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I'm setting off on the third leg of my
marathon tour of the Wonders of the World.

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As I make my way through Australia
and south east Asia,

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I'll see some of the most awe inspiring and
haunting treasures ever created by man.

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I'm heading for a world of spirits.
A paradise on Earth.

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Over the past month
I've travelled through the Americas

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from Peru to New York.

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My next stop is another of the world's
great modern cities.

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In little more than two hundred years,

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Sydney has gone from being a dumping ground
for British convicts,

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to a confident metropolis,

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with a number of potential treasures
I'm keen to see.

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I've come to Sydney to seek my treasure.

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To find the treasure
that captures the extraordinary history,

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the spirit of this city and this nation.

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There are several contenders.

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The first one is obvious.

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The Sydney Opera House.

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It's the great Australian icon

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and one of the most celebrated buildings
of the 20th century.

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The Opera House was designed in 1957

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by a Danish architect, Jorn Utzon

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The Opera House is one of the most
memorable buildings of the 20th Century.

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Its forms are so strong.

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They're like a symbol for the City.

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These great shells one upon the other.

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Incredibly powerful.

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The influences are complex.

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Utzon looked at many things.

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He'd been to Mexico, seen Mayan architecture.

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He loved the platform.

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I'm on the platform now.

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The shells rise from the -
rise from the platform,

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below are the sort of service parts
of the buildings,

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and these great steps,

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again from the great Mayan temples in Mexico.

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So he's thinking of ancient sacred buildings.

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Utzon also took inspiration from nature.

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He needed to make the structure easy to build.

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His solution was ingenious.

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The shape of each of these shells originates
from one form.

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A sphere.

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If one takes an orange and
one cuts it into components -

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I'm now creating the surface of the shells
on a miniscule scale.

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And these surface shapes of
standard geometrical form

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are the basis of the shell structure
of the City Opera House, you see.

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Incredible this use of nature,
use of simple forms,

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use of powerful elemental geometry,
use of modern building materials, concrete,

48
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all very ingenious,
to create emblematic building

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which sums up the City which has captured
the imagination of the world,

50
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which says Sydney.

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My heart sinks

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when I enter the Opera House.

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It seems like another building.

54
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The imaginative design of the exterior
has not been repeated inside.

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It's all because in 1966,
Utzon walked off the project

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after rows over the design
and escalating budget.

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The consequences of Utzon's resignation were,
well, tragic really.

58
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The fact is the relationship between the inside
and the outside is er, what shall one say?

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Unresolved, unsatisfactory.

60
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It's good in parts,
but not as good as it ought to be

61
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and that is very sad.
A masterpiece has been flawed.

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For this reason I have decided to reject
the Opera House as a treasure.

63
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My next contender is a stone's throw
from the Opera House.

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The Sydney Harbour Bridge
straddles the Bay like a huge longbow.

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It's one of the most famous bridges in the world

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and from a distance it has a majestic presence.

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But I want to take a closer look
and climb to the bridge's summit.

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A journey of more than a mile.

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It's the largest steel arch bridge in the world

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and it's held together by an amazing
six million hand-driven rivets.

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The Sydney Harbour Bridge,
when completed in 1932,

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was the great emblem of Sydney, of Australia

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and one can see why. It's a superb - structure.

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Superb, exciting too across the harbour.

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Magnificent creature.

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There's no doubt the bridge
is a great feat of engineering,

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but it's like many other bridges in the world

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and I wonder what it
really tells me about Australia.

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I have a third,
much more surprising contender,

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which I believe is more symbolic of Australia

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than either the bridge or the Opera House.

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It's a short walk from the bridge

83
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and you'd be forgiven for missing it.

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Dwarfed by Sydney's 21st Century skyline,

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lies the City's hidden gem.

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A charming little Georgian church.

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St James' is my treasure

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because it tells the story of
how Australia was built.

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How a noble nation evolved
out of a penal colony.

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St James' may look like any
old late Georgian classical church,

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but consider the context, consider the
circumstances of its design and construction.

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When this church was started in 1819,

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the City was less than fifty years old,

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and more to the point,
it was a penal settlement.

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A town of convicts, a sort of shanty town.

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So this church, in its grandeur,
was astonishing.

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It's metropolitan in its ambition.

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It's a declaration really that one day this town
of convicts, Sydney, would be a great city.

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The architect was an English prisoner
called Francis Greenway.

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He'd been condemned to death in 1812 for fraud,

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but the sentence was commuted
and he was deported to Australia.

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The Governor of New South Wales,
Lachlan Macquarie, emancipated Greenway

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and decided to make use of
his skills as an architect.

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And all this results in a building
that I find absolutely haunting.

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In this barren location,
the other end of the world,

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a town of pain, a convict town,

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one gets a spectacular church built.

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A church as good as anything
in Britain at the time.

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Governor Macquarie is now revered
as the Father of Australia.

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But at the time his liberal policies towards
emancipated convicts were attacked.

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Macquarie was ousted by the reactionary
free men of the city in 1821,

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and his favourite architect, Greenway, was sacked
the following year before his masterpiece,

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St James' Church, was completed.

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Greenway, a broken man,

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died in 1837, penniless and forgotten.

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But there is a optimistic twist to this tale
which makes one heart and soul rise.

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One picks up a ten dollar note.

118
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Not a current one, one of some years ago

119
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and here we see the hero of the church.

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The hero of art and architecture in early
Australia Francis Greenway.

121
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Now a hero indeed.

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Ironically of course a man
convicted of forging letters,

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of forgery ends up emblazoning a bank note.

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For me this building, this church,
says so much about this nation.

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It says so much about the spirit of this nation.

126
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There's another spirit which existed here long
before Europeans moved to Australia.

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The Aboriginal spirit.

128
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I've always been fascinated by the ancient
beliefs of Australia's early inhabitants.

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To break the long journey, I stop for a snack
that I'm told is very nourishing,

130
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if a little shocking.

131
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Green ants. Must be a nest.

132
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These are walking lunch baskets.

133
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Their posteriors are loaded with um vitamin C

134
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and the Aboriginal people around here
love to eat them, if you can catch them.

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Lovely. Very, very intense taste.

136
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A bit like a good wine.

137
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Now here's a good one offering up
his buttocks. Um.

138
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Now I know the thrill of being an anteater.

139
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Um. Your ass is mine, as they say!

140
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The ants were strangely delicious.

141
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But later I chance upon a brilliant bit
of insect engineering

142
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that makes me feel rather guilty.

143
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Insect architecture.

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About twenty, thirty million termites

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live in this sort of high rise structure
made out of mud really.

