Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:001,550 years ago, Attila the Hun brought terror to the people of the region.
00:30The people of northern Italy.
00:35He burned and pillaged his way through villages and towns.
00:46The people were left with only two choices.
00:50Escape or die.
00:52The refugees escaped to this.
00:56A group of tiny islands in a mosquito-infested lagoon.
01:01Here, they created the most beautiful city in the world.
01:06Venice.
01:22This great city is a temple to romance and passion and beauty.
01:36Often born out of violence and disease.
01:40A mission of lust.
01:43This place has produced some of the most brilliant art the world has ever seen.
01:52But all around us, every stone of the city, every brick, is a brushstroke on the greatest work of art of all.
02:02Venice itself.
02:12VENICE
02:35The story of Venice is also my story.
02:39My name is Francesco D'Amosto.
02:42I am a Venetian.
02:44My family has lived here for more than a thousand years.
02:52I have always lived here.
02:58My children were born here.
03:01And I hope my family will live here for another thousand years.
03:13We were one of the first families to come to the lagoon.
03:18My ancestors have been everything.
03:21From merchants, to prostitutes, to explorers.
03:26The city is in my blood.
03:43Most great cities grew up because they were in a good location.
03:48Paris, Rome, London.
03:51But here, Venice, no.
03:54This city grew up because it was in a very, very bad location.
04:00It was a perfect hiding place for the settlers who fled here from Attila the Hun.
04:07Almost 16 centuries ago.
04:10Venetian Lagoon
04:21The Venetian Lagoon is an enclosed shallow sea.
04:25200 square miles of salt water dotted with tiny islands.
04:31It sits at the top of the Adriatic Sea, between Italy and Yugoslavia.
04:40Even now, many of the islands in the lagoon are not safe from the sea.
04:47We are in the middle of a long and difficult journey.
04:51We are going to cross the Adriatic Sea.
04:55We are going to cross the Adriatic Sea.
04:59We are going to cross the Adriatic Sea.
05:03We are going to cross the Adriatic Sea.
05:07All the islands in the lagoon are strange and desolate places.
05:12Each one, little more than a boggy marsh, half sea, half land.
05:23All my life, people have been saying that Venice is sinking.
05:27But these islands have been sinking from the beginning of time.
05:32They are made of sand, mud, not solid ground.
05:38So the first settlers had to invent a new way of living and a new way to build.
05:47The first houses looked like this.
05:53Built in the mud and on the water.
05:57But before they could build anything, they had to make a solid foundation.
06:12So they began hammering wooden piles into the lagoon.
06:17Today, we are still doing the same thing.
06:20We are still doing the same thing.
06:23All of Venice is built on a bed of huge wooden nails.
06:50The marshland was no good for farming, so the early settlers had to become fishermen.
07:21The settlers lived on the fish of the lagoon, but it was also their currency.
07:28They would trade fish for wood, wheat and wine.
07:34And fish is still a great passion for us Venetians.
07:51The fish is like a woman, delicious.
07:56It always stays in your mouth.
07:59The prawns, like men, are harder and less tasty.
08:09But I'm not a woman!
08:14The first big settlement was on the island of Tovcello.
08:18Eight kilometres to the northeast of Venice today.
08:32Its basilica still stands.
08:35It dates from the year 639.
08:39Here, you feel close to the early settlers in the lagoon,
08:45struggling to survive, yet ambitious to create great beauty.
08:52On the west wall is a scene of the Last Judgement.
09:09But this is not like most Italian churches.
09:14To the western eye, these figures are surprising.
09:39They are Christian images, but they are rooted in artistic traditions from beyond Europe,
09:47from the East, before it was Islamic.
09:52It was here, in Tovcello, that the lagoon dwellers first showed their genius in art.
09:59But their future would not be on this island.
10:02Their greatest creation, Venice, lay just around the corner.
10:13When the settlers had fled Artila the Hun,
10:16they had occupied the outer reaches of the lagoon.
10:20And for more than three centuries, they had been safe.
10:25But now, prosperity made them an attractive target.
10:29In the year 810, they were attacked.
10:33This time, from the open sea.
10:39The settlers fled to the heart of the lagoon,
10:43to the group of small islands known as the Rivo Alto.
10:49But in the panic, they were about to stumble on the secret of the lagoon.
10:54A discovery shrouded in the mists of time.
10:59There is a legend in which the attackers were directed by an old woman to Rivo Alto
11:06with just a simple word.
11:08She said,
11:10Semperdito, straight on.
11:14Far from betraying the fleeing settlers,
11:17the old woman of the legend,
11:19knew the secret of the lagoon.
11:22A secret that would destroy any enemy fleet.
11:34The ships ran aground,
11:37because beneath the calm waters of the lagoon,
11:40lay a treacherous underwater terrain of shallow water.
11:44So it would be here the settlers built Venice.
11:52The waters of the lagoon would protect Venice from land attack.
11:57And so,
11:59they built Venice.
12:01And so,
12:03they built Venice.
12:05And so,
12:07they built Venice.
12:09And so,
12:10the waters of the lagoon would protect Venice from land attack,
12:14while the shallows would make attack by sea impossible.
