L'Alhambra, forteresse méditerranéenne

An examination of the artistic and construction techniques, architecture and design of this immense fortress in the south of Spain, built mainly by the Nasrid dynasty in the 13th century. Its outward austerity conceals an explosion of refinement and ornamentation, gardens and marble fountains in the grandest tradition of Moorish style and Islamic art of the period.

止殺

In the 1200s, a man arose whose ruthlessness was so feared, he emerged as the greatest empire builder ever known to mankind. Inspired by true historical events.

Václav II. – cesta ze stínu

The Rising Hawk

During the 13th century, a small village fights for freedom in the frontier landscape of the Carpathian Mountains against Mongolian invaders.

Královské usínání

Fratello sole, sorella luna

In his delirium from his return from war, Francesco Bernardone goes back in his memories to the days when he lived for parties and carnal pleasures. He slowly recovers, but after the illness he is no longer the Francesco that everybody knew. Instead of spending hours in taverns, he meditates on the beauty of God's creatures, soon renouncing his riches and his family with plans to rebuild an abandoned church and his life.

Jungfrukällan

Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

Александр Невский

When German knights invade Russia, Prince Alexander Nevsky must rally his people to resist the formidable force. After the Teutonic soldiers take over an eastern Russian city, Alexander stages his stand at Novgorod, where a major battle is fought on the ice of frozen Lake Chudskoe. While Alexander leads his outnumbered troops, two of their number, Vasili and Gavrilo, begin a contest of bravery to win the hand of a local maiden.

Ironclad

In the year 1215, the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal seal on the Magna Carta, a seminal document that upheld the rights of free men. Yet within months of pledging himself to the great charter, the King reneged on his word and assembled a mercenary army on the south coast of England with the intention of bringing the barons and the country back under his tyrannical rule. Barring his way stood the mighty Rochester castle, a place that would become the symbol of the rebel's momentous struggle for justice and freedom.

禅

In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen school of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).

Královský omyl

The High Royal Chamberlain is accused of treason and imprisoned. Even if the suspicion proves to be unfounded, the prisoner finds his life in danger, because the royal majesty must not admit error. If the unfortunate man had confessed, he could have been pardoned, but the Vice-Chamberlain refuses such a solution as a matter of principle... This historical story, which aspires to the dimension of a parable, takes place at the dawn of the reign of John of Luxembourg.

Marketa Lazarová

Mikolás and his brother Adam end up with a young German hostage of noble blood during a robbery. While their clan prepares for the wrath of the German king, Mikolás is sent to pressure his neighbor Lazar into a defense pact. Persuasion fails and he abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa on the eve of her initiation as a nun in an act of vengeance.

Údolí včel

Cast out by his father, young Ondrej joins the Order of the Teutonic Knights, where he is raised by strict monk Armin. After years of hardship, Ondrej escapes from the Order when he is wrongly punished, and sets out for his former home. Arriving to discover his father to be dead, Ondrej now not only assumes control of his father's properties, but seeks to marry his former stepmother.

U potrazi za Markom Polom

By filming on the actual locations traversed by Marco Polo, the series brings to life the authenticity of the local peoples from the standpoints of ethnology, historiography, culture and economics. We follow the exact route depicted in his book, Il millione, documenting the peoples, customs and cultures along the way to bring into sharp relief the cultural differences within the Asian mainland. Viewers are introduced to their development, becoming familiar with three completely different and, to us, relatively unknown spheres of civilisation and religion - Arabic Islam, Indian Hinduism and Oriental Buddhism. The host takes us through regions and cultures that may seem exotic - and, at times,dreamlike - in our search for the evidence of Marco Polo's passage.

Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi: Aşkın Dansı

A dramatised documentary about the life of Rumi, a Persian mystical poet whose images of universal love and divine mystery continue to be celebrated more than 700 years after his death.

Francis of Assisi

In 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his own religious order, sanctioned by the Pope.

Maciste contro i Mongoli

Though Genghis Khan eventually sought peace with the West, his death in 1227 AD puts into power his three war-like sons: Sayan, Susdal, and Kin Khan. These sons quickly overrun the city of Tuleda and take prisoner Princess Bianca, though young Prince Alessio escapes. Hercules comes to the rescue of Bianca, winning her freedom in a tournament in exchange for becoming a slave himself. Forces from the West soon come to re-take Tuleda and Hercules -- freed from his bonds -- helps to dispatch Genghis Khan's three sons while again saving Bianca and reuniting her with her young brother.

馬哥波羅

Set at the time of Italian explorer Marco Polo's historic expedition to China ,during the reign of Monogol ruler Kublai Khan, it stars American actor Richard Harrison as Polo. Taking considerable liberties with the historic record, the film has Polo turning up as an Imperial Inspector assigned to root out Chinese rebles in the south, but eventually being won over to their cause.

Le Frère du guerrier

13th century France. To live, to survive, requires weapons. Which do you choose? Weapons of war, which give the power to punish and kill? Or the sword of knowledge, which gives the power to read and heal? Two brothers, separated long ago, must do battle. Alongside, and coming between them, a woman... Thomas, the mercenary, his body marked by scars of varying degrees of valor, left the family farm many years ago. When he returns, his mother, the local healer, is dead. She passed on her skills to her younger son, Arnaud. But he has lost his memory after a beating from a gang of ruthless outlaws. And so, Arnaud's young and defiantly resourceful wife, Guillemette, must persuade Thomas to help her in the quest for lost knowledge.

Hra o královnu

A comedy about the love of the Czech nobleman Záviš of Falkenštejn for the Hungarian princess Kunhuta, who later married Přemysl Otakar II and became the Czech queen.