1 00:00:00,151 --> 00:00:02,901 (dramatic music) 2 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,860 I'm Christopher Clark, Cambridge historian. 3 00:00:39,860 --> 00:00:41,840 I was born in Australia. 4 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,690 For Europeans, that's practically the other end of the world 5 00:00:45,690 --> 00:00:47,400 but the European continent 6 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:51,010 and its incredible diversity always fascinated me. 7 00:00:51,010 --> 00:00:53,600 Even in the far off country where I grew up, 8 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,290 I was always aware that so much of our world 9 00:00:56,290 --> 00:00:58,040 has its roots in Europe 10 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,890 and modern Europe is one of the greatest achievements 11 00:01:00,890 --> 00:01:02,610 in human history. 12 00:01:02,610 --> 00:01:06,460 I want to share the grand saga of this continent 13 00:01:06,460 --> 00:01:09,840 and in the process, I hope to rediscover its wonders 14 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:10,673 for myself. 15 00:01:12,510 --> 00:01:15,700 Europe, the very name conjures up images 16 00:01:15,700 --> 00:01:18,410 of change, unrest and violence 17 00:01:18,410 --> 00:01:22,320 but the continent has also been an incubator of civilization 18 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:24,810 where wonderful things are created. 19 00:01:24,810 --> 00:01:27,150 Florence in the early 15th century 20 00:01:27,150 --> 00:01:28,373 is one good example. 21 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:31,210 Florence's ascendency 22 00:01:31,210 --> 00:01:34,280 is reflected in the architecture of its cathedral. 23 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:36,250 The city fathers are aiming high, 24 00:01:36,250 --> 00:01:40,052 they want an enormous dome to crown this building. 25 00:01:40,052 --> 00:01:42,290 No one has attempted such a feat 26 00:01:42,290 --> 00:01:44,340 since the days of ancient Rome. 27 00:01:44,340 --> 00:01:48,060 They plan to build the largest vaulted stone ceiling 28 00:01:48,060 --> 00:01:48,893 in the world. 29 00:01:56,180 --> 00:01:59,720 This is one of the most distinctive features of this era, 30 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:02,910 art, religion, politics and science 31 00:02:02,910 --> 00:02:06,050 merged in the great cultural projects of the day. 32 00:02:06,050 --> 00:02:08,600 The Medici financed this crowning feat 33 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:10,370 of 15th century engineering 34 00:02:10,370 --> 00:02:12,130 not just out of piety 35 00:02:12,130 --> 00:02:14,910 but to celebrate the triumph of their power 36 00:02:14,910 --> 00:02:17,820 and that of the entire city of Florence. 37 00:02:17,820 --> 00:02:20,730 The Medici family supports numerous artists 38 00:02:20,730 --> 00:02:22,600 in this creative environment. 39 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,440 One of them would soon become world famous, 40 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,093 Michelangelo Buonarroti. 41 00:02:30,430 --> 00:02:31,660 Michelangelo creates 42 00:02:31,660 --> 00:02:34,450 what is probably the most famous sculpture 43 00:02:34,450 --> 00:02:35,890 in the history of art. 44 00:02:35,890 --> 00:02:38,440 from a block of the finest Carrara marble, 45 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:40,410 he carves his David. 46 00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:43,140 The last time such a monumental marble statue 47 00:02:43,140 --> 00:02:44,740 had been sculpted in Italy 48 00:02:44,740 --> 00:02:46,950 was over 1,000 years earlier 49 00:02:46,950 --> 00:02:49,000 in the days of the Roman empire. 50 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,450 A biblical figure naked like a Greek boy. 51 00:02:52,450 --> 00:02:54,273 It was provocative to say the least. 52 00:03:01,010 --> 00:03:04,040 Other Italian cities are also flourishing. 53 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,630 Venice holds trade monopolies for the mediterranean area, 54 00:03:07,630 --> 00:03:09,920 commercial revenues allow the city to grow 55 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:12,000 into a bustling metropolis. 56 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,420 Everything revolves around money. 57 00:03:14,420 --> 00:03:17,430 The Venetians are among the first bankers in history. 58 00:03:17,430 --> 00:03:19,800 They set up a bunco or a table 59 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:21,510 where they conduct their business 60 00:03:21,510 --> 00:03:23,620 and they have to make a pledge to the republic 61 00:03:23,620 --> 00:03:26,953 that they will not steal or commit forgery or fraud. 62 00:03:27,860 --> 00:03:30,320 The wealth of the Italian city-states 63 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,290 fuels the development of European culture 64 00:03:33,290 --> 00:03:35,180 and as is so often the case, 65 00:03:35,180 --> 00:03:37,833 the source of that wealth is competition. 66 00:03:41,274 --> 00:03:43,750 In the year 1500, 67 00:03:43,750 --> 00:03:46,890 Italy is just as divided as the rest of Europe. 68 00:03:46,890 --> 00:03:49,860 City-states compete for power and glory 69 00:03:49,860 --> 00:03:52,313 within a very limited geographical era. 70 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:55,580 In Venice, the Doge's 71 00:03:55,580 --> 00:03:57,920 are the powerful rulers of the republic. 72 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,310 In Florence, the wealthy clan of the Medici 73 00:04:00,310 --> 00:04:02,070 are the ones who call the shots. 74 00:04:02,070 --> 00:04:03,960 They're among the most important patrons 75 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:05,423 of the great Italian masters. 76 00:04:06,502 --> 00:04:09,860 The house of Sforza commissions Leonardo da Vinci 77 00:04:09,860 --> 00:04:11,433 to paint The Last Supper. 78 00:04:15,940 --> 00:04:18,920 Sandro Botticelli paints his Birth of Venus 79 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,473 to order for the Medici family in Florence. 80 00:04:22,650 --> 00:04:24,850 And Raphael's School of Athens 81 00:04:24,850 --> 00:04:27,063 is created for the Bourgeois in the Vatican. 82 00:04:30,660 --> 00:04:33,470 The largest and most famous work of this era 83 00:04:33,470 --> 00:04:37,610 stems from the hands of the Florentine master Michelangelo 84 00:04:37,610 --> 00:04:40,060 commissioned by the papal court in Rome 85 00:04:40,060 --> 00:04:43,920 in a bid to assert the papacy's cultural authority in Italy. 86 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,030 The ceiling fresco of the Sistine Chapel. 87 00:04:47,030 --> 00:04:48,770 This commission required Michelangelo 88 00:04:48,770 --> 00:04:52,920 to paint 520 square meters of surface area 89 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:54,580 all above his head, 90 00:04:54,580 --> 00:04:56,290 an incredible feat. 91 00:04:56,290 --> 00:04:59,340 He placed full scale sketches onto the plaster 92 00:04:59,340 --> 00:05:03,280 and poked the lines through with nails or spatulas. 93 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:05,620 It took Michelangelo four years 94 00:05:05,620 --> 00:05:07,293 to complete the ceiling fresco. 95 00:05:09,128 --> 00:05:12,230 This is the great era of the image. 96 00:05:12,230 --> 00:05:14,870 In this respect, it resembles our own time. 97 00:05:14,870 --> 00:05:17,640 But these pictures didn't need a textural gloss. 98 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:19,720 They developed a life of their own. 99 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,170 With gay abandon, the artist Michelangelo 100 00:05:22,170 --> 00:05:25,550 simply tosses the old and the new testament together 101 00:05:25,550 --> 00:05:27,140 in a single painting. 102 00:05:27,140 --> 00:05:28,520 This fresco by Michelangelo 103 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:30,450 is one of the best known images 104 00:05:30,450 --> 00:05:31,890 in the history of humanity. 105 00:05:31,890 --> 00:05:35,360 You can see it just over there in the Sistine Chapel. 106 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,870 The finger of the creator and his human creation 107 00:05:38,870 --> 00:05:40,560 almost touch. 108 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,920 To depict the relationship between them in this way 109 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:44,550 was not just courageous, 110 00:05:44,550 --> 00:05:46,330 it was revolutionary. 111 00:05:46,330 --> 00:05:49,180 God and his human creation are depicted here 112 00:05:49,180 --> 00:05:51,770 as embodying an equal dignity. 113 00:05:51,770 --> 00:05:54,200 What an elevation for humankind. 114 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,140 Adam, the first man, 115 00:05:56,140 --> 00:05:59,100 confronts us as a confident autonomous being 116 00:05:59,100 --> 00:06:02,800 and this in a chamber consecrated to the worship of God. 117 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,040 Incidentally, Michelangelo himself 118 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:08,270 had absolutely no lack of self confidence. 119 00:06:08,270 --> 00:06:11,817 The papal master of ceremonies Biagio da Cesena commented, 120 00:06:11,817 --> 00:06:15,067 "It was most disgraceful that in so sacred a place 121 00:06:15,067 --> 00:06:18,107 "there should've been depicted all those nude figures 122 00:06:18,107 --> 00:06:20,407 "exposing themselves so shamefully 123 00:06:20,407 --> 00:06:22,287 "and that the painting was more suitable 124 00:06:22,287 --> 00:06:25,590 "for public bath houses and taverns." 125 00:06:25,590 --> 00:06:28,190 Da Cesena had every reason to be upset. 