146
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Mud architecture. A beautiful piece of work.

147
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Termite skyscraper. Incredible.

148
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The termite tower is the work of nature that
the Aboriginal people would appreciate.

149
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Indeed to them this whole landscape is alive

150
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and tomorrow somewhere within it
I will find my next treasure.

151
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I've come to the Northern Territory of Australia
to see the oldest art in history.

152
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Art that dates from the dawn of man.

153
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I'm going to a site that was first inhabited
fifty thousand or even sixty thousand years ago.

154
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But, although ancient, this art is not dead.

155
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I'm going to see a living treasure.

156
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It's an art form inspired by the kind of nature
which now explodes all round me.

157
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It was painted by the ancestors
of the Aborigines,

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the traditional owners of this land.

159
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There are literally hundreds of paintings layers
one upon the other

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on the rock faces in front of me
and round about.

161
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They date back twenty or thirty thousand years.

162
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Some are much - much more recent.

163
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They're living, living paintings
full of meaning and power.

164
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They tell about the Creation,

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about life the life of the people,
all those hundreds, thousands of years ago.

166
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They tell us about the past and of course also
they could be about the present.

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They could be about safeguarding
the families that live here,

168
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that still live here, the same families.

169
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The paintings aren't left to fade away
with the passing of the years,

170
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but are lovingly refreshed
by Aboriginal painters today.

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They're potent works of art.

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The paintings of fish, turtles and wild animals,
carry deep spiritual meaning.

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I meet Natasha Naji, whose family has lived
at Kakadu for generation upon generation.

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- Incredible.
- This is the area that we go hunting,

175
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but not now because there's too much water
at the moment.

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- You, your ancestors right back come from here?
- Yeah.

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Starting from the oldest man we know.

178
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As we walked through one of the world's
oldest art galleries,

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she tells me about the Creation ancestors
and the Dream Time.

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The beginning of knowledge and understanding.

181
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There are also moral tales from the past,

182
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including the peculiar story
of the selfish Namagan sisters,

183
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who turned themselves into crocodiles to
prey upon their former, human, companions.

184
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The person that paints the painting is - is - is
kind of more important than the painting itself.

185
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The person has to have the power
and the knowledge.

186
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Usually it's only just men that do this.

187
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Men are the ones that go out spearing fish,
hunting for other sorts of things

188
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that women aren't supposed to do.
Women are just the gatherers.

189
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It's incredible to be - I mean the stories are
about - about creation, about the past,

190
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but also they seem to be about things
now as well.

191
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With the fish and shows all their insides,

192
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like we get fish today and we come back
and we can have a look at these paintings

193
00:15:51,550 --> 00:15:55,680
and we can see exactly the same shapes
and bones and fat

194
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and everything that's in the fish
that are on the paintings.

195
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So that's the point of the famous,
so called X-ray painting,

196
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where you can see the inside of a creature.

197
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It's really like a diagram of
how to cut it up or what to eat.

198
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Yeah, yeah, and it shows you
what parts are poisonous

199
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or what parts certain people can
- can eat and can't eat.

200
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Tell you what,
I'd love to the see the Rainbow Serpent.

201
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- She's over here and it is a female, isn't it?
- Yes, yes.

202
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Female goddess, Earth goddess.

203
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- Yes, it's woman power.
- Woman power.

204
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Yes. Come on. We'll go and see.

205
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- Here we are.
- Oh look. Oh! This is

206
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- The Rainbow Serpent.
- This is the serpent.

207
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Where's the um- the head is
gone underground, there.

208
00:16:43,268 --> 00:16:49,229
So this is again - sorry, god I sound so stupid,
the Rainbow Serpent, of course a rainbow.

209
00:16:49,408 --> 00:16:51,899
In other words the rainbow is a great bridge
between this world and the next.

210
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So many religions, and of course the
Rainbow Serpent is shown as a rainbow.

211
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I hadn't expected it. I thought it would be like,
you know, a snake.

212
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It's much more powerful, it's much more abstract,
much more sensual. There it is.

213
00:17:02,287 --> 00:17:02,946
Great.

214
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The Rainbow Serpent
pretty much represents our women

215
00:17:06,592 --> 00:17:10,858
and with women culture
and how a young girl becomes a lady.

216
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- A Earth goddess, isn't it, really?
- Yes, yes.

217
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Life coming from the Earth,
life coming from the female.

218
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She um, is like what my grandfather said.
She's like a queen, your boss.

219
00:17:19,471 --> 00:17:22,235
- Yeah, the boss lady.
- Yes.

220
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It's deeply moving to experience a culture rooted
in the myths of the earliest human society.

221
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To come into contact with beliefs far
removed from our material existence.

222
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But I fear for the future of this fragile world.

223
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If Natasha's generation turn their backs on it,

224
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what will become of the Creation ancestors
and its ancient and legend memories?

225
00:18:11,290 --> 00:18:13,087
It's a terrible thought.

226
00:18:17,529 --> 00:18:19,656
I leave Australia for Indonesia,

227
00:18:19,832 --> 00:18:25,031
where I will encounter another culture whose
strange and time honoured traditions live on.

228
00:18:29,408 --> 00:18:34,471
I'm heading into the heart of the Island of
Sulawesi to a region called Torajaland.

229
00:18:36,181 --> 00:18:40,777
I'm flying north across the Timor Sea,
part of the Pacific Ocean,

230
00:18:40,953 --> 00:18:41,977
to meet a people

231
00:18:42,154 --> 00:18:45,419
who've had traditionally
a very close relationship

232
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with the Aborigines
of the north west coast of Australia.

233
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I'm meeting these people to participate
in a very special ceremony.

234
00:18:55,100 --> 00:19:01,699
Indeed, a ceremony that marks
the most important moment of their lives.

235
00:19:04,476 --> 00:19:10,415
I'm about to enter a world where the process of
dying has been transformed into a way of life.

236
00:19:11,750 --> 00:19:13,445
It's one of the most beautiful places on Earth,

237
00:19:13,619 --> 00:19:17,646
and, as I'm about to find out,
one of the most mysterious.

238
00:19:19,558 --> 00:19:21,788
This is the village of Ketu Kesu.

239
00:19:34,139 --> 00:19:37,074
The spirit houses are not quaint homes on stilts,

240
00:19:37,242 --> 00:19:39,938
but symbolise the realm of the dead.

241
00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:45,583
They're an important port of call for the
deceased in theirjourney to the afterlife.

242
00:19:45,884 --> 00:19:48,478
I'm about tojoin them on that journey.

243
00:19:49,922 --> 00:19:54,291
On my left are spirit houses,
the domain of the dead.

