropolis of Giza,

most scholars believe the Sphinx was carved

when the rest of the complex was built around 2500 BC.

- The Sphinx is connected to the pyramid

of the Pharaoh Khafre by a long processional causeway.

So most assume that it's Khafre's face

on top of the lion body.

- But these are assumptions.

Khafre's name never appears on the Sphinx,

or any of the surrounding structures.

Everything that we think we know

is based on centuries of educated guesswork.

- [Dennis] In fact, the only name written on the Sphinx

belongs to someone who didn't actually build it.

- There's a stone slab with writing carved into it

at the base of the Sphinx, in between its two paws.

And its author was a Pharaoh named Thutmose IV,

who wrote it around 1401 BC,

about 1,000 years after the Sphinx was built.

- So it doesn't help to explain the Sphinx's origin,

but it still tells an interesting story.

- In the New Kingdom era, which is when Thutmose lives,

the Egyptians move their capital to Thebes,

400 miles south of Giza.

The complex in Giza, including the Sphinx, is abandoned,

and it's basically forgotten about.

The Sphinx is covered by the natural shifting sands,

with only part of its head poking out.

- One day, Thutmose claims to have a dream.

The gods tell him that if he frees the great Sphinx,

he will become pharaoh, even though he's not next in line.

He has an older brother, who should be pharaoh instead.

- According to the ancient inscription,

Thutmose digs out the Sphinx,

and though we're not exactly sure how,

he does indeed become the pharaoh.

And during his reign,

the Sphinx surges in popularity across the kingdom.

- Soon, mini Sphinxes start popping up all over the place.

In Thebes, an entire avenue of them,

a mile and a half long, with 1,300 in total,

is built between two sacred temples.

- But despite this new wave of Sphinx mania,

there are no writings of Khafre,

or the statue's original purpose.

The Sphinx is more famous than ever,

but nobody seems to know its backstory.

- [Dennis] Then in 1853,

a French archeologist believes he's uncovered

another piece of the puzzle.

- Auguste Marriette discovers a temple

adjacent to the Sphinx.

Inside, he unearths a life-sized statue of Pharaoh Khafre,

who built the pyramid that's right behind the Sphinx.

Mariette believes the head of the statue

looks like the Sphinx's,

and this could finally prove

that the Sphinx represents Khafre.

- Even if the Sphinx were made to look like Khafre,

it might not have been built by Khafre.

It could have been built long after his death to honor him,

or it could have been built long before,

and then just altered to resemble him after the fact.

- We have evidence that pharaohs did this all the time.

They would rework the faces of existing statues

to make them look like themselves,

or they would swap out names on older temples,

then claim the credit.

- [Dennis] Finally, in the early 2000s,

researchers use a technique called sequencing

to further explore the link

between the Sphinx and the temple.

- Sequencing analyzes the relationship

between various parts of a building.

The temple complex where the Sphinx is located

includes a great many walls, rooms, and other features,

and this new method reveals the order

in which each of these things was built.

- The sequencing indicates that the temple

with the statue of Khafre, and the Sphinx

were both built at the same time.

And if that's the case, he probably built both of them.

- [Dennis] One question remains; why?

- In the early 2000s, new technology seems to confirm

that the Great Sphinx was built by the Pharaoh Khafre.

But there's another question

that has confounded researchers for centuries;

why it was built.

- In 1925, an archeologist named Emile Baraize

finds a second temple directly in front of the statue,

and he calls it the Sphinx Temple because of its location.

But it has a very strange layout that puzzles Baraize.

- The temple is built on a precise east-west axis

with a courtyard surrounded by 24 pillars.

Baraize spends several years clearing out the sand,

but he never decipher the temple's meaning.

- Four decades later, in the 1960s,

a Swiss archeologist thinks he has the answer.

The complex is a giant solar clock.

The east-west axis points to where the sun rises

and sets twice a year at the equinoxes.

And each pillar, he claims,

represents an hour in the sun's daily circuit.

- [Dennis] 50 years after that,

two Egyptologists have a different idea.

And this one's a doozy.

- In 2010, following decades of field work,

Egyptologist Mark Lehner,

along with Egyptologist Zahi Hawass,

gives a series of interviews

claiming to have made a huge new discovery

in the study of the Sphinx, partly by chance.

- One day, Lehner is working in the Sphinx Temple

during an equinox, when the day is at its longest,

and he witnesses a remarkable event.

At the exact same instant,

the sun sets into both the shoulder of the Sphinx

and the south side of the Pyramid of Khafre.

- When this happens,

the two shadows of the Sphinx and the pyramid,

both thought to be symbols of the Pharaoh Khafre,

become one.

Lehner claims that this must have been done on purpose

as a means of showing Khafre as more than simply a pharaoh,

but the living embodiment of the Sun God on Earth.

- To prove this idea,

they document the sun's movements over Giza for a year.

And they find that during the summer solstice,

the sun sets perfectly midway between the silhouettes

of the Pyramids of Khafre and Khufu.

- The event resembles the hieroglyph Akhet,

which can be translated as "horizon,"

and symbolizes the cycle of life and rebirth.