126 00:06:28,190 --> 00:06:30,200 Among them, a personal one 127 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,080 because in the panel entitled The Last Judgment, 128 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,350 Michelangelo depicts Da Cesena as Minos, 129 00:06:36,350 --> 00:06:39,720 judge of the underworld being bitten in the genitals 130 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:40,613 by a snake. 131 00:06:42,260 --> 00:06:44,010 For his David and the figures 132 00:06:44,010 --> 00:06:46,360 in his Sistine Chapel frescoes, 133 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,530 Michelangelo devises his measurements 134 00:06:48,530 --> 00:06:50,340 from real people. 135 00:06:50,340 --> 00:06:54,310 But he wants to do more than just reproduce actual beauty. 136 00:06:54,310 --> 00:06:56,430 He strives for perfection 137 00:06:56,430 --> 00:07:00,030 like his role models the ancient Greek sculptors. 138 00:07:00,030 --> 00:07:03,560 They also aspire to achieve perfect proportionality 139 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,603 in their lifelike statues. 140 00:07:07,905 --> 00:07:10,310 The Greeks were perfectionists. 141 00:07:10,310 --> 00:07:11,930 They were sharp observers. 142 00:07:11,930 --> 00:07:13,150 The precision of their art 143 00:07:13,150 --> 00:07:15,860 bears witness to an obsession with mimesis, 144 00:07:15,860 --> 00:07:18,080 the precise imitation of nature. 145 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:19,770 The ripples in the dress, 146 00:07:19,770 --> 00:07:21,670 the detail of the human hand. 147 00:07:21,670 --> 00:07:24,230 But they also strove towards an ideal. 148 00:07:24,230 --> 00:07:26,020 In contrast to modern conceptions, 149 00:07:26,020 --> 00:07:29,170 they did not think in terms of standardized sizes. 150 00:07:29,170 --> 00:07:31,240 Proportionality was the key, 151 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,910 how big or tall someone was mattered little 152 00:07:33,910 --> 00:07:36,610 as long as the rest of their body was in proportion. 153 00:07:36,610 --> 00:07:39,100 Their aesthetics were mathematical. 154 00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:42,500 The ideal face had to conform to specific ratios. 155 00:07:42,500 --> 00:07:45,070 The small penis we see on classical figures 156 00:07:45,070 --> 00:07:47,420 symbolized masculine self control. 157 00:07:47,420 --> 00:07:51,500 And for women, a well formed and voluminous bottom 158 00:07:51,500 --> 00:07:53,720 was deemed especially attractive. 159 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,520 The golden ratio applied to humans and architecture 160 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:58,830 in equal measure. 161 00:07:58,830 --> 00:08:01,080 It's as evident in the Parthenon Temple 162 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:02,440 here on the Acropolis 163 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:04,130 as it is in the Venus of Milo, 164 00:08:04,130 --> 00:08:06,420 the famous statue of Aphrodite, 165 00:08:06,420 --> 00:08:10,120 goddess of beauty, love and sensual desire. 166 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,260 Europe has never abandoned this ideal of beauty. 167 00:08:13,260 --> 00:08:15,680 You can trace it like a red thread 168 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:17,893 through the entire history of European art. 169 00:08:19,287 --> 00:08:22,290 Michelangelo's era takes its name 170 00:08:22,290 --> 00:08:24,980 from this rediscovery of ancient art 171 00:08:24,980 --> 00:08:28,140 and its celebration of the naked human form, 172 00:08:28,140 --> 00:08:30,003 the Renaissance. 173 00:08:36,290 --> 00:08:38,600 Renaissance means rebirth 174 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:40,870 but what exactly was reborn? 175 00:08:40,870 --> 00:08:43,850 In part it was the cultural heritage of the ancient world, 176 00:08:43,850 --> 00:08:46,020 the essence of what had defined Europe 177 00:08:46,020 --> 00:08:48,100 at the beginning of our story. 178 00:08:48,100 --> 00:08:50,300 The conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans 179 00:08:50,300 --> 00:08:52,300 had triggered a wave of refugees 180 00:08:52,300 --> 00:08:54,500 and among these refugees were scholars 181 00:08:54,500 --> 00:08:57,300 who carried with them ancient manuscripts. 182 00:08:57,300 --> 00:08:59,590 A wave of enthusiasm for the ancient world 183 00:08:59,590 --> 00:09:01,100 rolled across Europe. 184 00:09:01,100 --> 00:09:03,650 Scholars from many lands scoured the continent 185 00:09:03,650 --> 00:09:06,480 for manuscripts by Greek and Roman authors. 186 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:09,620 Some of these works had quietly spent the Middle Ages 187 00:09:09,620 --> 00:09:11,270 sequestered in monasteries. 188 00:09:11,270 --> 00:09:14,900 Others had come to Spain via the Islamic academies. 189 00:09:14,900 --> 00:09:18,963 And now, they triggered a profound sea change in culture. 190 00:09:21,780 --> 00:09:25,030 Humanist and researcher Paolo Boccalini, 191 00:09:25,030 --> 00:09:27,400 also joins in the search. 192 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:28,703 Come, follow me. 193 00:09:29,770 --> 00:09:32,930 He is determined to find a book 194 00:09:32,930 --> 00:09:35,820 from the first century before Christ, De rerum natura 195 00:09:36,854 --> 00:09:39,110 by the Roman philosopher Lucretius. 196 00:09:39,110 --> 00:09:42,053 This book, a didactic summary of Greek epicurean thought, 197 00:09:43,128 --> 00:09:46,330 presents a dynamic analysis of the natural world 198 00:09:46,330 --> 00:09:48,743 completely decoupled from any concept of God. 199 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,890 Maybe here you'll find what you're looking for. 200 00:09:55,810 --> 00:09:57,970 Boccalini eventually tracks down 201 00:09:57,970 --> 00:10:00,496 his quarry in a benedictine abbey 202 00:10:00,496 --> 00:10:02,000 in the German city of Fulda. 203 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:03,910 Lucretius had created a compendium 204 00:10:03,910 --> 00:10:07,130 of what we would today describe as natural science. 205 00:10:07,130 --> 00:10:11,560 His book comprises no fewer than 7,800 verses 206 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:14,050 in which he explains the nature of the world 207 00:10:14,050 --> 00:10:16,950 and how people can subsist happily within it 208 00:10:16,950 --> 00:10:20,070 without the need to fear gods of any kind. 209 00:10:20,070 --> 00:10:23,010 The book addresses profound existential questions 210 00:10:23,010 --> 00:10:25,183 and that's why Boccalini wants to find it. 211 00:10:28,266 --> 00:10:31,016 (dramatic music) 212 00:10:41,602 --> 00:10:44,290 What an interesting and characteristically European 213 00:10:44,290 --> 00:10:46,860 synergy between old and new. 214 00:10:46,860 --> 00:10:49,630 By shining a fresh light onto the past, 215 00:10:49,630 --> 00:10:52,220 one brings into view a new future. 216 00:10:52,220 --> 00:10:53,640 Of course, this is only possible 217 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:55,510 because traces of antiquity 218 00:10:55,510 --> 00:10:57,710 can still be found all over Europe 219 00:10:57,710 --> 00:10:59,900 only when you study them more closely 220 00:10:59,900 --> 00:11:02,260 as the men and women of the Renaissance did, 221 00:11:02,260 --> 00:11:04,160 does the breathtaking extent 222 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,540 of ancient philosophy and knowledge come to light, 223 00:11:07,540 --> 00:11:09,650 knowledge of those hidden forces 224 00:11:09,650 --> 00:11:12,740 that hold the world together from inside 225 00:11:12,740 --> 00:11:14,990 as the German poet Goethe would later put it. 226 00:11:17,544 --> 00:11:21,860 Writing in Rome 50 years before the birth of Christ, 227 00:11:21,860 --> 00:11:24,310 Lucretius described in euphoric terms 228 00:11:24,310 --> 00:11:26,450 the fearless inquisitive spirit 229 00:11:26,450 --> 00:11:27,887 of the old Greeks. 230 00:11:27,887 --> 00:11:31,657 "The Greek philosopher Epicurus," Lucretius Wrote, 231 00:11:31,657 --> 00:11:34,367 "explored with spirit and sense 232 00:11:34,367 --> 00:11:36,877 "the endless realms of the universe 233 00:11:36,877 --> 00:11:38,467 "returned as a victor 234 00:11:38,467 --> 00:11:42,460 "to teach us what can be and what cannot." 235 00:11:42,460 --> 00:11:44,170 Already for Lucretius then, 236 00:11:44,170 --> 00:11:46,450 this was a moment of rediscovery 237 00:11:46,450 --> 00:11:48,440 and 1,500 years later, 238 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:50,700 Lucretius himself would be rediscovered 239 00:11:50,700 --> 00:11:53,490 and with him the entire intellectual dynamics 240 00:11:53,490 --> 00:11:54,840 of ancient knowledge. 241 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,580 It was a typically European interplay of old and new. 242 00:11:58,580 --> 00:12:00,740 Only through the illumination of the past 243 00:12:00,740 --> 00:12:03,080 did a new future become visible. 244 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:06,090 For those caught in the cultural vortex of the Renaissance 245 00:12:06,090 --> 00:12:08,050 this really was a rebirth 246 00:12:08,050 --> 00:12:10,110 and yet the question still remains, 247 00:12:10,110 --> 00:12:12,080 how was all this possible? 248 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,310 Lucretius' book played a role of course 249 00:12:14,310 --> 00:12:16,843 but another precondition was necessary, 250 00:12:16,843 --> 00:12:18,300 one that has always featured prominently 251 00:12:18,300 --> 00:12:20,600 in great cultural transformations, 252 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:23,370 a critical mass of talented people 253 00:12:23,370 --> 00:12:24,630 among whom ideas, 254 00:12:24,630 --> 00:12:28,450 including some that had been conceived 1,500 years before 255 00:12:28,450 --> 00:12:31,730 could fall on fertile ground and germinate. 256 00:12:31,730 --> 00:12:34,520 Renovation in intellectual and economic life, 257 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,500 the patriotism of flourishing city-states 258 00:12:37,500 --> 00:12:41,420 and fierce competition for the best tradespeople and artists 259 00:12:41,420 --> 00:12:43,163 fueled this tumultuous epoch. 