244
00:19:54,459 --> 00:19:56,927
Each one belongs to a different family.

245
00:19:57,095 --> 00:20:01,862
Embellished with buffalo horns,
buffalo skulls showing the creatures

246
00:20:02,034 --> 00:20:04,696
that were sacrificed at the time of the funerals.

247
00:20:05,037 --> 00:20:08,370
The more horns,
the higher status the family has.

248
00:20:09,408 --> 00:20:15,347
And everywhere there is the cockerel.
Lord Cock, King of the Underworld.

249
00:20:17,716 --> 00:20:20,776
And these buildings are divided
into these three, three worlds.

250
00:20:21,253 --> 00:20:26,122
The ground floor is the Underworld occupied
by beasts who live at the base of the house,

251
00:20:26,291 --> 00:20:28,521
the middle part occupied by man,

252
00:20:28,694 --> 00:20:32,926
the upper part, this amazing roof structure
that's the world of the gods,

253
00:20:33,098 --> 00:20:36,693
the spirits, the ancestors,
they live in the roof space.

254
00:20:36,868 --> 00:20:40,167
And the roof itself is a
very powerful sacred emblem,

255
00:20:40,339 --> 00:20:45,242
perhaps based on a boat. These people came
from the sea, lived off the sea for centuries

256
00:20:45,410 --> 00:20:47,037
so there's a great boat shaped top,

257
00:20:47,212 --> 00:20:50,648
or you can see it as
the horns of a great buffalo.

258
00:20:51,116 --> 00:20:56,918
So this building itself, each building's a
diagram of the sacred belief of these people.

259
00:21:03,061 --> 00:21:06,588
Here we have him, Pong Laladong as he's called.

260
00:21:06,865 --> 00:21:11,325
King Cock, Lord of the Underworld
pecking at my feet.

261
00:21:12,070 --> 00:21:17,702
And here these fine creatures water buffalos,

262
00:21:17,876 --> 00:21:21,368
bull water buffalo, munching looking at me.

263
00:21:22,447 --> 00:21:25,314
Maybe a trifle nervous.
Not surprised because um,

264
00:21:26,018 --> 00:21:29,784
the chances are one day soon
he'll be sacrificed at a funeral.

265
00:21:30,088 --> 00:21:36,823
If so, his spirit would join the corpse
on its journey to the other world.

266
00:21:38,697 --> 00:21:41,291
I'm about to witness
the fate awaiting the buffalo,

267
00:21:41,466 --> 00:21:43,434
and it's not a pleasant one.

268
00:21:47,673 --> 00:21:52,474
Here death is celebrated with an orgy of blood
and killing to mourn one man

269
00:21:52,644 --> 00:21:55,169
who's already been dead for four years.

270
00:21:56,348 --> 00:21:59,078
The village is teeming with people.
It's like a festival.

271
00:21:59,284 --> 00:22:03,618
But in fact, as these ladies in black reveal,
it's a funeral.

272
00:22:03,955 --> 00:22:06,389
This is a high point though,
in the life of these people.

273
00:22:06,558 --> 00:22:11,962
The funeral, death, death leading of course
to rebirth in a better place in the stars.

274
00:22:13,465 --> 00:22:16,628
I'm being guided by this man.
He seemed to know what I want.

275
00:22:16,868 --> 00:22:20,964
These people are all the relatives
of the of the deceased, the people here?

276
00:22:21,139 --> 00:22:23,334
Yeah, people are family.

277
00:22:23,508 --> 00:22:25,442
Are these people - they're all family.
Are you family as well?

278
00:22:25,610 --> 00:22:27,237
Yeah, family. My uncle is dead.

279
00:22:27,412 --> 00:22:32,179
Well, do you mind us coming to um,
tojoin in the funeral?

280
00:22:32,584 --> 00:22:37,180
Is it all right - it's all right if we come
and have a look to see your uncle?

281
00:22:37,356 --> 00:22:38,880
Yeah, my uncle.

282
00:22:41,159 --> 00:22:45,425
Everywhere freshly sacrificed creatures -
I'm being dragged inside.

283
00:22:53,205 --> 00:22:54,433
Do we sit down?

284
00:22:57,676 --> 00:23:01,134
This is basically a grandstand.

285
00:23:01,780 --> 00:23:06,274
More like a box in opera.
Each box is numbered, I'm in 39.

286
00:23:06,451 --> 00:23:08,942
I'm being ushered in here
to witness something.

287
00:23:10,222 --> 00:23:16,161
Everywhere people are gathering,
waiting for something to happen.

288
00:23:16,628 --> 00:23:18,459
Not entirely sure what at this stage.

289
00:23:21,032 --> 00:23:22,659
It soon becomes clear.

290
00:23:24,302 --> 00:23:27,328
As a new victim enters the arena of death.

291
00:23:41,553 --> 00:23:44,044
Oh dear. I'm very fond of pigs.

292
00:23:44,456 --> 00:23:48,256
They're obviously - they've obviously tried to be
merciful, they've gone to his heart, haven't they?

293
00:23:49,060 --> 00:23:50,721
Oh dear.

294
00:23:53,031 --> 00:23:55,898
The people here believe the spirit
of the sacrificed pig

295
00:23:56,067 --> 00:24:01,027
will join the dead man's spirit in the afterlife,
giving him status and wealth.

296
00:24:03,642 --> 00:24:07,976
The funeral's a celebration because the dead,
they've gone to a better place.

297
00:24:08,146 --> 00:24:14,608
They're renewing the cycle of life and death
and rebirth, they've gone to the stars.

298
00:24:14,786 --> 00:24:18,688
Where these people believe their ancestors
came from, where they come from.

299
00:24:18,857 --> 00:24:24,193
But I must say seeing this scene of sacrifice,
this um, this poor pig,

300
00:24:25,063 --> 00:24:32,265
simply as part of the ritual rather
takes the pleasure of all this for me.

301
00:24:33,238 --> 00:24:36,139
God knows how many pigs
have been sacrificed here today.

302
00:24:36,741 --> 00:24:41,576
There's remains of many round about
and two here waiting to go.

303
00:24:48,653 --> 00:24:52,589
I meet Mr Ranti Tasak,
the man who has organised the funeral.

304
00:24:52,757 --> 00:24:56,488
So what relation are you to the deceased?

305
00:25:00,031 --> 00:25:01,191
- My father.
- His father.

306
00:25:01,366 --> 00:25:05,200
It's your father? Oh my dear, I'm so sorry.
I didn't realise it's your father.