12:20The city would be a miracle of its geography.
12:27But its location would also make life hard for the first Venetians.
12:34In summer, the heat and humidity can be almost unbearable.
12:38In the early days, Malabia killed off many Venetians.
12:44In winter, the city lies exposed to the snows and biting wind,
12:50beating down from the Dolomites Mountains to the north.
13:01Banks of fog sweep in across the flatlands of the lagoon,
13:07and settle over Venice like a deep impenetrable blanket
13:12that clings to the narrow waterways.
13:23But the early Venetians set about making their new home
13:27into a place to live and work.
13:30They would expand the inlets and rivers of the Rivo Alto Islands
13:35into the greatest network of canals ever created.
13:45Today, distracted by fine churches and palaces,
13:50we forget the first great success of this city was its canals.
13:59They are triumphs of early engineering.
14:05But they have always been a delicate balance,
14:10harnessing the tidal waters of the lagoon to man's needs.
14:35There's dirt all over the place.
14:43Every few years, each canal has to be blocked by a dam,
14:48then drained so that the wood piles and the foundation walls can be repaired.
15:04Ok.
15:27The spreading network of canals shape the city that grew up around them.
15:34Houses lined the canals, and bridges crossed them.
15:41Water would define the very layout of the city.
15:47Both the abundance of salt water and the need for fresh water.
15:54Here in Venice, we are all surrounded by salt water,
15:58so it's very difficult to find fresh water to drink.
16:01So what did they decide to do?
16:03They made some wells to collect the rainwater,
16:07and they stored it in underground tanks.
16:10There was all these four parts to filter the water in the sand.
16:15They went down in an underground tank.
16:18You see, this is the old stone, and here there is the tank.
16:21And then, all around the well, there was the normal life.
16:25There were the houses. They were living day by day.
16:32Each square had its own small community.
16:38They were tightly knit and tightly packed.
16:44Each bridge crossed was a journey into a different territory.
16:51There were feuds, and one feud in particular,
16:55between the Nicolottis and the Castellanis.
17:02THE NICOLOTTIS AND THE CASTELLANIS
17:12The Nicolottis and the Castellanis were gangs, sworn rivals.
17:17They hated each other.
17:19The hated led to fighting, blood and death.
17:24The fights became known as la guerra dei pugni.
17:32THE NICOLOTTIS AND THE CASTELLANIS
17:35The Castellanis were shipbuilders.
17:38They wore red hats and scarves.
17:41The Nicolottis were hard-living fishermen.
17:45They wore black.
17:48Castellani women wore flowers on one side of their breasts,
17:53and the Nicolotti on the other breast.
18:02Blood feuds continued for generations.
18:17So Venice needed strong government to impose law and order.
18:23It was to evolve a system like no other in the world,
18:28and a ruler unlike any other.
18:31The Doge.
18:36The Doge was an elected ruler, head of a republic, not a monarchy.
18:42His descendants couldn't inherit, but he did live in a palace.
18:52The Doge's palace is one of the most extra-ordinary buildings in the world.
19:02There's been a palace on this site from the early 9th century.
19:07From here, for almost 1,000 years, the Doge ruled Venice.
19:14The present building is a mix of Gothic and classical.
19:19East and West.
19:21The marriage of styles that would come to define the look of Venice.
19:26The Doge could enjoy a fine palace
19:29at a time when other rulers hid themselves away in heavy medieval fortifications.
19:38Venice was beginning to exhibit the confidence that came with its miraculous location,
19:45impregnable to attack, protected by the lagoon.
19:49At the top of the giant's staircase, in the palace courtyard,
19:55are the figures of Neptune and Mars, the gods of the sea and war.
20:02It seemed as though Venice had tamed them both.
20:07This was the ultimate seat of power.
20:10The Doge presided over the entire palace,
20:13This was the ultimate seat of power.
20:16The Doge presided over the ruling council here.
20:21Laws were made here and justice dispensed.
20:25Even the state prison was part of the palace.
20:29And at its centre, the Doge lived in splendour.
20:34This is how Downing Street, Houses of Parliament, Tower of London and Buckingham Palace rolled into one.
20:43MUSIC
20:52Throughout the palace, Venice is represented as a beautiful woman.
21:02In painting after painting, she appears with Christ himself.
21:06At times, she seems to outshine even the Son of God.
21:18The Doge, too, is deified.
21:22These images foretell what Venice would become, proud and arrogant.
21:29The Doge even appears with the Madonna.
21:33But that was all far in the future.
21:36In the early days, the Doge was far from being considered a god.
21:41In fact, as warring families fought for control of Venice,
21:46the Doge had trouble even staying alive.
21:51MUSIC
22:03Doge Teodato I Pato came to a terrible end.
22:08He was blinded and deposed by his successor.
22:15Doge Domenico Monegario was stabbed to death in his own palace.
22:22And eight-year-old Doge Pietro Tradonico was sprung on by an armed gang and left for dead.
22:35But over time, things improved.
22:40This is the Great Council Chamber.