260 00:12:45,523 --> 00:12:50,410 Ancient philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle 261 00:12:50,410 --> 00:12:52,550 had generated a remarkable fabric 262 00:12:52,550 --> 00:12:54,260 of thoughts and arguments, 263 00:12:54,260 --> 00:12:56,420 a special kind of mindset. 264 00:12:56,420 --> 00:12:59,460 Their reasoning had little to do with sacred scripture. 265 00:12:59,460 --> 00:13:02,490 It was founded on the observation of human affairs 266 00:13:02,490 --> 00:13:03,733 and the natural world. 267 00:13:12,460 --> 00:13:16,120 Men like Archimedes discover that complex phenomena 268 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,380 can be accounted for through simple general rules, 269 00:13:19,380 --> 00:13:23,340 rules that apply universally in all places and all times 270 00:13:23,340 --> 00:13:24,880 without exception. 271 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:27,160 Geometry invented by the Greeks 272 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:28,843 sparks a revolution in thinking. 273 00:13:42,730 --> 00:13:44,350 Galileo Galilee, 274 00:13:44,350 --> 00:13:46,460 the father of modern physics, 275 00:13:46,460 --> 00:13:49,267 also follows in the tradition of the Greeks. 276 00:13:49,267 --> 00:13:53,780 "The universe, that great book, is ever before our eyes," 277 00:13:53,780 --> 00:13:55,177 writes Galileo, 278 00:13:55,177 --> 00:13:59,240 "but the book is written in the language of mathematics." 279 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,780 Only through the careful quantification of his observations 280 00:14:02,780 --> 00:14:06,410 is Galileo able to discern consistent patterns 281 00:14:06,410 --> 00:14:09,363 and to develop his law of falling bodies. 282 00:14:18,300 --> 00:14:19,490 This is also the period 283 00:14:19,490 --> 00:14:23,550 when the European universities begin their unstoppable rise, 284 00:14:23,550 --> 00:14:26,070 each researcher builds on the work of others 285 00:14:26,070 --> 00:14:28,560 across the diverse regions of Europe 286 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,430 creating healthy and exciting competition. 287 00:14:31,430 --> 00:14:33,663 Universities like Cambridge lead the way. 288 00:14:39,206 --> 00:14:41,760 Once a year, it's possible to experience 289 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,580 what a healthy competition between universities 290 00:14:44,580 --> 00:14:45,500 looks like 291 00:14:45,500 --> 00:14:49,010 at the great boat race between Cambridge and Oxford. 292 00:14:49,010 --> 00:14:52,330 It's quite tough and it's taken very seriously. 293 00:14:52,330 --> 00:14:54,050 The two universities regard each other 294 00:14:54,050 --> 00:14:55,600 as peer institutions 295 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,160 but they also want to outperform each other 296 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,340 and even today, the race remains a potent symbol 297 00:15:01,340 --> 00:15:03,010 of the pursuit of excellence, 298 00:15:03,010 --> 00:15:04,420 not just in sport 299 00:15:04,420 --> 00:15:07,090 but in the intellectual arena as well. 300 00:15:07,090 --> 00:15:08,410 From the beginning, 301 00:15:08,410 --> 00:15:11,080 competition has been one of the driving motors 302 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:12,450 of European history. 303 00:15:12,450 --> 00:15:14,260 Life on this continent has been marked 304 00:15:14,260 --> 00:15:18,000 by constant rivalry between dynasties, countries 305 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:18,990 and cities 306 00:15:18,990 --> 00:15:22,160 and soon also between universities and researchers 307 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:24,000 who strove with all their might 308 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,950 to discover what held the world together. 309 00:15:26,950 --> 00:15:28,060 And here in England, 310 00:15:28,060 --> 00:15:30,840 another decisive element came into play, 311 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:33,050 the joy of experimentation, 312 00:15:33,050 --> 00:15:34,860 of observing and interpreting 313 00:15:34,860 --> 00:15:37,523 the processes at work in the natural world. 314 00:15:39,580 --> 00:15:41,650 Italian mathematician Galileo Galilee 315 00:15:41,650 --> 00:15:43,600 laid the groundwork 316 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:46,170 but it's an Englishman who finally identifies 317 00:15:46,170 --> 00:15:48,130 and theorizes the mysterious force 318 00:15:48,130 --> 00:15:50,930 that brings everything falling to the ground, 319 00:15:50,930 --> 00:15:54,260 Isaac Newton, the discoverer of gravity. 320 00:15:54,260 --> 00:15:57,750 Was it really the apple that lead to Newton's breakthrough? 321 00:15:57,750 --> 00:15:59,360 Even today it seems, 322 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,210 centuries after his death, 323 00:16:01,210 --> 00:16:03,673 poor Newton can't shake that myth. 324 00:16:10,170 --> 00:16:12,080 Here under the walls of Trinity College 325 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,810 there's an apple tree that stems from the original tree 326 00:16:14,810 --> 00:16:17,130 from which the apple is supposed to have fallen 327 00:16:17,130 --> 00:16:18,590 on Newton's head. 328 00:16:18,590 --> 00:16:21,180 In reality of course, Newton's revolutionary discoveries 329 00:16:21,180 --> 00:16:23,170 have less to do with falling apples 330 00:16:23,170 --> 00:16:24,220 than with the bible 331 00:16:24,220 --> 00:16:25,950 which he read everyday. 332 00:16:25,950 --> 00:16:28,410 Newton owned 30 bible editions 333 00:16:28,410 --> 00:16:30,070 in a variety of languages. 334 00:16:30,070 --> 00:16:31,700 That might seem strange to us today 335 00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:33,680 but back then it was anything but. 336 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:34,680 As a scientist, 337 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,370 Newton was deeply rooted in the Christian faith 338 00:16:37,370 --> 00:16:40,250 and in the conviction that faith and reason 339 00:16:40,250 --> 00:16:43,300 do not and indeed cannot contradict each other. 340 00:16:43,300 --> 00:16:45,050 Why should it not be God 341 00:16:45,050 --> 00:16:47,033 who infused objects with gravity? 342 00:16:47,912 --> 00:16:50,130 By studying the bible, 343 00:16:50,130 --> 00:16:51,930 Newton also comes to believe 344 00:16:51,930 --> 00:16:53,750 that God is not a trinity 345 00:16:53,750 --> 00:16:55,980 but rather an unified force 346 00:16:55,980 --> 00:16:57,740 that encompasses the entire world 347 00:16:57,740 --> 00:17:00,240 and this in turn, leads him to the idea 348 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,650 that time and space are the sensorium of God, 349 00:17:03,650 --> 00:17:06,393 theology becomes physics and vice versa. 350 00:17:10,940 --> 00:17:13,090 But Newton's rejection of the trinity 351 00:17:13,090 --> 00:17:14,770 made him a heretic. 352 00:17:14,770 --> 00:17:18,700 To the church, God was composed of three persons. 353 00:17:18,700 --> 00:17:20,810 For Newton, there was no fundamental tension 354 00:17:20,810 --> 00:17:22,670 between faith and science. 355 00:17:22,670 --> 00:17:24,210 They formed a unity, 356 00:17:24,210 --> 00:17:27,380 observation was the highest form of prayer. 357 00:17:27,380 --> 00:17:28,950 And so it seems appropriate 358 00:17:28,950 --> 00:17:31,340 that he should be buried in Westminster Abbey, 359 00:17:31,340 --> 00:17:33,900 arguably the most important church 360 00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:35,630 in the kingdom of Britain. 361 00:17:35,630 --> 00:17:38,277 The inscription on his tomb reads, 362 00:17:38,277 --> 00:17:40,237 "Nature and nature's laws 363 00:17:40,237 --> 00:17:41,577 "lay hidden night, 364 00:17:41,577 --> 00:17:46,200 "and God said, "Let Newton be," and all was light." 365 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,880 This captures something real about Newton's era, 366 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:50,960 an era in which great achievements 367 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,330 were still associated with the fulfillment 368 00:17:53,330 --> 00:17:54,710 of god's will. 369 00:17:54,710 --> 00:17:56,140 This would soon change 370 00:17:56,140 --> 00:17:57,780 and 200 years later, 371 00:17:57,780 --> 00:18:00,360 Charles Darwin also from Cambridge, 372 00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:03,500 would shake and remake the world of knowledge. 373 00:18:03,500 --> 00:18:06,253 Here he lies directly beside Newton. 374 00:18:07,700 --> 00:18:10,820 Only over millions of years, Darwin proposed, 375 00:18:10,820 --> 00:18:13,580 did life on Earth develop into what it is today. 376 00:18:13,580 --> 00:18:16,530 The species as we know them were not created by God 377 00:18:16,530 --> 00:18:18,090 but were rather the result 378 00:18:18,090 --> 00:18:20,490 of an evolution, a development. 379 00:18:20,490 --> 00:18:24,650 It followed that the high apes were our closest relatives. 380 00:18:24,650 --> 00:18:27,080 These were scandalous claims. 381 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:28,320 In Darwin's case, 382 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,610 it was not scientific observation as such 383 00:18:30,610 --> 00:18:33,440 that rocked the foundations of traditional religion 384 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,460 but the displacement of divine revelation by history. 385 00:18:37,460 --> 00:18:39,980 It was Darwin, the natural historian, 386 00:18:39,980 --> 00:18:43,030 whose thinking transformed the modern world. 387 00:18:43,030 --> 00:18:44,130 Since then, 388 00:18:44,130 --> 00:18:47,500 Darwin's theory has been confirmed many times over 389 00:18:47,500 --> 00:18:49,450 even if it has failed to convince those 390 00:18:49,450 --> 00:18:53,930 who see in the bible a literal description of the creation. 