307
00:25:05,370 --> 00:25:11,934
It's very - very - and - and so all this um,
the gathering here all these people

308
00:25:12,110 --> 00:25:16,103
and the animals being sacrificed
it's in honour of your father?

309
00:25:17,415 --> 00:25:20,578
Because you like your father,
because he loved his father.

310
00:25:21,386 --> 00:25:25,755
That's why he make this -
this kind of offering.

311
00:25:25,924 --> 00:25:29,690
What about the spirit of the animals?
Where do they go?

312
00:25:30,028 --> 00:25:35,227
According to our belief the spirit
of the buffalo and pig

313
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:41,600
also will go to their heaven,
join with the dead person as well. Yeah.

314
00:25:41,773 --> 00:25:45,004
That's what I thought. So the flesh stays here
to feed the people, the humans,

315
00:25:45,176 --> 00:25:48,270
but the spirit of the animal
accompanies the deceased?

316
00:25:48,446 --> 00:25:54,316
Yeah. And also everyone comes
to pray to this, the dead person.

317
00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:59,422
They hope this - the dead person
could go straight to paradise will go to...

318
00:26:00,792 --> 00:26:03,761
The funeral here will go on
for a few more days yet.

319
00:26:03,929 --> 00:26:08,832
Finally, four years after dying,
the dead man will be interned.

320
00:26:13,405 --> 00:26:17,136
Then Hela Tuktuk can go in search
of his final resting place.

321
00:26:17,309 --> 00:26:21,302
In Torajaland death
is the most important moment in life.

322
00:26:21,479 --> 00:26:24,243
It's when humans return to the place
of their celestial origin,

323
00:26:24,416 --> 00:26:28,580
so commemorating the dead
is sacred art of the highest order.

324
00:26:36,761 --> 00:26:38,820
This brings me to my next treasure.

325
00:26:41,967 --> 00:26:45,960
The Tau Tau are wooden statues
representing the ancestor.

326
00:26:46,237 --> 00:26:47,864
They're not so much monuments as a means

327
00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:52,271
by which the spirits of the dead
can return to counsel the living.

328
00:26:54,012 --> 00:26:58,472
The body we've just seen
will be brought to a grave like this

329
00:26:59,351 --> 00:27:03,879
and be interned in a cavity
that's been carved out of the rock.

330
00:27:04,055 --> 00:27:07,354
Here you see a whole series of burials,

331
00:27:07,525 --> 00:27:12,258
little wooden doors over a hole
in the which the body's been inserted.

332
00:27:12,797 --> 00:27:16,631
A dozen or so here, two dozen,
and a lot all - all the way round.

333
00:27:16,868 --> 00:27:20,998
Of course what's really striking
are these effigies called Tau Tau.

334
00:27:21,172 --> 00:27:28,237
Images of the dead placed up there
with this fixed gaze.

335
00:27:29,214 --> 00:27:32,047
Gazing into eternity I suppose.

336
00:27:32,684 --> 00:27:37,678
And round about are offerings
below this row of images,

337
00:27:37,856 --> 00:27:39,983
like the dead in an opera box

338
00:27:40,158 --> 00:27:44,288
watching life's strange doings
with their hands out-held. Amazing.

339
00:27:44,462 --> 00:27:47,659
But below them is a plate wrapped in paper,

340
00:27:47,832 --> 00:27:53,134
hung on string, obvi - obviously offerings
from a family to their ancestor to sustain them,

341
00:27:53,304 --> 00:27:57,638
to appease them keep them
active for the benefit of the family.

342
00:28:09,254 --> 00:28:11,586
Here are some coffins.

343
00:28:11,856 --> 00:28:14,188
Old coffins. One, two.

344
00:28:14,993 --> 00:28:20,488
Empty apart from a gigantic
jawbone in this one, not human.

345
00:28:20,832 --> 00:28:24,825
Ah, now there's another one
over there that looks more intact.

346
00:28:25,303 --> 00:28:29,603
Indeed the lid's on it, it's closed and can there
be a body in storage waiting to be interned?

347
00:28:29,774 --> 00:28:31,537
No, but I'll have a look.

348
00:28:32,944 --> 00:28:34,502
So here's this coffin.

349
00:28:38,249 --> 00:28:42,083
Now it's intact, it's closed, is it sealed?

350
00:28:42,253 --> 00:28:46,417
I mean can there be a body here left waiting?

351
00:28:48,259 --> 00:28:52,286
It's going to open. Here we go.

352
00:28:58,002 --> 00:29:02,439
What we've got - my god, it's a rat.

353
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:04,369
How completely bizarre.

354
00:29:04,542 --> 00:29:06,703
My god, she's giving birth as we watch.

355
00:29:07,312 --> 00:29:10,679
She's terrified with her babies,
she's carrying her babies, poor rat.

356
00:29:10,849 --> 00:29:12,180
Oh my goodness me.

357
00:29:13,485 --> 00:29:17,251
So a coffin becomes a natal clinic for a rat.

358
00:29:18,256 --> 00:29:19,848
So the world goes on. Right,

359
00:29:20,024 --> 00:29:21,958
gosh, what an extraordinary moment?

360
00:29:39,010 --> 00:29:41,979
I've been told about one more place called Londa

361
00:29:42,147 --> 00:29:46,106
where I'll be able to complete my journey
into the realm of the dead.

362
00:29:52,524 --> 00:29:56,756
Again the cliffs are occupied
by the eerie forms of the Tau Tau.

363
00:30:00,064 --> 00:30:04,057
But here I'll be able to cross a threshold
into the burial caves

364
00:30:04,235 --> 00:30:07,261
where the voyage to the afterlife begins.

365
00:30:12,377 --> 00:30:16,074
To my three young guides,
this is a very special place.

366
00:30:16,347 --> 00:30:18,713
It's their own family vault.

367
00:30:30,528 --> 00:30:32,519
We're in a sort of natural crypt

368
00:30:33,064 --> 00:30:37,967
within this rocky sort of outcrop is

369
00:30:38,703 --> 00:30:43,766
this vault full of coffins.

370
00:30:43,942 --> 00:30:48,106
And obviously many must have been broken
because here are these skulls.

371
00:30:48,279 --> 00:30:50,645
In fact here is a coffin now breaking open

372
00:30:50,815 --> 00:30:55,149
and within the coffin one
of course sees the body.

373
00:30:55,486 --> 00:30:57,113
Stacked one upon the other.

374
00:30:58,122 --> 00:31:01,922
And of course these dead are not dead,
as far as these people are concerned.

375
00:31:03,228 --> 00:31:06,755
They're present and part of
their world their spirits,

376
00:31:06,931 --> 00:31:09,957
which is why there are offerings everywhere.

