The Ring of the Buddha

Nepal 1950. A mysterious, unexplored country. The Swiss geologist Toni Hagen, was the first European to pass through the "forbidden" kingdom. He doesn't discover any mineral resources there. Yet he does uncover the mysteries of life and penetrates towards a more profound truth which lends a new dimension to his life. In the spring of 1999, Hagen returns to Nepal to keep a promise of almost 50 years: At that time a Buddhist monk had presented him with the gift of a valuable and mystical ring.

Les Visages oubliés de Palmyre

Two thousand years ago, it was a flourishing city in the middle of what is now a Syrian desert. At the crossroads of trade routes, Palmyra attracted caravanners from Mesopotamia, India and China. In what remains of its ruins, rediscovered by Europeans in the 17th century, its numerous necropolises bear witness to a prosperous past. Carved in limestone in the first centuries of our era, the faces of the representatives - men, women and children - of its greatest families adorn the walls of its tombs. Since 2012, Danish archaeologist Rubina Raja has been leading a long-term project to find, document and retrace the family trees and daily life of these Palmyrenians.

Les Femmes préhistoriques

Die große Stille

An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.

Pavlopetri: The City Beneath the Waves

Just off the southern coast of mainland Greece lies the oldest submerged city in the world. It thrived for 2,000 years during the time that saw the birth of western civilisation. An international team of experts is using cutting-edge technology to prise age-old secrets from the complex of streets and stone buildings that lie less than five metres below the surface of the ocean. State-of-the-art CGI helps to raise the city from the seabed, revealing for the first time in 3,500 years how Pavlopetri would once have looked and operated.

China - Treasures of the Jade Empire

Mystery of the Maya

Filmed in IMAX, a young Mayan boy who lives close to the ruins becomes acquainted with an archaeologist (Guerra) and asks her to tell him about his ancestors. The crew travelled to over 15 locations in Mexico and Guatemala, including Tulum and Chichén Itzá.

Last Hours of Pompeii

Der Aufstieg der Habsburger. Die Schlacht am Marchfeld

It was the battle that decided the future of Europe: on August 26, 1278, two dynasties faced each other at Marchfeld. On one side was the Roman-German King Rudolf I from the House of Habsburg, on the other Ottokar II from the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty. Rudolf's victory over Ottokar laid the foundations for the unprecedented rise of the Habsburg Empire, which was to play a decisive role in Europe for more than six centuries.

La Grotte de l'Hortus : Climats & Paysages méditerranéens pendant le Würm ancien

Mésopotamie, la redécouverte des trésors d'Irak

After decades of inaccessibility due to unrest and wars, teams of archaeologists from around the globe return to the greatest sites in Mesopotamia in a bid to save what can still be saved.

Gladiators: Back from the Dead

Up to one million gladiators are thought to have died in arenas across the Roman Empire. And, although fascination with gladiators has been high, the details of their lives and deaths remain fragmentary. Now, with the discovery of an ancient Roman burial site containing 80 skeletons thought to be gladiator warriors, National Geographic recreates the world of the Roman arena and how six gladiators lived, fought and died.

Ancient Armageddon

This explores the mysterious and catastrophic collapse of ancient civilizations during the late Bronze Age, from the Hittites to the Mycenaeans and the Egyptians, revealing the tumultuous events that brought an end to a thriving era of human history, and warns we may be facing similar threats today.

The Exodus Revealed

During the Exodus, one of the most famous miracles of the Old Testament took place. More than 3000 years have passed since Moses led two million Israelites across the Red Sea and out of the bondage of Egypt. Christians, Jews, and Muslims throughout the world still embrace the accounts of this remarkable event. It is an epic that so fascinated Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille that he made THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, twice. Now THE EXODUS REVEALED follows the footsteps of the children of Israel in an unforgettable journey of discovery. A journey that reveals physical evidence for the Exodus including: the remains of 3800 year old Hebrew settlements in Egypt's Nile Delta; Egyptian records of the Israelites bondage under Pharaoh; the precise route they may have followed to freedom; their crossing site on the shore of the Red Sea; and the location of Mt. Sinai. THE EXODUS REVEALED brings to light the first significant archaeological "find" of the 21st century.

La guerre de Troie a bien eu lieu

La historia secreta de las momias: Las momias guanches

Documentary that discovers all the secrets of mummification in the Canary Islands thanks to pioneering research. Regis Francisco López approaches the mummification techniques that took place in Tenerife for more than 10 centuries.

The Vikings Uncovered

Dan Snow uncovers the lost Vikings in America with Dr Sarah Parcak. As Sarah searches for Vikings across the Atlantic, Dan explores their journey 500 years before Columbus.

Narbonne, la seconde Rome

More than 2.000 years ago, Narbonne in today's Département Aude was the capital of a huge Roman province in Southern Gaul - Gallia Narbonensis. It was the second most important Roman port in the western Mediterranean and the town was one of the most important commercial hubs between the colonies and the Roman Empire, thus the town could boast a size rivaling that of the city that had established it: Rome itself. Paradoxically, the town that distinguished itself for its impressive architecture, today shows no more signs of it: neither temples, arenas, nor theaters. Far less significant Roman towns like Nîmes or Arles are full of ancient sites. Narbonne today is a tranquil town in Occitania

Holy Grail in America

In 1898, a Minnesota farmer clearing trees from his field uprooted a large stone covered with mysterious runes that tell a story of land acquisition and murder. The stone allegedly dates back to 1362. Initially thought to be a hoax, new evidence suggests the find could be real, and a clue that the Knights Templar discovered America 100 years before Columbus, perhaps bringing with them history's greatest treasure... the Holy Grail. Follow the clues as experts use erosion studies on the rune stone and match symbols in Templar ruins all over Europe to support this theory. Stones with similar markings have been found on islands across the Atlantic Ocean, and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Is it possible the Knights Templar, long thought to have been massacred, escaped on an incredible journey and were leaving clues to the whereabouts of the stone?

Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer

Cleopatra - the most famous woman in history. We know her as a great queen, a beautiful lover and a political schemer. For 2,000 years almost all evidence of her has disappeared - until now. In one of the world's most exciting finds, archaeologists believe they have discovered the skeleton of her sister, murdered by Cleopatra and Mark Antony. From Egypt to Turkey, Neil Oliver investigates the story of a ruthless queen who would kill her own siblings for power. This is the portrait of a killer.