Episodes

  • When Skyscrapers Looked Like Cathedrals

    When Skyscrapers Looked Like Cathedrals
    Dec 22 2024
    For centuries the tallest buildings in the world were Gothic cathedrals. At the dawn of the age of skyscrapers some architects looked back to these buildings for inspiration. Using the Gothic style they could express the soaring height of these towers, and create such iconic structures as the Woolworth building in New York, or Chicago's Tribune Tower.
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    11 mins
  • When Europe tried to build Chinese Architecture

    When Europe tried to build Chinese Architecture
    Dec 20 2024
    In the 18th century, Chinese houses, pavilions and palaces were erected across Europe as part of a fascination with all things oriental. However, Europeans still had a very limited understanding of what China was like, and mixed eye witness accounts and motifs found on imported goods with their own imagination and taste. The result is called Chinoiserie, and in this video I show some noteworthy examples of the buildings this movement created.
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    16 mins
  • The Unbuilt Monuments of New York City

    The Unbuilt Monuments of New York City
    Dec 18 2024
    From a colossal Gothic monument to George Washington to a Native American Memorial rivalling the Statue of Liberty, New York City's skyline could have looked very different. This video reveals the stories behind bold and ambitious monuments that were planned but never built.
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    17 mins
  • Some of the oldest photos you will ever see

    Some of the oldest photos you will ever see
    Dec 16 2024
    In the spring of 1842, a wealthy scholar and artist called Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey embarked on a grand tour of the Eastern Mediterranean. With the use of his camera, a technology that had been released to the public just three years before, he documented the local sites and people, and created a collection of photos that in many cases are the earliest to survive of the countries depicted. In this video, we’ll use Girault de Prangey’s collection of photographs to retrace his journey, and discover the world of the Eastern Mediterranean as it looked almost two hundred years ago.
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    20 mins
  • These Gothic Cathedrals Took 500+ Years to Build

    These Gothic Cathedrals Took 500+ Years to Build
    Dec 15 2024
    Gothic Cathedrals that were never finished in the Middle Ages. For various reasons these massive building projects dragged out, and were only completed in the 19th and even 20th centuries!
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    18 mins
  • How the Year 2440 was Imagined in 1771

    How the Year 2440 was Imagined in 1771
    Dec 9 2024
    In 1771, French author Louis-Sébastien Mercier published the novel "The Year 2440: A Dream If Ever There Was One" Written from the perspective of an 18th century man who falls asleep and wakes up in Paris nearly 700 years later, the book is a fascinating example of utopian retro-futurism. Mercier imagines a world transformed by philosophy and reason, with an agrarian society that has invented hologram-like technology. The video delves into Mercier's depictions of the future city of Paris, advancements in science and culture, changes in religion and education, and his ideas for an ideal government led by an egalitarian philosopher-king. Now centuries old, this work offers a fascinating glimpse into one of the earliest portrayals of the future in fiction.
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    41 mins
  • The Royal Palaces of the Baltic Republics

    The Royal Palaces of the Baltic Republics
    Dec 8 2024
    Europe is home to numerous splendid palaces that either are or have been inhabited by royalty. But not all are as well known as Versailles in France or Buckingham Palace in Britain. In this video we’ll explore the royal past of the Baltics through the residences of the region's former rulers. From the Baroque summer palace of Peter the Great in Estonia, to the splendid residences of the Curonian Duke Ernst Johann von Biron in Latvia, and finally the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius.
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    18 mins
  • Japan is Rebuilding its Ancient Capital

    Japan is Rebuilding its Ancient Capital
    Dec 6 2024
    For the majority of the 8th century, Nara was home to Japan’s first permanent capital. Known as Heijō-kyō it was a massive planned city with somewhere between 100,000-200,000 inhabitants. But it was suddenly abandoned when the court moved to what would become Kyoto. Buried under farmlands for over 1,000 years, many remains of this lost city have now been excavated, and some of its most important buildings are being reconstructed. This video showcases several of these projects.
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    22 mins