377
00:31:10,468 --> 00:31:14,370
Here, this skull cigarettes clearly
a favourite offering to the dead,

378
00:31:14,539 --> 00:31:19,374
the dead obviously like to smoke
in the spirit land. Extraordinary.

379
00:31:19,944 --> 00:31:22,469
And there's more, there's more,
it goes round the corner here.

380
00:31:27,552 --> 00:31:30,680
The power of death, incredible isn't it?

381
00:31:31,422 --> 00:31:38,487
Compelling, forceful, in the presence of corpses
of a family. Must be overwhelming

382
00:31:38,663 --> 00:31:44,192
for family members who come down here to
connect with the mysteries of life after death.

383
00:31:44,402 --> 00:31:46,529
And of course they hold the mysteries really,

384
00:31:47,171 --> 00:31:49,731
'cause here are the people with the answers -

385
00:31:49,908 --> 00:31:52,069
and they come and commune
and talk to the living.

386
00:31:53,845 --> 00:31:55,745
And here there's a passage going on,
but no more?

387
00:31:55,914 --> 00:31:58,849
No more. No coffin, no coffins yet, just space.

388
00:31:59,117 --> 00:32:01,108
This is living and dying.

389
00:32:01,286 --> 00:32:02,810
There's space there for future generations,

390
00:32:02,987 --> 00:32:09,017
these young chaps are of the family that own this,
this vault, they will end up in here.

391
00:32:11,229 --> 00:32:15,097
Yes. Must be an interesting feeling.

392
00:32:40,992 --> 00:32:45,793
My journey into the Indonesian spirit world
has inflamed my imagination.

393
00:32:47,498 --> 00:32:49,932
I travel 650 miles south west

394
00:32:50,101 --> 00:32:54,902
to another of Indonesia's
fourteen thousand islands. Java.

395
00:33:32,377 --> 00:33:37,178
My treasure is one of the most
intriguing buildings in south east Asia,

396
00:33:37,348 --> 00:33:41,307
lost in the jungles of Java for centuries.

397
00:33:41,586 --> 00:33:47,752
It offers a route to heaven.
A route to spiritual enlightenment.

398
00:33:56,100 --> 00:33:59,263
This is the largest ancient monument
in a southern hemisphere.

399
00:33:59,437 --> 00:34:03,635
A giant, pyramidal Buddhist temple
called a Stupa.

400
00:34:11,549 --> 00:34:15,645
Borobodur is one of the greatest
Buddhist stupas in the world.

401
00:34:15,820 --> 00:34:20,018
Built in the 8th century, it's a diagram,

402
00:34:20,191 --> 00:34:28,326
it's like an open book telling you how to,
well, say for example, reach Nirvana.

403
00:34:28,499 --> 00:34:36,634
You have nine levels. Each level is a route
which one takes as a pilgrim to learn,

404
00:34:37,742 --> 00:34:41,701
to learn those things necessary
to achieve enlightenment.

405
00:34:56,227 --> 00:34:58,923
This is the second level of the stupa.

406
00:34:59,097 --> 00:35:03,158
The first level down there shows worldly desires.

407
00:35:03,468 --> 00:35:05,231
This is the first or sacred level,

408
00:35:05,403 --> 00:35:10,932
and these panels, wrapping right way round,
show the life of the Buddha.

409
00:35:11,375 --> 00:35:16,540
Princess Maya here,
the Buddha's mother asleep. The queen.

410
00:35:17,014 --> 00:35:20,006
And she's having this fateful and amazing dream.

411
00:35:20,184 --> 00:35:26,282
She dreams that a white elephant
circles her waist three times

412
00:35:26,457 --> 00:35:29,483
and the third time it enters her womb.

413
00:35:30,261 --> 00:35:34,755
She's going to give birth to some astonishing,
extraordinary creature. The white elephant.

414
00:35:34,932 --> 00:35:39,835
The white elephant is the emblem,
one of the many early emblems of the Buddha

415
00:35:40,004 --> 00:35:41,596
and here we see the white elephant.

416
00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:45,508
Somewhat damaged to his trunk here.

417
00:35:45,676 --> 00:35:49,168
The parasol, emblem of the Buddha above him.

418
00:36:10,868 --> 00:36:13,393
This level and the next two above me,

419
00:36:13,571 --> 00:36:18,702
tell the story of Sudana, the pilgrim,
on his quest for truth.

420
00:36:19,410 --> 00:36:25,246
Presiding over this of course, one of the many
images of Buddha himself sitting quietly.

421
00:36:25,416 --> 00:36:29,978
It's amazing, Sudana, I mean he's the emblematic
figure, he is the pilgrim, he is you, he is me -

422
00:36:30,154 --> 00:36:33,851
and people who came here would look at the panels,
they would see what happened to him.

423
00:36:34,025 --> 00:36:37,085
They would learn, they would then go on.

424
00:36:52,210 --> 00:36:56,112
This is a lovely panel. Rather architectural.

425
00:36:56,447 --> 00:37:01,783
And here is Sudana, the pilgrim,
the disciple of Buddha.

426
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:06,950
Now by this stage,
this is - we're at the third level of his story,

427
00:37:07,191 --> 00:37:08,419
he's um, he's getting somewhere.

428
00:37:08,593 --> 00:37:15,294
And this panel is about the power of meditation
to overcome the physical world I suppose.

429
00:37:15,466 --> 00:37:21,200
Because here he is,
supplicating to achieve this.

430
00:37:21,505 --> 00:37:26,033
Levitation. The fellow's floating.

431
00:37:26,944 --> 00:37:32,246
And from here I look over the parapet
to this amazing landscape.

432
00:37:32,416 --> 00:37:36,284
Little changed in twelve hundred years.

433
00:37:39,457 --> 00:37:44,485
Gosh. The power of the place.
Absolutely so tangible.

434
00:38:02,713 --> 00:38:04,840
Enlightenment is getting closer.

435
00:38:05,149 --> 00:38:11,850
And this is signified by a landscape of bell-shape
mini stupas, sitting on top of the giant stupa.

436
00:38:20,865 --> 00:38:23,459
There are 72 of these up here.

437
00:38:23,768 --> 00:38:28,899
Each stupa, bell-shaped,
contains an image of the Buddha.

438
00:38:29,573 --> 00:38:33,703
Now of course very few people
would have achieved this level.

439
00:38:33,878 --> 00:38:42,217
Only, I suppose, enlightened,
inspired monks would have reached this plane

440
00:38:42,386 --> 00:38:49,053
and even they could only catch a glimpse
of the Buddha through these little openings.