391 00:18:53,930 --> 00:18:55,530 Since the ancient Greeks, 392 00:18:55,530 --> 00:18:58,820 the search for a rational explanation for worldly phenomena 393 00:18:58,820 --> 00:19:01,200 and their induction to simple formulae, 394 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:03,940 has been the basis of scientific thought in Europe. 395 00:19:03,940 --> 00:19:05,423 And so it remains today. 396 00:19:06,521 --> 00:19:09,440 The Polish mathematician and astronomer, 397 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:11,000 Nicholas Copernicus, 398 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,970 observes that the Earth revolves around the sun. 399 00:19:13,970 --> 00:19:15,600 The Italian Galileo Galilee 400 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,030 delivers further arguments to support that claim. 401 00:19:18,030 --> 00:19:19,810 The Englishman Isaac Newton, 402 00:19:19,810 --> 00:19:21,070 discovers gravity, 403 00:19:21,070 --> 00:19:23,690 and the German Jew Albert Einstein, 404 00:19:23,690 --> 00:19:25,040 carries on their work 405 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,130 with his theory of relativity. 406 00:19:27,130 --> 00:19:30,363 A European relay race through the centuries. 407 00:19:34,660 --> 00:19:37,080 Since the days of the ancient Greeks, 408 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,050 the search for a simple comprehensive formula 409 00:19:40,050 --> 00:19:43,140 has formed the basis of scientific thought in Europe 410 00:19:43,140 --> 00:19:45,423 and it remains so even today. 411 00:19:47,358 --> 00:19:50,642 (speaking in foreign language) 412 00:19:50,642 --> 00:19:52,230 What is man, what is he not, 413 00:19:52,230 --> 00:19:54,760 and of what stuff is the world made? 414 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:56,410 Ancient Greece was the theater 415 00:19:56,410 --> 00:19:58,360 of an intellectual revolution. 416 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:00,100 There were numerous schools of thought, 417 00:20:00,100 --> 00:20:02,320 an archipelago of little academies 418 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,070 whose philosophers competed bitterly with one another. 419 00:20:05,070 --> 00:20:07,320 Some observed and experimented, 420 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,100 others searched for philosophical answers. 421 00:20:10,100 --> 00:20:11,240 One Greek thinker 422 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,030 who stood out for his curiosity and creativity 423 00:20:14,030 --> 00:20:14,863 was Heron. 424 00:20:14,863 --> 00:20:18,240 1,400 years before Leonardo da Vinci, 425 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,310 this engineer and mathematician 426 00:20:20,310 --> 00:20:23,320 was already constructing complex machines 427 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:24,970 such as a vending apparatus 428 00:20:24,970 --> 00:20:27,770 that could dispense both milk and wine, 429 00:20:27,770 --> 00:20:29,580 a wind powered organ 430 00:20:29,580 --> 00:20:32,960 and an early precursor of the steam engine. 431 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:34,670 The philosopher Democratus, 432 00:20:34,670 --> 00:20:35,580 hit upon the idea 433 00:20:35,580 --> 00:20:37,160 that he could, in theory, 434 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,110 keep slicing an apple 435 00:20:39,110 --> 00:20:40,620 into ever smaller pieces 436 00:20:41,490 --> 00:20:43,780 as I'm doing just here. 437 00:20:43,780 --> 00:20:46,680 Could you simply continue doing this forever? 438 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,690 Democratus suspected that the answer was no. 439 00:20:50,690 --> 00:20:53,220 He thought that one would eventually arrive 440 00:20:53,220 --> 00:20:55,640 at indestructible little spheres 441 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,380 that could not be subdivided. 442 00:20:57,380 --> 00:20:59,000 He called them atoms 443 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,005 with the Greek work (speaking in foreign language) 444 00:21:02,005 --> 00:21:02,838 indivisible. 445 00:21:02,838 --> 00:21:04,770 2,400 years later, 446 00:21:04,770 --> 00:21:07,120 we're still pushing at this frontier 447 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:09,423 and we're doing it at the heart of Europe. 448 00:21:15,570 --> 00:21:19,100 And here at the Cern Research center in Geneva 449 00:21:19,100 --> 00:21:22,120 the search inaugurated by Democratus continues. 450 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:25,790 13,000 scientists from 85 countries 451 00:21:25,790 --> 00:21:27,770 hunt for the smallest particle, 452 00:21:27,770 --> 00:21:29,110 demonstrating in the process 453 00:21:29,110 --> 00:21:31,880 that the ancient principles still apply. 454 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:33,210 You posit a theory 455 00:21:33,210 --> 00:21:35,770 and then you use experiments to test it. 456 00:21:35,770 --> 00:21:38,470 And in this place, we're dealing with no less a matter 457 00:21:38,470 --> 00:21:41,020 than the basic principles of our universe. 458 00:21:41,020 --> 00:21:45,370 This is fundamental science drive by curiosity alone. 459 00:21:45,370 --> 00:21:47,250 The biggest machine in the world 460 00:21:47,250 --> 00:21:50,330 is used to study the smallest particles of matter 461 00:21:50,330 --> 00:21:53,160 with the aide of an immense particle accelerator 462 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,810 some 27 kilometers in length, 463 00:21:55,810 --> 00:21:59,550 a tunnel into the furthest frontiers of our understanding 464 00:21:59,550 --> 00:22:02,760 and within it, the fastest particle accelerator 465 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:03,653 in the world. 466 00:22:13,589 --> 00:22:16,580 What are you trying to achieve with all this machinery? 467 00:22:16,580 --> 00:22:18,940 I think what we try to reach 468 00:22:18,940 --> 00:22:20,550 is to answer fundamental question 469 00:22:20,550 --> 00:22:22,250 which mankind ever had, 470 00:22:22,250 --> 00:22:25,570 it's the questions who are we, where do we come from 471 00:22:25,570 --> 00:22:27,360 and where do we go to? 472 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:28,570 Is there something special 473 00:22:28,570 --> 00:22:31,070 about the architecture of public science in Europe 474 00:22:32,104 --> 00:22:33,160 that makes this kind of work possible? 475 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,878 I think yes, Europe is very special. 476 00:22:35,878 --> 00:22:37,340 So when Cern was founded in 1954, 477 00:22:37,340 --> 00:22:40,450 it was very special that Europeans get together 478 00:22:41,516 --> 00:22:42,588 and fund this research. 479 00:22:42,588 --> 00:22:45,316 And now, with the European Research Council, 480 00:22:45,316 --> 00:22:46,447 this is even more 481 00:22:46,447 --> 00:22:48,647 and even helps fundamental science even more 482 00:22:49,661 --> 00:22:50,911 to do research. 483 00:22:52,424 --> 00:22:55,526 Democratus' apple was a little less expensive. 484 00:22:55,526 --> 00:22:57,349 This particle accelerator 485 00:22:57,349 --> 00:22:59,879 costs as much as 20 football stadiums 486 00:22:59,879 --> 00:23:02,260 and is longer than any Formula One racetrack. 487 00:23:02,260 --> 00:23:04,560 Physicists plan to use this machine, 488 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:06,030 the biggest in the world, 489 00:23:06,030 --> 00:23:07,313 for just one thing, 490 00:23:08,375 --> 00:23:09,525 to find tiny particles. 491 00:23:10,878 --> 00:23:12,935 Here in Europe, the door is opening 492 00:23:12,935 --> 00:23:14,435 to a new dimension of physics. 493 00:23:16,580 --> 00:23:18,810 Partnerships at the European level 494 00:23:19,845 --> 00:23:20,678 are nothing new, of course. 495 00:23:20,678 --> 00:23:24,280 Galileo Galilee corresponded with his European colleagues 496 00:23:25,236 --> 00:23:27,436 including his young admirer, Johannes Keplar 497 00:23:28,354 --> 00:23:30,560 who was particularly fascinated with the moon 498 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,693 and Galileo draws up the very first map of the moon. 499 00:23:37,451 --> 00:23:40,730 There's an inscription on this famous Berninin elephant 500 00:23:41,913 --> 00:23:42,746 in the center of Rome 501 00:23:42,746 --> 00:23:44,364 that says, "Whoever you are, 502 00:23:44,364 --> 00:23:46,297 "view this monument as a lesson, 503 00:23:46,297 --> 00:23:48,448 "namely, that only a robust spirit 504 00:23:48,448 --> 00:23:50,000 "can sustain a powerful insight." 505 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:50,880 Which is ironic 506 00:23:51,857 --> 00:23:54,190 because it was just a stone's throw from here 507 00:23:54,190 --> 00:23:55,910 behind these walls in 1633 508 00:23:55,910 --> 00:23:59,380 that Galileo Galilee was forced before the inquisition 509 00:24:00,404 --> 00:24:02,155 to recant his assertion 510 00:24:02,155 --> 00:24:04,033 that the Earth rotated around the sun. 511 00:24:04,897 --> 00:24:06,811 He had demonstrated this quite clearly 512 00:24:06,811 --> 00:24:09,962 in his dialog concerning the two chief world systems, 513 00:24:09,962 --> 00:24:13,440 a book that until 1825 remained on the Vatican's list 514 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,035 of banned texts. 515 00:24:16,035 --> 00:24:17,750 Although science has of course long proved 516 00:24:17,750 --> 00:24:20,290 that indeed the Earth did rotate around the sun 517 00:24:21,372 --> 00:24:22,205 and not the other way around. 518 00:24:22,205 --> 00:24:24,980 The Renaissance changed Europe and the world 519 00:24:25,951 --> 00:24:27,764 in almost every domain. 520 00:24:27,764 --> 00:24:30,952 And in the process, entrenched positions of power 521 00:24:30,952 --> 00:24:32,413 were often called into question. 522 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:35,883 For a further 300 years, 523 00:24:36,939 --> 00:24:38,337 the Roman church will persist 524 00:24:38,337 --> 00:24:39,650 in considering heliocentrism 525 00:24:39,650 --> 00:24:41,273 to be a heretical doctrine. 