- If Hawass and Lehner are right,

then the locations of the Sphinx and its temples

and the pyramids are all connected.

Lehner describes the complex as a cosmic engine

intended to harness the power of the sun

as it moves very precisely between these objects.

And this process was thought to resurrect the soul of Khafre

as an everlasting god.

- [Dennis] While we may never know

the true purpose of the Sphinx,

today, scientists have an equally vital challenge:

preserving it.

- The water table is now just 15 feet under the Sphinx,

and rising.

Like a sponge, the porous limestone statue

is soaking up a toxic blend of groundwater and sewage.

- The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

has had pumps installed to divert the water,

but this is only enough to slow the damage, not to stop it.

- Hopefully the statue can be preserved

to last another 4,500 years,

or at least long enough to finally unlock the secrets

of this vast and mysterious structure.

- Larger-than-life sacred sites like the Sphinx,

Machu Picchu, and St. Peter's Basilica

are on most travelers' bucket lists.

But there's another place

holding a huge collection of relics

that just might surprise you.

- Where would you expect to find the largest collection

of religious relics outside the Vatican?

Jerusalem, Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey.

How about Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?

Here, on an innocuous side street off of Highway 28,

sits an incredible place called St. Anthony's Chapel.

- St. Anthony's Chapel houses

nearly 5,000 religious artifacts.

It claims to have everything

from the partial remains of all 12 apostles,

to 22 wood fragments from the table

used during the Last Supper.

- It also displays what's said to be a scrap

of the Virgin Mary's veil,

and a priceless piece of the true cross

which Jesus was crucified on.

- [Dennis] If these objects are the real deal,

how did they end up in Pittsburgh?

- This extraordinary collection and the church that houses it

is the life's work of a man named Father Suitbert Mollinger.

Born into a wealthy family in Belgium in 1828,

Mollinger spends his youth traveling Europe,

seeking a spiritual purpose.

- He first studies medicine in Naples, Rome,

and Genoa, Italy.

Then at the age of 24,

he enters the seminary in Ghent to become a priest.

- In 1854, he moves to Pittsburgh, and is ordained.

What drives Father Mollinger is the belief

that miracles can occur, not just in Jesus's time,

but in our own modern day.

And all you need are holy relics.

- He gets this idea from passages in the New Testament.

One from Matthew 9:20 tells how a woman,

who had been bleeding for 12 years, touches Jesus's cloak,

hoping it will cure her.

Jesus turns and says,

"Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you."

- For Mollinger, he's not collecting these Biblical relics

to draw pilgrims to his church.

He believes that these objects are still charged

with God's power,

and he can use them for a holy mission to cure the sick.

- In addition to his pastoral duties,

Mollinger tends to the physical ailments

of as many as 100 or 150 people a day.

He's combining his love of medicine, religion,

and community service, and in so doing,

he finds his true calling.

- [Dennis] Mollinger is convinced

that the more relics he can find,

the more people he can heal, but it's no small task.

- During the 1860s and '70s,

European leaders like Italy's Giuseppe Garibaldi,

and German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck,

are leading violent anti-Catholic campaigns.

Relics are being confiscated.

Some are sold to the highest bidder,

others are simply destroyed.

- Mollinger sends a network of trusted agents across Europe.

Their mission is to find, to authenticate, to purchase,

and to ship relics back to Pittsburgh,

where they'll be safe and secure.

- As his collection grows,

Mollinger needs a place to display them.

In 1880, he spends over $300,000 of his own money

to build a church, sparing no expense.

Remember, he comes from a wealthy family.

- The holy artifacts are placed in golden reliquaries,

which are ornate containers designed

to showcase and preserve them.

European-made stained glass graces every window,

and daily mass is to be performed at an altar

made of pure Roman marble.

- Mollinger's shrine is dedicated three years later

on June 13, 1883.

Now, this date is no coincidence.

It's also the feast day of his favorite saint,

St. Anthony of Padua, who's known for his undying devotion

to the poor and the sick.

- As soon as the shrine opens, thousands of people visit.

For many, it isn't the relics that are drawing them there,

but Father Mollinger himself.

He uses the artifacts as a direct link to God.

He bestows blessings and writes prescriptions.

He even hires a druggist to fill them.

- Newspaper articles written at that time,

all relay accounts of miraculous cures at St. Anthony's.

Healing the blind, paralyzed persons,

even removing demons from the possessed.

- When he's not trying to heal the sick,

Mollinger continues to save relics from destruction.

Eventually, the collection grows so large

that a bigger church is needed.

- Sadly, just two days after the new church opens

on June 13, 1892, following surgery for a ruptured stomach,

Father Mollinger dies with a crucifix in his hand.

- Today, the 5,000 relics at St. Anthony's

are carefully displayed and curated in 800 reliquaries,

and open to the public by advanced booking.

- It may not see the millions of pilgrims

that other more famous holy sites do,

but for those who make the trek,

the experience is just as epic, and divine.

- These sacred giants of the world still hold many secrets.

Secrets that will continue to inspire awe and wonder

for generations to come.

I'm Dennis Quaid, and thanks for watching Holy Marvels.