441
00:38:49,226 --> 00:38:56,223
I suppose they're emblematic of the difficulty
of seeing Buddha, of achieving enlightenment.

442
00:38:57,902 --> 00:39:02,362
Only a handful of Buddhist pilgrims
now make the spiritual journey here.

443
00:39:06,277 --> 00:39:08,142
Indonesia is largely a Moslem country

444
00:39:08,312 --> 00:39:11,770
and today the great stupa
is teeming with tourists.

445
00:39:17,722 --> 00:39:20,350
What did this great building mean in the past?

446
00:39:20,524 --> 00:39:22,116
What does it mean today?

447
00:39:22,293 --> 00:39:27,595
Well, it encapsulates in the most
powerful way Buddhist beliefs.

448
00:39:27,798 --> 00:39:35,227
It told, and tells, pilgrims and disciples
coming here how to find the path to Nirvana.

449
00:39:35,406 --> 00:39:38,534
How to escape the woes and ills of the world.

450
00:39:38,776 --> 00:39:41,574
It tells them that suffering comes from desire

451
00:39:41,746 --> 00:39:46,046
and that to escape from suffering
you must escape from desires.

452
00:39:46,584 --> 00:39:51,351
And now it's still an incredibly popular place.
Now full of tourists.

453
00:39:51,522 --> 00:39:59,793
They all come to look, to feel, to experience
the power of this incredible temple.

454
00:40:03,968 --> 00:40:07,062
I defy anyone to be unmoved by Borobodur.

455
00:40:07,438 --> 00:40:13,809
It has an atmosphere that seems to offer a glimpse
- all too fleetingly - of Nirvana.

456
00:40:17,848 --> 00:40:19,475
From one of the great Buddhist monuments,

457
00:40:19,650 --> 00:40:24,144
my journey takes me to one of the
great Buddhist nations. Thailand.

458
00:40:28,993 --> 00:40:31,655
Bangkok is a baffling mix of the old and new,

459
00:40:31,829 --> 00:40:33,820
the exotic and the vulgar.

460
00:40:34,331 --> 00:40:38,893
In the bustling capital city,
sex and money are the new gods.

461
00:40:40,805 --> 00:40:41,999
My treasure is not here,

462
00:40:42,173 --> 00:40:44,300
but an hour's drive to the north.

463
00:41:04,695 --> 00:41:07,926
I've come to the ancient capital of Thailand.

464
00:41:08,098 --> 00:41:12,933
To Ayutthaya,
to tell the tale of two battling brothers.

465
00:41:13,103 --> 00:41:18,006
A tragic tale in which the elephant
plays a central role.

466
00:41:29,253 --> 00:41:31,813
It happened in the middle of the 15th century.

467
00:41:32,056 --> 00:41:37,187
The brothers were sons of the king and found
themselves locked in a bitter power struggle.

468
00:41:37,561 --> 00:41:42,760
They ended up fighting a dramatic duel
on elephant back. Both were killed.

469
00:41:58,482 --> 00:42:02,418
Their tragic story ended
with the temple of Watt Ratchaburana.

470
00:42:02,586 --> 00:42:05,384
the central tower, or prang, is beautiful.

471
00:42:05,556 --> 00:42:08,787
It's not my treasure, but it will lead me to it.

472
00:42:12,396 --> 00:42:15,627
The surviving brother built a mighty memorial

473
00:42:15,799 --> 00:42:19,326
to the two brothers who died
in combat fighting each other.

474
00:42:19,503 --> 00:42:21,198
And of course this is not so surprising

475
00:42:21,372 --> 00:42:25,866
because the death of the two brothers
allowed the third brother to become king.

476
00:42:26,110 --> 00:42:29,443
And this tower is part of the great memorial.

477
00:42:29,713 --> 00:42:35,652
And within here the brother secreted
a mighty treasure trove,

478
00:42:35,819 --> 00:42:41,519
one of the greatest in the world,
buried in the bowels of this building.

479
00:43:11,021 --> 00:43:14,422
God, it's hot here. It was common practice

480
00:43:14,592 --> 00:43:18,688
to bury precious things
in the foundations of sacred buildings.

481
00:43:18,862 --> 00:43:22,127
Jewels, diamonds, pearls, images of the gods,

482
00:43:22,633 --> 00:43:25,295
and this place of course was no exception.

483
00:43:32,943 --> 00:43:35,912
An incredible rich hoard.

484
00:43:36,347 --> 00:43:40,841
This was only discovered in 1957
when two robbers broke into here,

485
00:43:41,018 --> 00:43:43,851
burrowed in and made away with many of the items,

486
00:43:44,021 --> 00:43:49,459
but they were caught with lots of the items.
Not all, but many were recovered

487
00:43:49,627 --> 00:43:51,618
and I can see those now.

488
00:44:01,338 --> 00:44:05,172
The surviving jewels have been
moved to a nearby museum for safekeeping

489
00:44:05,342 --> 00:44:08,175
and this is where I will find my treasure.

490
00:44:18,689 --> 00:44:25,595
This strong room contains a treasure
from the chamber below the tower.

491
00:44:26,163 --> 00:44:28,597
It's a fabulous collection.

492
00:44:28,966 --> 00:44:32,663
Gold everywhere, wall to wall.

493
00:44:33,070 --> 00:44:37,234
These are some of the items
recovered from the looters

494
00:44:37,408 --> 00:44:43,870
and some of these items were subsequently
excavated when the tower was inspected.

495
00:44:44,114 --> 00:44:48,983
But this elephant here,
this is my particular treasure.

496
00:45:00,531 --> 00:45:06,333
A wonderful thing.
A masterpiece of the goldsmith's art.

497
00:45:06,503 --> 00:45:11,964
Studded with gems. It's spectacular to see it.

498
00:45:12,142 --> 00:45:19,412
Made in about 1420, the same time
as the tower in which it was found.

499
00:45:19,583 --> 00:45:22,814
Encrusted with gems.

500
00:45:23,587 --> 00:45:26,852
Goodness me, I've never seen it,
of course, this way before, such detail.

501
00:45:27,024 --> 00:45:30,687
It's beautifully, beautifully finished.

502
00:45:30,994 --> 00:45:33,724
Elephant kneeling with a howdah.

503
00:45:33,931 --> 00:45:39,198
Of course, the elephant is a very special beast
in this part of the world, very auspicious.

504
00:45:39,369 --> 00:45:41,667
The war mount of kings.

505
00:45:41,839 --> 00:45:47,471
And the Buddha, one of his manifestations
was as a white elephant.

