Duration: 1'29''
David Olusoga investigates the history of the Aztec Double Headed Serpent.
Licence: ERA Licence required
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6: First Contact | Civilisations
David Olusoga shows how art was always on the frontline when distant cultures met.
Benin Bronzes | Civilisations
David Olusoga visits the Benin Bronzes at the British Museum.
El Greco | Civilisations
Jan Vermeer | Civilisations
David Olusoga explores Jan Vermeer's life and work, a man who barely ever left the small Dutch city of Delft.
Johan Zoffany | Civilisations
David Olusoga explores Johan Zoffany's work, which portrays a rare moment seen in the art of the time, depicting British traders cavorting with...
Maria Sibylla Merian | Civilisations
David Olusoga considers how Maria Sibylla Merian made use of her move to Amsterdam to promote her detailed naturalist artwork.
Maruyama Okyo | Civilisations
David Olusoga considers how Maruyama Okyo divided the line between Western and Eastern art with his masterpiece, ''Cracked Ice''.
Nanban Screens | Civilisations
S1E4: West Africa | Lost Kingdoms of Africa
Gus Casely-Hayford travels to Nigeria and Mali to explore the story behind a series of magnificent 16th-century bronzes made in t...
Propaganda films | Age of the Image
James Fox explains the method in which propaganda was created to advertise Nazism.
1: Liberty, Diversity, Depravity | The Art of Gothic: Britain's Midnight Hour
In 18th century England, out of the Age of Enlightenment came a Gothic obsession with monsters ...
Charles is Executed | Charles I's Treasure Reunited
Brenda Emmanus discusses the execution of Charles I.
1: Ghosts in the Machine | The Genius of Design
The story of the birth of industrial design, from celebrated names to the work of anonymous designers responsible for prosaic...
1: The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything | Leonardo
Dramatised reconstruction of the life of Leonardo da Vinci. Documentary examining the life of Leonardo da Vinci, from his...
2: Andreas Vesalius | The Beauty of Anatomy
Adam Rutherford tells the story of 16th-century anatomist Andreas Vesalius, who produced the first complete account of the human ...
2: The City and the Soul | The Art of Gothic: Britain's Midnight Hour
As the Industrial Revolution promised more inexplicable wonders of the modern world, Gothic art and lit...
Anatomy in Tudor Britain | The Beauty of Anatomy
Adam Rutherford explains how Vesalius' anatomy had reached and was being used in Tudor England.
Cobalt mining incidents | Panorama
Miners tell their stories of accidents and the working conditions in the cobalt mines of Kolwezi, DRC.
Episode 1 | Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty
Michelangelo and Leonardo struggle to make their reputations in the brutal world of Renaissance Italy, as both must play a ...
4: The Hunter Brothers | The Beauty of Anatomy
How the Hunter brothers transformed medicine and art in 18th-century Britain, believing that anatomy could only be learnt by p...
Charles I's Treasure Reunited
Brenda Emmanus explores the art collection of Charles I, much of which is being reunited for a unique exhibition for the first time since his e...
Early anatomy theatre | The Beauty of Anatomy
Adam Rutherford visits one of the very few surviving original anatomy theatres in the world.
Florence Nightingale's rose diagram | The Beauty of Diagrams
Florence Nightingale's revolutionary and controversial rose diagram showed that hospitals, as they were, could k...
The Industrial Revolution | Civilisations
David Olusoga the social, cultural and scientific changes of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, as depicted in art.
01: Home | Everyday Miracles: The Genius of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners
Mark Miodownik shows that some of the everyday objects that are often taken for granted are in fact...
2: Love and Loss | Becoming Frida Kahlo
Now married and living in 1930s America, Frida sees the ugly side of capitalism, while political scandal engulfs Diego. Miscarriage a...
Banksy: The Mystery
Money, art, politics: what we know about how the secret Banksy empire works.
An abandoned baby | A House Through Time
David Olusoga tells the sad story of a baby called Martha who was found on the doorstep of 10 Guinea Street.
4: Union and Disunion | Union with David Olusoga
The 20th century sees partition in Ireland. A sense of national unity emerges in the aftermath of the Second World War, but ...
3: Data | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer
Documentary series about the effect of medicine on life expectancy. Before a vaccine or an effective treatment can com...
The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files
How black immigrants who made Britain their home came face to face with the government's 'hostile environment'. David Olusoga exposes...
Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga explains how perceptions of empire have shifted throughout different generations.
4: The Homecoming | Black and British: A Forgotten History
Historian David Olusoga concludes his series with the three African kings who stood up to empire, an irresistible ...
West India Docks and the sugar economy | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
David Olusoga visits the West India Docks in London and discusses the impact of slavery on the Brit...
Indian soldiers in Marseille | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
David Olusoga discusses the experiences of the Indian soldiers arriving in Marseille at the begi...
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