Grusel, Glaube und Genie – Gotik!

Death and the devil, nudity and eroticism, horror in blazing colours, Gothic art cast a spell over people 500 years ago. In these image-poor times, art deliberately and skilfully played with the emotions of the viewer, triggering fear, devotion, but also rapture. Art documentary on German gothic art of the late-middle ages.

Los constructores de la Alhambra

Kingdom of Granada, al-Andalus, 14th century. After recognizing that his land, always under siege, is hopelessly doomed to be conquered, Sultan Yusuf I undertakes the construction of a magnificent fortress with the purpose of turning it into the landmark of his civilization and his history, a glorious monument that will survive the oblivion of the coming centuries: the Alhambra.

Illuminated Lives: A Brief History of Women's Work in the Middle Ages

This animated short challenges enduring myths, spawned by fairy tales and romances, about women in medieval society. It explores the differences and similarities between that distant period and our own, and shows what medieval women’s lives were really like.

Žižka – Hrdlořez i boží bojovník

Guillaume le Conquérant

England, 11th century. William the Conqueror (ca. 1027-1087) wins the Battle of Hastings (1066), changing the shape of medieval Europe and the course of English history. An account of the life of the extraordinary Norman warrior who became king.

Animals on Trial

Part of BBC Arena's Animal Night, this film chronicles a strange era in history when animals were put on trial in human courts.

Gli Occhi di Dante

He is considered the greatest European poet of the Middle Ages and his work unfolds the whole panopticon of occidental education – theology, philosophy, sciences, politics and literature. But who has really read it, the “Divine Comedy”? Who knows more of its creator Dante Alighieri than that he had an eagle-like profile and was in love with a woman named Beatrice? 700 years after Dante’s death, the filmmaker Adolfo Conti travels through Italy with Dante’s words in mind and eyes to see the world as Dante did. As the film encounters the beauty of arts and the Tuscan landscape, the forces of nature, a dramatic life story is unfolded.

David Macaulay: Cathedral

Author David Macaulay hosts CATHEDRAL, based on his award-winning book. Using a combination of spectacular location sequences and cinema-quality animation, the program surveys France's most famous churches. Travel back to 1214 to explore the design of Notre Dame de Beaulieu, a representative Gothic cathedral. The program tells period tales revealing fascinating stories of life and death, faith and despair, prosperity, and intrigue.

La Fabrique du temps

Who invented time, who invented the clock? Why 1 hour, why 60 minutes, why 60 seconds? Since prehistoric times, man has sought to measure time, to organize social and religious life, to plan food supply... Today we can surf the Internet, geolocate, pay by credit card… All our daily lives depend on time and the synchronization of clocks. The history of the invention of time and of the ways and instruments to measure it is a long story…

Häxan

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.

Václav II. – cesta ze stínu

Medieval Society: The Villagers

Depicts life in the Middle Ages, showing medieval villagers, including a reeve and a serf, explaining something of their life and work.

Reformation: Europe's Holy War

Historian David Starkey tells the story of the Protestant Reformation and how it transformed the face of modern Europe, unleashing fundamentalism, terror and religious violence.

The Plague

It began much like the common cold. Yet within a day fever took over black swellings the size of baseballs appeared on the neck and finally a highly contagious bloody cough quickly sealed the victim's fate. During the worst biological disaster in the history of mankind the so-called black death released an indiscriminate fury which shook the very foundations of human order. Religious hysteria began to break out and in desperation frenzied masses scrambled to find a scapegoat. When all was said and done nearly one-third of Europe's population had been completely wiped out and devastated survivors were left to contend with a world forever changed both socially and economically. In this feature-length special THE HISTORY CHANNEL-® investigates the origins of this devastating moment in human history and explores the many questions surrounding the terrifying possibility of a modern-day biological threat.

Das Voynich-Manuskript - Die geheimnisvollste Handschrift der Welt

It is the world’s most mysterious manuscript. A book, written by an unknown author, illustrated with pictures that are as bizarre as they are puzzling — and written in a language that even the best cryptographers have been unable to decode. No wonder that this script even has a part in Dan Brown’s latest bestseller “The Lost Symbol”.

Les templiers, la démesure des Batisseurs

Second Coming

A married, middle-class London couple are shocked when they seem to have been blessed — or cursed — with an immaculate conception.

Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Gawain was a squire in King Arthur's court when the Green Knight burst in and offered to play a game with a brave knight. Gawain journeys across the land, learning about life, saving damsels, and solving the Green Knight's riddle.

Narziss und Goldmund

In the dark middle ages, young unruly Goldmund is sent to a monastery by his father to atone for the sins of his mother, who abandoned them. There, he meets Narcissus, a brilliant, scholarly novice who is introverted and aloof. A unique and deep life-long friendship is born. Narcissus chooses to remain detached from the world in prayer and meditation. Goldmund, passionate, sensual and impulsive, runs away from the monastery to live a picaresque wanderer’s life, his amorous and artistic adventures leading him to discover the extremes of both ecstasy and pain. Several thrilling years pass until one day these friends cross paths again...

Zlozor