526 00:24:42,505 --> 00:24:44,970 The inquisition forces Galileo to recount his theories 527 00:24:44,970 --> 00:24:49,172 and the church doesn't admit its mistake until 1992 528 00:24:49,172 --> 00:24:51,980 when Galileo is ultimately vindicated 529 00:24:51,980 --> 00:24:54,210 by Pope John Paul the Second. 530 00:24:55,230 --> 00:24:59,147 (speaking in foreign language) 531 00:25:08,019 --> 00:25:09,560 Galileo's discoveries 532 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:10,393 sparks developments 533 00:25:10,393 --> 00:25:12,363 that continue into our modern era. 534 00:25:13,490 --> 00:25:16,550 In the 1960s, people landed on the moon for the first time 535 00:25:17,545 --> 00:25:20,460 thanks in part to the expertise of European researchers 536 00:25:20,460 --> 00:25:22,120 who developed rocket technology 537 00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:23,763 during the second world war. 538 00:25:24,690 --> 00:25:25,766 9:34 AM, 539 00:25:25,766 --> 00:25:28,523 Apollo 15 lifted from the pad on its way to the moon. 540 00:25:32,383 --> 00:25:33,389 Walking on the moon 541 00:25:33,389 --> 00:25:35,831 would've been impossible for Galileo to imagine 542 00:25:35,831 --> 00:25:38,966 and yet he'd already shown how objects would behave 543 00:25:38,966 --> 00:25:40,060 in a world without an atmosphere. 544 00:25:40,060 --> 00:25:42,173 They all fall at the same rate, 545 00:25:43,221 --> 00:25:45,833 as the astronauts of the Apollo 15 mission demonstrate. 546 00:25:48,771 --> 00:25:51,031 These days, our knowledge of the universe, 547 00:25:51,031 --> 00:25:52,828 is growing ever more precise. 548 00:25:52,828 --> 00:25:54,560 We've inherited a learning process 549 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:56,877 that began in Europe 500 years ago. 550 00:26:09,122 --> 00:26:09,955 During the Renaissance, 551 00:26:09,955 --> 00:26:12,102 people turned their attention 552 00:26:12,102 --> 00:26:13,878 not only to God and the heavens, 553 00:26:13,878 --> 00:26:15,128 but inward to themselves. 554 00:26:16,105 --> 00:26:18,710 One of the most inquisitive individuals of this era 555 00:26:18,710 --> 00:26:19,720 can be found in Florence. 556 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:21,513 His name is Leonardo da Vinci. 557 00:26:22,565 --> 00:26:24,865 He's already renowned for his many talents 558 00:26:24,865 --> 00:26:26,111 during his lifetime. 559 00:26:26,111 --> 00:26:27,698 He's a pioneer. 560 00:26:27,698 --> 00:26:29,501 Sigmeud Freud would later say of him, 561 00:26:29,501 --> 00:26:32,267 "He was like a man who woke too early in the darkness 562 00:26:32,267 --> 00:26:34,327 "while everyone else was still asleep." 563 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:42,160 Leonardo designs countless devices, 564 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:47,160 diving equipment, submarines, and flying machines. 565 00:26:49,630 --> 00:26:50,780 Most of his inventions 566 00:26:50,780 --> 00:26:52,690 must have seemed like flights of fancy 567 00:26:53,660 --> 00:26:54,493 to his contemporaries, 568 00:26:54,493 --> 00:26:57,013 but in fact he was a man far ahead of his time. 569 00:27:08,227 --> 00:27:10,660 Not only is Leonardo a painter and an inventor, 570 00:27:10,660 --> 00:27:13,940 he's also a trailblazer in modern anatomy. 571 00:27:13,940 --> 00:27:16,370 Leonardo refuses to confine himself 572 00:27:16,370 --> 00:27:19,140 to superficial observations of the human body. 573 00:27:19,140 --> 00:27:22,390 Over the course of his scientific and artistic career, 574 00:27:22,390 --> 00:27:25,913 he dissects a total of 30 corpses. 575 00:27:27,510 --> 00:27:31,980 Leonardo's investigations yield new and precise insights 576 00:27:31,980 --> 00:27:34,390 into the inner workings of the human body 577 00:27:34,390 --> 00:27:36,610 and his exploration of corpses 578 00:27:36,610 --> 00:27:39,130 is a boon to more than just science, 579 00:27:39,130 --> 00:27:42,020 it also benefits the art world. 580 00:27:42,020 --> 00:27:44,810 Like many of the great masters of the age, 581 00:27:44,810 --> 00:27:47,720 Leonardo believes that understanding anatomy 582 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:49,560 is an important prerequisite 583 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,193 for capturing the human form on canvas. 584 00:27:54,650 --> 00:27:58,350 His most famous work is the painting known as the Mona Lisa 585 00:27:58,350 --> 00:28:00,280 which he starts in 1503 586 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,110 and keeps in his workshop until his death 587 00:28:03,110 --> 00:28:05,090 in May 1519 588 00:28:05,090 --> 00:28:07,623 with the excuse that it's not finished yet. 589 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:11,300 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa 590 00:28:11,300 --> 00:28:13,330 is still the ultimate icon. 591 00:28:13,330 --> 00:28:15,710 When the 19th century critic Walter Payta 592 00:28:15,710 --> 00:28:17,140 contemplated this painting, 593 00:28:17,140 --> 00:28:20,670 he claimed to see in it the whole of European history, 594 00:28:20,670 --> 00:28:22,350 the animalism of Greece, 595 00:28:22,350 --> 00:28:23,880 the lust of Rome, 596 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:25,930 the mysticism of the Middle Ages, 597 00:28:25,930 --> 00:28:27,900 the return of the pagan world, 598 00:28:27,900 --> 00:28:29,200 the sins of the Bourgeois. 599 00:28:30,128 --> 00:28:32,497 "She is older than the rocks among which she sits 600 00:28:32,497 --> 00:28:35,577 "like the empire she has been dead many times 601 00:28:35,577 --> 00:28:38,580 "and learned the secrets of the grave." 602 00:28:38,580 --> 00:28:40,600 Payta's words, not mine. 603 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:42,460 But if that really were the case 604 00:28:42,460 --> 00:28:44,270 then the Mona Lisa might well be 605 00:28:44,270 --> 00:28:47,133 the quintessential embodiment of Europe. 606 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,160 And it's probably the most renowned painting 607 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,140 the continent has ever produced. 608 00:28:53,140 --> 00:28:56,600 Every year, millions of people come to the Louvre in Paris 609 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:57,433 to admire it. 610 00:29:05,660 --> 00:29:08,000 Meanwhile, another capital city 611 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,420 dedicates itself to providing down to Earth entertainment 612 00:29:11,420 --> 00:29:12,640 for the masses, 613 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:14,823 a tradition that remains alive to this day. 614 00:29:16,180 --> 00:29:19,370 In 1599, London witnesses the birth 615 00:29:19,370 --> 00:29:23,142 of a public entertainment venue of a new type, 616 00:29:23,142 --> 00:29:25,800 the Globe Theater. 617 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:27,610 In this circular building, 618 00:29:27,610 --> 00:29:29,370 the man who might rightly be called 619 00:29:29,370 --> 00:29:31,140 Europe's greatest playwright 620 00:29:31,140 --> 00:29:33,050 stages his works. 621 00:29:33,050 --> 00:29:35,170 There is a unique artistic synthesis 622 00:29:35,170 --> 00:29:38,450 between this theater and the performances themselves. 623 00:29:38,450 --> 00:29:41,340 This is where the city's pleasure oriented denizens 624 00:29:41,340 --> 00:29:43,240 find exactly what they're looking for. 625 00:29:46,135 --> 00:29:49,960 What counted as entertainment in those days? 626 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,720 Public executions, cock fights and bear baiting, 627 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:55,490 or mystery and morality plays 628 00:29:55,490 --> 00:29:59,040 with devils, demons and allegorical figures? 629 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,290 And then along came a man 630 00:30:01,290 --> 00:30:03,980 who drew inspiration from these sources, 631 00:30:03,980 --> 00:30:05,710 an uninhibited spirit 632 00:30:05,710 --> 00:30:08,400 whose genius turned this turbulent world 633 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:09,980 into a work of art. 634 00:30:09,980 --> 00:30:11,790 William Shakespeare's plays 635 00:30:11,790 --> 00:30:13,670 drove audiences wild 636 00:30:13,670 --> 00:30:15,430 and it's impossible to explain 637 00:30:15,430 --> 00:30:17,750 the richness of his imaginary word 638 00:30:17,750 --> 00:30:21,140 without understanding the babylondon of his era, 639 00:30:21,140 --> 00:30:23,350 a sprawling city beside a river 640 00:30:25,077 --> 00:30:27,750 teeming with courtiers, merchants, artisans, navants, 641 00:30:27,750 --> 00:30:30,353 prostitutes, beggars and cutpurses. 642 00:30:31,243 --> 00:30:34,770 In Shakespeare's round Globe Theater, 643 00:30:34,770 --> 00:30:36,160 everything revolved 644 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:40,160 around the full vibrant emotionally charged lives 645 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:41,570 of human beings, 646 00:30:41,570 --> 00:30:44,710 and the public stood right in front of the stage. 647 00:30:44,710 --> 00:30:46,070 Shakespeare's theater 648 00:30:46,070 --> 00:30:48,897 encompassed the whole of human existence. 649 00:30:48,897 --> 00:30:51,410 "All the world's a stage," 650 00:30:51,410 --> 00:30:53,277 says a character in As You Like It, 651 00:30:53,277 --> 00:30:56,020 "And all the men and women merely players." 652 00:30:56,020 --> 00:30:58,820 They have their exits and their entrances 653 00:30:58,820 --> 00:31:02,490 and one man at his time plays many parts. 654 00:31:02,490 --> 00:31:04,360 The ancient Greeks invented theater 655 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:06,220 as a cult for their Gods. 656 00:31:06,220 --> 00:31:07,780 Their dramas were intended 657 00:31:07,780 --> 00:31:10,640 to educate the citizens of the palace. 