506
00:45:47,711 --> 00:45:49,804
So the elephant's very powerful.

507
00:45:50,047 --> 00:45:55,144
But I wonder also in this case whether
this elephant represents the means

508
00:45:55,319 --> 00:46:01,155
by which the two brothers of the king died
in their elephant duel fighting

509
00:46:01,325 --> 00:46:04,089
from the howdahs on top of the elephants?

510
00:46:04,795 --> 00:46:09,789
In that case I suspect there would have been
two elephants in the tomb.

511
00:46:09,967 --> 00:46:13,095
One survives, the other one gone, looted.

512
00:46:13,270 --> 00:46:20,369
Melted down or maybe somewhere wandering
around the world unrecognised.

513
00:46:21,011 --> 00:46:22,979
Spectacular thing, this.

514
00:46:31,688 --> 00:46:34,020
Leaving behind my most diminutive treasure,

515
00:46:34,191 --> 00:46:36,125
I head to neighbouring Cambodia

516
00:46:36,827 --> 00:46:40,285
in the search for one of
my most awe inspiring treasures.

517
00:46:46,570 --> 00:46:53,134
I've come to see the mighty remains of
one of the great civilisations of the world.

518
00:46:53,310 --> 00:46:58,714
A civilisation so sophisticated
it can be compared with Rome.

519
00:47:06,657 --> 00:47:12,027
This civilisation grew in the jungles
of Cambodia twelve hundred years ago.

520
00:47:12,196 --> 00:47:14,528
Flourished for six hundred years

521
00:47:14,698 --> 00:47:20,694
and then was consumed by the very jungles
upon which it originated.

522
00:47:29,046 --> 00:47:32,538
I'm about to see
one of the great Wonders of the World.

523
00:47:43,627 --> 00:47:47,825
Angkor Wat is a legacy of the
mighty king Suryavarman the Second

524
00:47:47,998 --> 00:47:50,728
and dates back to the mid 12th century.

525
00:47:52,369 --> 00:47:54,269
This is the temple at Angkor Wat,

526
00:47:54,438 --> 00:48:01,401
a place I've wanted to see for years, and what
a place it is. It's man's vision of heaven.

527
00:48:01,578 --> 00:48:05,241
It's a Hindu image of the celestial city.

528
00:48:12,155 --> 00:48:15,454
King Suryavarman portrayed himself as a god king

529
00:48:15,626 --> 00:48:20,529
and Angkor Wat was his vision in masonry
and mortar of heaven on Earth.

530
00:48:22,366 --> 00:48:25,824
Angkor Wat was the sacred heart
of the great city of Angkor.

531
00:48:26,003 --> 00:48:30,872
The capital of the Khmer empire,
ruled by Suryavarman.

532
00:48:31,742 --> 00:48:33,642
Angkor was home to a million people,

533
00:48:33,810 --> 00:48:36,973
making it one of the world's largest cities.

534
00:48:38,548 --> 00:48:43,611
I'm at the highest point of the temple.
Its summit.

535
00:48:44,488 --> 00:48:51,451
And that tower over there represents
the sacred mountain of the Hindus,

536
00:48:51,628 --> 00:48:56,292
the centre of their universe,
the dwelling of the Hindu gods.

537
00:48:56,967 --> 00:49:03,930
It's exterior is embellished
with images of Hindu deities. Cosmic figures.

538
00:49:04,174 --> 00:49:10,511
And inside, originally,
would have been a great image of Vishnu.

539
00:49:10,681 --> 00:49:18,247
And probably the king's body,
cremated as ashes, interred in there in an urn.

540
00:49:18,655 --> 00:49:23,683
This tower is many things,
including a gateway to heaven.

541
00:49:27,164 --> 00:49:30,895
Angkor Wat's soaring towers,
courtyards, avenues and buildings,

542
00:49:31,068 --> 00:49:34,265
are dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.

543
00:49:35,739 --> 00:49:38,435
Vishnu is the preserver of the universe.

544
00:49:38,775 --> 00:49:44,077
A good whose miracles are narrated
in great stone reliefs carved into the walls.

545
00:49:46,350 --> 00:49:48,079
This is glorious.

546
00:49:48,719 --> 00:49:53,588
Here we have on my right gods,
on my left the demons.

547
00:49:53,757 --> 00:49:54,724
They're pulling,

548
00:49:54,891 --> 00:49:58,349
a great tug of war, the great snake Naga.

549
00:49:58,729 --> 00:50:01,698
And here she is the snake, being tugged.

550
00:50:02,032 --> 00:50:06,662
As they tug and battle
they're churning the sea of milk,

551
00:50:06,837 --> 00:50:11,467
the sea of milk holding power
and all good things.

552
00:50:11,641 --> 00:50:17,045
Presiding in the middle is Vishnu
who was venerated in this temple.

553
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:21,080
Here he is and another incarnation of Vishnu,
the turtle.

554
00:50:21,651 --> 00:50:26,748
So here we see the battle,
and the prize is immortality.

555
00:50:27,357 --> 00:50:30,019
The gods, thank goodness, get it.

556
00:50:30,193 --> 00:50:32,161
Become immortal and prevail.

557
00:50:32,329 --> 00:50:39,428
This is a tremendous image of this duality,
good and evil, gods and demons.

558
00:50:39,636 --> 00:50:43,663
The constant battle of humanity.

559
00:50:56,820 --> 00:50:59,414
This courtyard's full of Apsara.

560
00:50:59,589 --> 00:51:07,325
These celestial nymphs who were -
are the escorts to the gods and to kings.

561
00:51:07,564 --> 00:51:12,024
This Apsara is staring right at me, eye to eye.

562
00:51:12,335 --> 00:51:17,238
They're beautiful and strangely shiny.

563
00:51:17,407 --> 00:51:20,865
I suppose they've been
much handled over the years.

564
00:51:38,662 --> 00:51:40,323
Extraordinary sitting here.

565
00:51:41,331 --> 00:51:43,663
The whole place begins to make sense.

566
00:51:44,334 --> 00:51:49,067
Angkor Wat is a model of the cosmos
and the universe,

567
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:53,642
containing at its heart the great temple there.

568
00:51:54,478 --> 00:51:56,378
There's a world within a world this,

569
00:51:56,546 --> 00:52:00,744
with these boundary walls, great causeway -

570
00:52:00,917 --> 00:52:06,082
surrounded by moats representing
the oceans of the world.

571
00:52:06,256 --> 00:52:10,955
And in here one has images of heaven,
of hell, celestial beings.

572
00:52:11,128 --> 00:52:15,064
And sitting here, this is paradise, isn't it?

