Adventures in Architecture

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Arts, Travel Documentary hosted by Dan Cruickshank and published by BBC in 2007 - English narration

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Dan Cruickshank travels across the world, celebrating different types of architecture and showing how our buildings reveal our aspirations, our ingenuity and our beliefs. In each programme, buildings from all over the world are dramatically juxtaposed, revealing unexpected connections between very different types of architecture.

[edit] Beauty

The historian and writer explores famous cities, buildings and monuments. The first instalment explores the concept of architectural beauty, exploring the most remote part of Greenland, the Giant Buddha of Le Shan in China, St Petersburg's Catherine Palace, the Sun Temple in Konorak, India, and the Albi Cathedral in the South of France

[edit] Death

The historian and writer explores cities, buildings and monuments linked by the theme of death. He reveals the tale of a chapel decorated with human bones in the Czech Republic and views the Yaxha Mayan pyramids, Guatemalan sites of human sacrifice. He also visits the spectacular Staglieno cemetery in Genoa, Italy, and takes a trip to Varanasi, a sacred town on the banks of the Ganges where people go to die

[edit] Paradise

The historian and writer explores buildings that evoke the image of paradise across religions and cultures. Among the structures he visits are St Catherine Monastery in Egypt's Sinai desert and the Hanging Temple in China. He also views Turkey's Suleymaniye Mosque and two wooden churches in the Russian Wilderness before arriving in the holy town of Sri Ranganthaswarmy, India

[edit] Disaster

The historian and writer explores structures built in the face of adversity, terror and war, risking his life to visit the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, observing the reconstruction project in Dresden and looking at the role of architecture in preparing for an earthquake in San Francisco. The presenter also reveals the tale of Palmyra, a Syrian city destroyed by the Roman Empire

[edit] Connections

The historian and writer questions why some communities thrive while others fail. Among the places he visits are Brazil's capital Brasilia, and Damascus, considered the world's oldest continuously inhabited city. Dan also views the Rockefeller Centre in New York and contrasts it with Dharavi in Mumbai, which is the biggest slum in India and is under the threat of demolition

[edit] Power

The historian and writer focuses on structures built to make statements of power, telling the story of Ceausescu's palace in Romania and visiting Syria's Marqab Castle. He also explores an imposing plantation house in New Orleans and reveals the history of the Topkapi Palace's harem in Istanbul before visiting Kazakhstan's new capital city Astana

[edit] Dreams

The historian examines buildings made with the future in mind. He visits an ancient city of skyscrapers in Yemen, and Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where Spanish invaders set a pattern for other cities to follow. Dan also heads to Bhutan in the Himalayas, where a king wanted modern monuments to be indistinguishable from those built 500 years earlier, and heads to Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, to explore how plans can go wrong

[edit] Pleasure

The historian and writer explores buildings that provide pleasure including luxurious hotel the Taj in Mumbai, India. He also goes to the Schloss Neuschwanstein, a German castle once inhabited by King Ludwig II. Also on the itinerary are the world's oldest brothel at Pompeii, a Palladian mansion and an opera house in Manaus, Brazil. Last in series