658 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:13,150 Shakespeare learnt from them of course 659 00:31:13,150 --> 00:31:16,990 but his primary goal was to hold a mirror up to society, 660 00:31:16,990 --> 00:31:18,880 to entertain his audiences 661 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,350 with a vision of the world they lived in. 662 00:31:21,350 --> 00:31:24,900 No other dramatist has had such a profound influence 663 00:31:24,900 --> 00:31:27,683 on the evolution of treater across the world. 664 00:31:29,333 --> 00:31:31,900 With almost demonic energy, 665 00:31:31,900 --> 00:31:35,240 Shakespeare churns out comedies and tragedies, 666 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,900 his works illuminate all the lights and shadows 667 00:31:37,900 --> 00:31:39,330 of human existence. 668 00:31:39,330 --> 00:31:42,880 His writing gives us a glimpse behind the scenes of power, 669 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,670 a world of regicide, incest and magic. 670 00:31:46,670 --> 00:31:49,220 Plays like A Midsummer Night's Dream, 671 00:31:49,220 --> 00:31:50,400 As You Like It, 672 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,900 Hamlet, Othello and Romeo and Juliet, 673 00:31:53,900 --> 00:31:57,690 still move us, even after 500 years. 674 00:31:57,690 --> 00:31:59,810 Above all, Shakespeare's writing 675 00:31:59,810 --> 00:32:02,410 reflects the upheaval and cultural awakening 676 00:32:02,410 --> 00:32:04,150 taking place in Europe. 677 00:32:04,150 --> 00:32:06,880 His works hold up a mirror to a new age, 678 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,610 an age of restlessness 679 00:32:08,610 --> 00:32:12,240 in which a process of globalization led by Europe 680 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:13,543 is already in full swing. 681 00:32:18,610 --> 00:32:21,710 And the world around London was in flux. 682 00:32:21,710 --> 00:32:24,640 Shakespeare was born in 1564, 683 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,290 the same year as Galileo Galilee, 684 00:32:27,290 --> 00:32:28,360 the man who discovered 685 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,860 that the Earth was in constant motion, 686 00:32:30,860 --> 00:32:32,890 that it revolved around the sun. 687 00:32:32,890 --> 00:32:35,180 And Shakespeare too was a transformer. 688 00:32:35,180 --> 00:32:37,790 He revolutionized the world of drama, 689 00:32:37,790 --> 00:32:39,973 and the way stories were told on stage. 690 00:32:43,130 --> 00:32:44,780 A miracle, 691 00:32:44,780 --> 00:32:48,420 here's our own hands against our hearts. 692 00:32:48,420 --> 00:32:50,150 Come, I will have thee 693 00:32:50,150 --> 00:32:53,300 but by this light, I take thee for pity. 694 00:32:53,300 --> 00:32:55,950 Shakespeare is a courtly entertainer. 695 00:32:55,950 --> 00:32:57,260 Queen Elizabeth the First 696 00:32:57,260 --> 00:32:58,610 is his first patron 697 00:32:58,610 --> 00:33:00,650 and her successor would continue 698 00:33:00,650 --> 00:33:02,460 to support Shakespeare's work. 699 00:33:02,460 --> 00:33:05,050 Elizabeth the First loved the theater. 700 00:33:05,050 --> 00:33:07,780 Before her, it had been the exclusive domain 701 00:33:07,780 --> 00:33:08,770 of the nobility. 702 00:33:08,770 --> 00:33:11,103 She made it available to everyone. 703 00:33:13,580 --> 00:33:17,070 Members of all social classes come together here. 704 00:33:17,070 --> 00:33:20,680 On the stage, actors portray peasants, the bourgeois 705 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:21,670 and the nobility, 706 00:33:21,670 --> 00:33:24,453 groups that are also represented in the audience. 707 00:33:25,473 --> 00:33:26,310 This is a new phenomenon. 708 00:33:26,310 --> 00:33:28,820 The new social space of the theater 709 00:33:28,820 --> 00:33:31,943 prefigures the mass entertainment of our own day. 710 00:33:38,380 --> 00:33:41,270 Shakespeare was a hard act to follow 711 00:33:41,270 --> 00:33:42,690 but in the following centuries, 712 00:33:42,690 --> 00:33:44,840 countless European writers and performers 713 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:46,840 would further refine and expand 714 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:48,810 the spectrum of public entertainment 715 00:33:48,810 --> 00:33:51,570 sharing their own forms of artistic expression 716 00:33:51,570 --> 00:33:52,920 with the rest of the world. 717 00:33:54,150 --> 00:33:55,980 Berlin's Skladanowsky brothers 718 00:33:55,980 --> 00:33:59,060 announced one of the world's first public film screenings 719 00:33:59,060 --> 00:34:01,893 on November the 1st, 1895. 720 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:05,760 At around the same time, 721 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:07,430 the French Lumiere Brothers 722 00:34:07,430 --> 00:34:10,810 astonished Parisian audiences with their moving pictures. 723 00:34:10,810 --> 00:34:13,520 Film begins as a carnival attraction 724 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,360 but this seventh art 725 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,650 soon becomes a respected medium 726 00:34:17,650 --> 00:34:20,130 and in the grand Shakespearean tradition, 727 00:34:20,130 --> 00:34:23,680 the audience experiences the suspension of disbelief 728 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,393 and the rapid alternation of strong emotions. 729 00:34:29,357 --> 00:34:33,150 British performer Charlie Chaplin's meteoric rise 730 00:34:33,150 --> 00:34:36,153 begins in 1914 with his role as the Tramp. 731 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,900 Other European stars like Marlene Dietrich 732 00:34:40,900 --> 00:34:43,010 also enjoy international careers. 733 00:34:43,010 --> 00:34:45,020 It isn't until after World War Two 734 00:34:45,020 --> 00:34:47,460 that Europe is relegated to second place 735 00:34:47,460 --> 00:34:50,263 in the world of the silver screen behind Hollywood. 736 00:34:51,525 --> 00:34:53,310 But Europeans will continue to play a vital role 737 00:34:53,310 --> 00:34:56,240 in Tinsel Town's golden era as well. 738 00:34:56,240 --> 00:34:59,430 Billy Wilder, born in modern day Poland, 739 00:34:59,430 --> 00:35:02,250 Scotsman Sean Connery, 740 00:35:02,250 --> 00:35:04,113 Englishman Cary Grant, 741 00:35:05,123 --> 00:35:08,053 Austrian Christoph Waltz, 742 00:35:09,010 --> 00:35:11,860 and British Kate Winslet 743 00:35:11,860 --> 00:35:15,073 are just a few of Hollywood's legendary Europeans. 744 00:35:16,460 --> 00:35:19,440 The film industry creates imagery and role models 745 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:20,620 that everyone knows 746 00:35:20,620 --> 00:35:22,660 and many would like to emulate. 747 00:35:22,660 --> 00:35:25,560 Spectacle can be a form of mainstream entertainment, 748 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,970 a mirror in which society gazes at itself, 749 00:35:28,970 --> 00:35:31,000 but it can also be a tool of power 750 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,480 as it was in the Palace of Versailles. 751 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,950 All of this is one enormous stage 752 00:35:36,950 --> 00:35:39,890 with opulent scenery and props. 753 00:35:39,890 --> 00:35:42,740 This was absolutism under Louis the Fourteenth, 754 00:35:42,740 --> 00:35:46,490 refinement was an integral part of the courtly repertoire, 755 00:35:46,490 --> 00:35:48,040 elegance was crucial 756 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,793 in everything from architecture to clothing. 757 00:35:52,900 --> 00:35:54,290 Louis the fourteenth 758 00:35:54,290 --> 00:35:56,520 may be the greatest patron of the arts 759 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:58,290 the world has ever seen. 760 00:35:58,290 --> 00:36:01,290 Painting and music flourished under hist patronage, 761 00:36:01,290 --> 00:36:03,560 representative and monumental styles 762 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:04,770 were driven to excess, 763 00:36:04,770 --> 00:36:07,400 and the buildings and gardens of the period. 764 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:11,510 Power, art and craftsmanship joined hands. 765 00:36:11,510 --> 00:36:14,210 The court became a culture machine. 766 00:36:14,210 --> 00:36:15,350 This is one of the reasons 767 00:36:15,350 --> 00:36:17,980 why even today the very name of France 768 00:36:17,980 --> 00:36:21,193 is associated with beauty and aesthetic refinement. 769 00:36:22,940 --> 00:36:26,890 Versailles was to become the political theater of its time, 770 00:36:26,890 --> 00:36:30,720 the ambitious men and women who jostled for power here 771 00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:32,380 were the players. 772 00:36:32,380 --> 00:36:34,810 In 1682, the enormous palace 773 00:36:34,810 --> 00:36:37,110 replaced the Louvre in Paris 774 00:36:37,110 --> 00:36:38,510 as the seat of government. 775 00:36:38,510 --> 00:36:40,470 And from then on the royal court, 776 00:36:40,470 --> 00:36:43,890 composed of ministers, civil servants, and noble families, 777 00:36:43,890 --> 00:36:46,260 lived and worked in Versailles, 778 00:36:46,260 --> 00:36:49,580 occupying no fewer than 2,000 rooms 779 00:36:49,580 --> 00:36:53,060 which housed up to 20,000 people in all. 780 00:36:53,060 --> 00:36:55,330 Louis the Fourteenth managed to concentrate 781 00:36:55,330 --> 00:36:58,940 his mightiest subjects in a single location 782 00:36:58,940 --> 00:37:00,640 and that's how he controlled them. 783 00:37:02,290 --> 00:37:03,297 The Duke of Saint-Simon 784 00:37:03,297 --> 00:37:06,107 describes the principle as follows, 785 00:37:06,107 --> 00:37:08,817 "the king loved splendor, lavishnous 786 00:37:08,817 --> 00:37:10,527 "and abundance in everything. 787 00:37:10,527 --> 00:37:12,277 "He deliberately encouraged 788 00:37:12,277 --> 00:37:14,347 "those around him to give in to their desire 789 00:37:14,347 --> 00:37:17,167 "to emulate him in every possible way. 790 00:37:17,167 --> 00:37:20,777 "He inculcated his entire court with this desire. 