573
00:52:31,715 --> 00:52:36,516
To appreciate the full meaning of Angkor Wat,
I take to the skies.

574
00:52:39,723 --> 00:52:42,351
Suryavarman's vision becomes clear.

575
00:52:42,926 --> 00:52:47,590
It's a homage of the gods
and a statement of his own divinity.

576
00:52:48,165 --> 00:52:50,929
There it is, the sacred mountain,

577
00:52:51,101 --> 00:52:55,231
protected on all sides
by moats representing mythic oceans.

578
00:52:55,572 --> 00:53:00,703
But in reality the moat could not keep
the dangers of the outside world at bay.

579
00:53:04,981 --> 00:53:07,677
In 1177 the Kingdom of Angkor was invaded

580
00:53:07,851 --> 00:53:12,185
by the neighbouring Chans from Vietnam
who sacked the temple.

581
00:53:12,455 --> 00:53:16,016
Angkor was plunged into darkness and despair.

582
00:53:26,203 --> 00:53:29,468
But this is not the end of Khmer civilisation.

583
00:53:30,373 --> 00:53:34,400
A new god king,
Jayavarman Vll, came to the throne

584
00:53:34,744 --> 00:53:37,679
and in 1181 drove the invaders out.

585
00:53:45,255 --> 00:53:48,622
Jayavarman wanted to stamp
his own imprint on Angkor,

586
00:53:49,025 --> 00:53:50,720
so a mile away from Angkor Wat

587
00:53:50,894 --> 00:53:52,725
he built the city of Angkor Thom.

588
00:53:53,496 --> 00:53:59,560
A monument to his triumph surrounded by
a strong wall to defend it from future invaders.

589
00:54:00,870 --> 00:54:03,668
Jayavarman brought one major change to Angkor.

590
00:54:03,974 --> 00:54:07,876
He replaced Hinduism with Buddhism
as the official religion.

591
00:54:09,379 --> 00:54:14,009
The centre piece of Angkor Thom is a tomb
and Buddhist temple called the Bayon.

592
00:54:14,184 --> 00:54:16,880
Hauntingly enigmatic and beautiful.

593
00:54:17,053 --> 00:54:21,080
Its walls were adorned with huge
and powerfully carved faces.

594
00:54:21,324 --> 00:54:22,689
These are my treasure.

595
00:54:29,799 --> 00:54:35,260
This place is all to do with politics and power,
and such power.

596
00:54:35,505 --> 00:54:41,933
These towers incorporating
these gigantic human faces,

597
00:54:42,112 --> 00:54:46,446
they really do capture the imagination.
They are so haunting.

598
00:54:46,683 --> 00:54:48,878
It's quite hard really to explain why.

599
00:54:49,052 --> 00:54:55,389
They have such a enigmatic
and persuasive quality.

600
00:54:55,959 --> 00:54:59,417
And they tell a very particular story.

601
00:54:59,596 --> 00:55:02,793
What you have here are the images of all
that was powerful

602
00:55:02,966 --> 00:55:06,333
and important in this land
at the time this place was built.

603
00:55:06,503 --> 00:55:11,304
Here we see the king making images to entice
and unite his people.

604
00:55:11,474 --> 00:55:13,738
We have images of his great military commanders

605
00:55:13,910 --> 00:55:16,037
we have images of the king himself.

606
00:55:16,212 --> 00:55:21,275
It's all here, all brought together in stone
to speak of this land.

607
00:55:21,451 --> 00:55:23,316
To speak of how this land could be united.

608
00:55:23,486 --> 00:55:26,649
And on the tallest tower of them

609
00:55:26,823 --> 00:55:28,848
all was a huge image of the king himself,

610
00:55:29,025 --> 00:55:32,392
combined with the image
of the compassionate Buddha.

611
00:55:32,562 --> 00:55:35,360
Here was the king, the great conqueror,
the great commander,

612
00:55:35,532 --> 00:55:40,128
the great protector of his people,
yet also a man of compassion, a man of caring.

613
00:55:40,303 --> 00:55:45,036
This is really absolutely
brilliant political architecture.

614
00:55:45,208 --> 00:55:46,505
And one looks around

615
00:55:46,676 --> 00:55:50,442
and these stones, though ancient, these faces,

616
00:55:50,613 --> 00:55:55,778
though antique still speak a very potent
and powerful language.

617
00:56:22,011 --> 00:56:25,742
There's nothing quite like these faces anywhere.

618
00:56:26,883 --> 00:56:28,942
They are beautiful.

619
00:56:30,086 --> 00:56:34,523
Art in the service of politics perhaps?

620
00:56:34,991 --> 00:56:36,720
Certainly sacred art.

621
00:56:38,595 --> 00:56:42,656
Sculpture and architecture combined?
Of course.

622
00:56:43,366 --> 00:56:46,130
That's one of the reasons
why they are so exciting.

623
00:56:46,569 --> 00:56:51,370
But one thing or the other,
building, a portrait, both things at once.

624
00:56:52,242 --> 00:56:56,736
And the - the smile his knowing smile.

625
00:56:56,913 --> 00:56:59,575
The eyes. They stare don't they?

626
00:56:59,749 --> 00:57:02,809
Look. They look into your soul.

627
00:57:29,646 --> 00:57:34,743
I've travelled through two continents
in this programme and seen wonderful things.

628
00:57:35,285 --> 00:57:38,379
But what I found most moving, most memorable

629
00:57:38,555 --> 00:57:41,956
are the connections that
traditional people have with nature.

630
00:57:42,125 --> 00:57:45,322
They see life, soul, spirit in all things.

631
00:57:45,495 --> 00:57:50,899
Animals, rocks, the landscape,
stones, of buildings.

632
00:57:51,067 --> 00:57:52,625
It's amazing really.

633
00:57:53,036 --> 00:57:56,836
And I find it very,
very - a very convincing view.

634
00:57:57,040 --> 00:57:59,975
In the west, arrogantly,
we see souls only dwelling in humans.

635
00:58:00,143 --> 00:58:02,338
This can't be right, can it?

636
00:58:04,747 --> 00:58:07,648
These stones are given huge human faces.

637
00:58:07,817 --> 00:58:10,047
What's it saying?
Of course it's saying the same thing.

638
00:58:10,220 --> 00:58:12,381
The stones, the buildings are alive.

639
00:58:12,555 --> 00:58:14,989
As one looks one knows it's true,

640
00:58:15,191 --> 00:58:19,855
because the building has such
a personality such a presence.

641
00:58:20,029 --> 00:58:21,929
The presence of a living thing.

642
00:58:22,929 --> 00:58:32,929
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