791 00:37:20,777 --> 00:37:22,177 "You could earn his favor 792 00:37:22,177 --> 00:37:25,837 "by spending extravagantly on your table, your clothes, 793 00:37:25,837 --> 00:37:27,197 "your (speaking in foreign language), 794 00:37:27,197 --> 00:37:29,307 "your household and your games. 795 00:37:29,307 --> 00:37:31,407 "Luxury became a matter of honor." 796 00:37:33,101 --> 00:37:35,150 One example of this extravagance 797 00:37:35,150 --> 00:37:38,290 is the daily ritual of watching the king dine. 798 00:37:38,290 --> 00:37:40,360 In this pleasure oriented era, 799 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,940 dining at the court takes on a whole new meaning. 800 00:37:43,940 --> 00:37:46,350 No European court is more important in this regard 801 00:37:46,350 --> 00:37:49,310 than the court of the Sun King in Versailles. 802 00:37:49,310 --> 00:37:52,230 His table manners it must be said, 803 00:37:52,230 --> 00:37:54,590 leave a lot to be desired. 804 00:37:54,590 --> 00:37:56,130 A century earlier, 805 00:37:56,130 --> 00:37:59,400 the Italian noblewoman Catherine de Medici 806 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:01,220 had tried to teach the French 807 00:38:01,220 --> 00:38:03,790 proper manners and fine dining. 808 00:38:03,790 --> 00:38:06,223 These customs had their roots in Italy. 809 00:38:14,450 --> 00:38:17,090 The style of the Sun King's court 810 00:38:17,090 --> 00:38:18,670 catches on in Europe. 811 00:38:18,670 --> 00:38:21,350 The architecture is especially popular. 812 00:38:21,350 --> 00:38:24,010 Local rulers particularly in Germany 813 00:38:24,010 --> 00:38:27,150 do more than just expand their residential cities, 814 00:38:27,150 --> 00:38:29,770 they also build new palace complexes 815 00:38:29,770 --> 00:38:33,340 with geometrically designed French gardens. 816 00:38:33,340 --> 00:38:35,160 In the later 17th century, 817 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:37,870 many European princes look towards France 818 00:38:37,870 --> 00:38:39,943 with admiration and envy. 819 00:38:42,250 --> 00:38:46,010 They also imitate French styles of furniture and clothing, 820 00:38:46,010 --> 00:38:48,350 a booming luxury industry springs up 821 00:38:48,350 --> 00:38:49,980 around the French royal court, 822 00:38:49,980 --> 00:38:52,773 an industry where France still leads the way today. 823 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:55,860 French luxury products 824 00:38:55,860 --> 00:38:58,680 become a top export in the 17th century. 825 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:00,160 Anything of French origin 826 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:02,210 is considered the height of elegance. 827 00:39:02,210 --> 00:39:05,400 The latest creations are presented on little dolls, 828 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,020 the fore runner of the mail order catalog 829 00:39:08,020 --> 00:39:11,547 and even back then, items were shipped all around Europe. 830 00:39:23,030 --> 00:39:25,250 Fashion conscious Europeans 831 00:39:25,250 --> 00:39:27,100 were already enchanted by France 832 00:39:27,100 --> 00:39:29,260 in the days of the Sun King. 833 00:39:29,260 --> 00:39:31,440 They adored the refined style 834 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,970 inspired by the vanity fair of Versailles 835 00:39:33,970 --> 00:39:36,670 and found imitators across the continent. 836 00:39:36,670 --> 00:39:39,160 French clothing designs, hairstyles 837 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,730 and even the language were copied throughout Europe 838 00:39:41,730 --> 00:39:46,530 and French terms like (speaking in foreign language) 839 00:39:46,530 --> 00:39:49,940 are still used in the global fashion industry today 840 00:39:49,940 --> 00:39:51,640 and in the 20th century, 841 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:54,850 geniuses like Coco Chanel and Christian Dior 842 00:39:54,850 --> 00:39:57,250 with their (speaking in foreign language) designs 843 00:39:57,250 --> 00:39:59,733 elevated fashion to an art form. 844 00:40:02,240 --> 00:40:03,980 One thing has not changed 845 00:40:03,980 --> 00:40:05,890 since the days of the Sun King. 846 00:40:05,890 --> 00:40:09,390 Paris is still the undisputed fashion capital of Europe 847 00:40:09,390 --> 00:40:10,500 and the world. 848 00:40:10,500 --> 00:40:13,000 The city is brimming with artisanal skills 849 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:14,280 and creativity. 850 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,020 Perhaps that's why even today, 851 00:40:16,020 --> 00:40:18,890 Paris produces the hottest new fashion trends 852 00:40:18,890 --> 00:40:20,203 year after year. 853 00:40:22,410 --> 00:40:25,030 Further to the east in Russia, 854 00:40:25,030 --> 00:40:28,560 there's still little trace of this flourishing new culture. 855 00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:30,240 Only a handful of nobles 856 00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:33,400 are even aware of what life is like in other countries. 857 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:34,980 The opportunity to travel 858 00:40:34,980 --> 00:40:36,290 has given them a perspective 859 00:40:36,290 --> 00:40:38,763 that extends beyond their own backyard. 860 00:40:40,100 --> 00:40:43,690 Peter the Great is one of these privileged few. 861 00:40:43,690 --> 00:40:47,283 In 1697, he goes on a grand tour 862 00:40:47,283 --> 00:40:50,000 and it's hardly a solo journey. 863 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,770 A retenous of no fewer than 300 864 00:40:52,770 --> 00:40:55,483 accompanies him on his trip across Europe. 865 00:41:04,830 --> 00:41:07,010 His journey lasts 18 months 866 00:41:07,010 --> 00:41:10,670 and takes him to Poland, Prussia, Holland, England, 867 00:41:10,670 --> 00:41:12,800 Saxony and Austria. 868 00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:15,510 His goal is to catch up with the Western powers 869 00:41:15,510 --> 00:41:16,810 of the European continent. 870 00:41:18,170 --> 00:41:20,590 From the Dutch, he learns shipbuilding 871 00:41:20,590 --> 00:41:24,160 and the Prussians teach him the art of cannon manufacture. 872 00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:26,750 The English tutor him in finance. 873 00:41:26,750 --> 00:41:27,844 Upon his return, 874 00:41:27,844 --> 00:41:31,620 the czar begins the process of modernizing his country 875 00:41:31,620 --> 00:41:35,490 following the examples set by the European states. 876 00:41:35,490 --> 00:41:37,270 And the first thing he does 877 00:41:37,270 --> 00:41:39,440 is issue an official decree 878 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:43,030 declaring traditional beards illegal. 879 00:41:43,030 --> 00:41:46,200 Peter views them as a symbol of Russia's backwardness. 880 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:47,570 To enforce this ban, 881 00:41:47,570 --> 00:41:49,650 he leads by example 882 00:41:49,650 --> 00:41:53,506 and then sends barbers out to shave the masses. 883 00:41:53,506 --> 00:41:54,523 Come in. 884 00:41:56,290 --> 00:41:57,510 There's no escape 885 00:41:57,510 --> 00:42:00,160 unless the bearded man acquires an official license 886 00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:01,890 for his facial hair. 887 00:42:01,890 --> 00:42:05,550 Peter wants to usher in a new era of progress and growth 888 00:42:05,550 --> 00:42:07,410 in his back order empire. 889 00:42:07,410 --> 00:42:08,940 He hopes to create a society 890 00:42:08,940 --> 00:42:11,100 with Western European standards. 891 00:42:11,100 --> 00:42:12,840 He restructures the government, 892 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:14,600 initiates social reforms, 893 00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:16,830 promotes education and science. 894 00:42:16,830 --> 00:42:20,200 Everything he has seen and learned in the west, 895 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:22,393 he now wants to apply to his own country. 896 00:42:31,750 --> 00:42:34,220 Russia also moves closer to Europe 897 00:42:34,220 --> 00:42:35,570 in geographical terms, 898 00:42:35,570 --> 00:42:38,270 or at least the Russian capital does. 899 00:42:38,270 --> 00:42:40,290 The czar insists on a capital city 900 00:42:40,290 --> 00:42:42,780 with a port and access to the sea. 901 00:42:42,780 --> 00:42:46,220 So he turns his back on the traditional capital of Moscow 902 00:42:46,220 --> 00:42:47,760 and commissions the construction 903 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:49,130 of Saint Petersburg, 904 00:42:49,130 --> 00:42:51,240 his window to Europe. 905 00:42:51,240 --> 00:42:52,100 You'd never know it 906 00:42:52,100 --> 00:42:55,060 by looking at Europe's fourth largest city today, 907 00:42:55,060 --> 00:42:58,130 but Saint Petersburg got off to a difficult start. 908 00:42:58,130 --> 00:43:00,310 The construction site was a swamp 909 00:43:00,310 --> 00:43:02,840 and there wasn't enough stone for building. 910 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:04,750 Peter received hands on support 911 00:43:04,750 --> 00:43:07,420 form Italy, Germany, Holland and France. 912 00:43:07,420 --> 00:43:09,660 Italians, Germans and Dutchmen 913 00:43:09,660 --> 00:43:10,970 entered Russian service 914 00:43:11,932 --> 00:43:14,930 and gave the city its characteristically European face. 915 00:43:14,930 --> 00:43:17,073 We can still admire their work today. 916 00:43:25,900 --> 00:43:27,950 Peter the Great encouraged his people 917 00:43:27,950 --> 00:43:29,960 to look to the west. 918 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:31,300 There was something theatrical 919 00:43:31,300 --> 00:43:33,170 about the way he forced his Russians 920 00:43:33,170 --> 00:43:36,410 to emulate the fashions and customs of Western Europe. 921 00:43:36,410 --> 00:43:38,950 The objective was a comprehensive transformation 922 00:43:38,950 --> 00:43:39,783 of Russian life, 923 00:43:39,783 --> 00:43:41,530 at least among the upper classes. 924 00:43:41,530 --> 00:43:44,490 Wealthy Russians imported every product imaginable 925 00:43:44,490 --> 00:43:45,800 and along with those goods, 926 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,940 came Western European culture and manners. 927 00:43:48,940 --> 00:43:52,480 German merchants arrived as did Dutch and British engineers, 928 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:53,820 Italian architects 929 00:43:53,820 --> 00:43:56,120 and French musicians and theater companies. 930 00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:57,940 They all blended together 931 00:43:57,940 --> 00:44:00,700 in typical European fashion. 932 00:44:00,700 --> 00:44:04,180 But this demand delivered from above as it were 933 00:44:04,180 --> 00:44:06,810 that they should align themselves with the West 934 00:44:06,810 --> 00:44:08,297 divided the Russians. 935 00:44:08,297 --> 00:44:11,340 "We have two father lands, Russia and Europe," 936 00:44:11,340 --> 00:44:12,640 wrote Dostoevsky 937 00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:15,290 who also relocated to Saint Petersburg. 938 00:44:15,290 --> 00:44:18,600 On one side, was the enlightened sophisticated west 939 00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:21,140 with its promise, at least of progress. 940 00:44:21,140 --> 00:44:23,070 On the other, (speaking in foreign language), 941 00:44:23,070 --> 00:44:25,470 a little backwards perhaps in some respects, 942 00:44:25,470 --> 00:44:27,400 but homely, familiar 943 00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:30,070 and in tune with the spirit of the people. 944 00:44:30,070 --> 00:44:31,900 A love/hate relationship arose 945 00:44:31,900 --> 00:44:33,580 between Russians and the West, 946 00:44:33,580 --> 00:44:36,230 a mixture of attraction and distrust 947 00:44:36,230 --> 00:44:38,342 that lingers to this day. 948 00:44:38,342 --> 00:44:41,092 (dramatic music) 949 00:44:43,260 --> 00:44:46,840 Russia's autocratic systems also linger today. 950 00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:49,023 First, came the rule of the czars. 951 00:44:50,551 --> 00:44:54,960 Then the October Revolution of 1917 952 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:56,503 ultimately put an end to that. 953 00:44:57,710 --> 00:44:59,723 And then, came communism. 954 00:45:06,150 --> 00:45:08,350 With unimaginable brutality, 955 00:45:08,350 --> 00:45:12,670 Joseph Stalin implements a dictatorship of the proletariat 956 00:45:12,670 --> 00:45:14,210 and even under Leonid Brezhnev, 957 00:45:14,210 --> 00:45:15,680 the party still determines 958 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:17,833 what people can read or listen to. 959 00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:24,920 At the same time, in Western Europe, the 1960s, 960 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:26,737 mainstream popular entertainment 961 00:45:26,737 --> 00:45:29,490 enters a new phase of expansion. 962 00:45:29,490 --> 00:45:32,130 England has been a pop culture powerhouse 963 00:45:32,130 --> 00:45:33,590 since the 16th century 964 00:45:33,590 --> 00:45:36,503 and the days of William Shakespeare's successful plays. 965 00:45:40,380 --> 00:45:42,610 Four young men form Liverpool 966 00:45:42,610 --> 00:45:46,423 also follow in that Shakespearean tradition, the Beatles. 967 00:45:49,610 --> 00:45:54,360 The Fab Four have sold more than one billion records 968 00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:57,560 making them the most successful musicians 969 00:45:57,560 --> 00:45:59,033 in European history. 970 00:46:01,230 --> 00:46:03,620 When the Beatles came to Australia for the first time, 971 00:46:03,620 --> 00:46:05,220 to my hometown of Sydney, 972 00:46:05,220 --> 00:46:06,300 I was four years old 973 00:46:06,300 --> 00:46:08,710 I wasn't really aware of it at the time of course 974 00:46:08,710 --> 00:46:10,740 but the sound and style of the Beatles 975 00:46:10,740 --> 00:46:12,890 left their mark on my generation. 976 00:46:12,890 --> 00:46:14,300 Only later did I become aware 977 00:46:14,300 --> 00:46:16,030 of the Rolling Stones. 978 00:46:16,030 --> 00:46:17,470 These were the two poles 979 00:46:17,470 --> 00:46:20,340 between which pop music evolved in the 60s. 980 00:46:20,340 --> 00:46:21,960 On the one side, the Beatles, 981 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:24,700 cheerful, nicely dressed, well behaved. 982 00:46:24,700 --> 00:46:26,500 On the other, the Stones, 983 00:46:26,500 --> 00:46:30,209 wild, unpredictable and darkly pessimistic. 984 00:46:30,209 --> 00:46:31,960 ♪ Love, love, love ♪ 985 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:33,379 versus 986 00:46:33,379 --> 00:46:36,879 ♪ I can't no satisfaction ♪ 987 00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:50,940 On the 26th of June, 1966, 988 00:46:50,940 --> 00:46:53,970 the Beatles come to Hamburg on their Blitz Tour 989 00:46:53,970 --> 00:46:56,413 and the fans go wild with excitement. 990 00:46:57,710 --> 00:46:59,100 This event cemented fan culture 991 00:46:59,100 --> 00:47:02,090 as an integral part of European society. 992 00:47:02,090 --> 00:47:03,780 The concert is seated 993 00:47:03,780 --> 00:47:06,540 and an effort is made to maintain decorum 994 00:47:06,540 --> 00:47:10,333 but it isn't long before everyone goes crazy. 995 00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:13,590 The band and the audience 996 00:47:13,590 --> 00:47:15,593 have trouble even hearing the music. 997 00:47:31,974 --> 00:47:34,200 150 years before the Beatles, 998 00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:37,800 another kind of musical revolution sweeps across Europe 999 00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:41,560 and this time it starts in Austria and Germany. 1000 00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:44,680 Politically speaking, early 19th century Vienna 1001 00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:46,500 is rather conservative. 1002 00:47:46,500 --> 00:47:49,940 But musically, it's in the midst of a revolution. 1003 00:47:49,940 --> 00:47:52,890 While the delegates at the congress of Vienna in 1815 1004 00:47:52,890 --> 00:47:55,800 dance the same waltzes over and over, 1005 00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:59,743 Beethoven begins work on his ninth and final symphony. 1006 00:48:02,348 --> 00:48:04,610 Ludwig Van Beethoven, a native of Bonn, 1007 00:48:04,610 --> 00:48:08,250 finds patrons in Vienna who finance his compositions 1008 00:48:08,250 --> 00:48:09,293 and his livelihood. 1009 00:48:16,820 --> 00:48:18,800 This monument in Vienna 1010 00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:22,180 portrays Beethoven as a sort of demigod. 1011 00:48:22,180 --> 00:48:25,373 The angels symbolize his nine symphonies. 1012 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:27,940 Just as Renaissance Florence 1013 00:48:28,791 --> 00:48:30,650 had brought forth painters and sculptors, 1014 00:48:30,650 --> 00:48:33,770 Vienna became an incubator of musical works 1015 00:48:34,751 --> 00:48:35,584 of transcendent value. 1016 00:48:36,459 --> 00:48:39,292 (classical music) 1017 00:48:41,962 --> 00:48:43,679 The fact that Beethoven is able to finish 1018 00:48:43,679 --> 00:48:46,995 what would become his most famous work, his ninth symphony, 1019 00:48:46,995 --> 00:48:49,143 after nearly a decade, is a minor miracle. 1020 00:48:50,250 --> 00:48:52,913 By this point, Beethoven is almost completely deaf. 1021 00:48:55,230 --> 00:48:57,100 He can hardly have imagined 1022 00:48:57,100 --> 00:49:00,030 the extraordinary resonance that his works would have 1023 00:49:01,170 --> 00:49:02,003 in today's Europe. 1024 00:49:06,579 --> 00:49:10,412 (singing in foreign language) 1025 00:49:12,603 --> 00:49:13,590 The Berlin Refugee Choir 1026 00:49:13,590 --> 00:49:16,880 where refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq 1027 00:49:17,907 --> 00:49:19,797 sing together with Germans 1028 00:49:19,797 --> 00:49:22,063 have made Beethoven's Ode to Joy their anthem. 1029 00:49:23,522 --> 00:49:27,355 (singing in foreign language) 1030 00:49:50,347 --> 00:49:53,030 Since 1985, Beethoven's Ode to Joy 1031 00:49:53,898 --> 00:49:56,060 has been the official anthem of the European Union. 1032 00:49:56,060 --> 00:49:58,013 On Christmas Day, 1989, 1033 00:49:58,990 --> 00:50:00,510 a month after the fall of the Berlin wall, 1034 00:50:00,510 --> 00:50:02,890 Beethoven's ninth symphony was performed 1035 00:50:02,890 --> 00:50:05,790 in the Concert House on the Damenbart 1036 00:50:05,790 --> 00:50:08,240 under the direction of Leonard Bernstein 1037 00:50:08,240 --> 00:50:11,760 but with a slight change to the wording of the final chorus 1038 00:50:11,760 --> 00:50:14,580 which now opened not with the word joy 1039 00:50:14,580 --> 00:50:18,430 but with freedom, beautiful spark of the gods. 1040 00:50:18,430 --> 00:50:21,727 It was a turning point in the history of Europe. 1041 00:50:21,727 --> 00:50:23,420 And many of those who are singing here tonight 1042 00:50:23,420 --> 00:50:25,240 have better reason than most 1043 00:50:25,240 --> 00:50:27,250 to know the value of freedom. 1044 00:50:27,250 --> 00:50:29,110 That's why they came to Europe, 1045 00:50:29,110 --> 00:50:31,343 where freedom is a basic right. 1046 00:50:34,055 --> 00:50:36,462 The European anthem is sung around the world 1047 00:50:36,462 --> 00:50:37,295 in its original language 1048 00:50:37,295 --> 00:50:40,440 in Africa, South America, and Japan. 1049 00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:43,252 This extraordinary piece of music 1050 00:50:43,252 --> 00:50:46,330 is the soundtrack to the world's vision of Europe today 1051 00:50:46,330 --> 00:50:48,770 and today it's more important than ever 1052 00:50:48,770 --> 00:50:52,480 that Europe unites and recognizing and acting upon 1053 00:50:53,578 --> 00:50:55,313 its shared responsibilities to the world. 1054 00:50:56,717 --> 00:51:01,300 ("Ode to Joy" by Ludwig Van Beethoven)