22:42Here, the Doge presided over meetings with the 2,500 representatives of Venice.
22:49This room was at the heart of Venetian government.
23:00What we see today is the replacement to an earlier hall, burned down in 1577.
23:07But it reflects the confidence of early Venice.
23:12At the far end is a huge canvas by Tintoretto, his vision of paradise.
23:19A bold assertion that Venetian government could match the divine order above.
23:26Venice tried so hard to banish earthly imperfections
23:31that the whole process of electing a Doge turned into a real nightmare.
23:38First, nine members were chosen by lottery.
23:43And these nine had to choose 40 members of the Great Council.
23:48And each of these 40 members had to be approved by at least seven of the nine.
23:54From these 40, they drew lots for the next four years.
23:59From these 40, they drew lots and they became 25.
24:05And these 25 had to choose another 12.
24:10The 12 decided they choose another 45.
24:16And from the 45, they arrived to be 12.
24:20Sorry, 11.
24:2211.
24:24These 11 were going to choose 41 voters.
24:29And they are these 41 that are going to make the election of the Doge.
24:33It was that easy.
24:35Even us Venetians don't really understand it.
24:39But we do understand that it worked.
24:42I think so.
24:46So for the times, Venice made immense efforts to avoid the corruption of other states.
24:53To stop power falling into the hands of one dynasty.
24:57Even ordinary people could have some influence on government.
25:01All over the palace are these letter boxes.
25:04Into the mouth, people could post private accusations of crimes committed at any level of society.
25:12It worked.
25:14Venetians were amongst the most law-abiding of Europeans.
25:18Even the Doge was checked for bribery and corruption.
25:23Every indulgence was granted to the Doge.
25:27Except he was not allowed to speak to foreigners without supervision.
25:33Except every letter he wrote, even to his wife, had to pass before a censor.
25:40He could receive gifts, but only flowers, rose water, sweet herbs and balsam.
25:47So he had everything, except his freedom.
25:54In this room are pictures of every Doge who ruled Venice.
26:02Only one is missing.
26:04Hidden by a black cloth is the face of Doge Marin Falier.
26:11The Doge who tried to make himself king to overthrow the Republic.
26:17The plot was foiled and he was beheaded on the steps to the palace.
26:24The office of the Doge brought to Venice all the majesty of a monarchy without its dynastic limitations.
26:33In a world of magnificent court ritual, Venice was unrivaled.
26:40But the city lacked a spiritual figurehead.
26:43Something all powerful cities of the age possessed.
26:47The relics of a great saint to call its own.
26:51Rome had the body of Saint Peter, an apostle and a direct link to Christ.
26:57All Venice had was Saint Theodore, truly a second division saint.
27:03But the Venetians believed they had a claim on someone greater.
27:09Local legend claimed that the apostle Saint Mark, blown off course into the Venetian lagoon,
27:17had seen an angel who told him one day he would be laid to rest there.
27:25Inspired by the legend, two Venetian merchants slipped unnoticed into the crypt of a church in Alexandria on the north coast of Africa.
27:39They were there to steal one of the most sacred relics of the Christian world.
27:45The remains of Saint Mark the Apostle.
27:49In the medieval world, the relics of saints who were close to Christ brought in huge amounts of money from pilgrims.
27:59They conferred sacred status on a city and inspired armies to conquer it.
28:06News of the theft spread quickly.
28:10All the ships in the harbour were searched.
28:15But the merchants concealed the body of the saint in a basket under pieces of pork.
28:22The merchants were not able to find the body.
28:25The audacious plan had succeeded and Saint Mark came back to Venice.
28:33The city had a saint to rival even the most powerful of the Venetians.
28:40He was the most powerful saint in the world.
28:44He was the most powerful saint in the world.
28:48He was the most powerful saint in the world.
28:51The city had a saint to rival even Rome.
28:57And soon, the ancient symbol of Saint Mark became the emblem of Venice, the winged lion.
29:13And the Venetians built a church to house the body of their new saint.
29:19It would become one of the most recognisable buildings in the world, the Basilica of Saint Mark.
29:31On the front of the building, a mosaic depicts the body arriving from Alexandria.
29:38Saint Mark's Church
29:42Saint Mark's is the most extravagant and richly decorated church in the whole of Europe.
29:50Built as the doge's private chapel, it took 30 years to complete.
29:56A miracle of engineering for the end of the 11th century,
30:02though it has been sinking into the marshy ground ever since.
30:08Like the Basilica of Torcello, the inspiration is from the East.
30:13The church is in the form of a Greek cross, supporting five great domes.
30:21The interior is dominated by Christ and his disciples.
30:27In all, there are 4,000 square metres of mosaic, crafted by Venetian artists over several centuries.
30:38Above the altar is the paladorn, the great altar screen created by Venetian and Byzantine goldsmiths.
30:54Beneath the altar lies the tomb of Saint Mark, the sacred heart of the city.
31:01But this place is more than an expression of religious devotion,
31:08for it was here that the authority of the doge received divine sanction.
31:18In the nave sit two great pulpits.
31:24One pulpit was reserved for religious addresses.
31:30The other was for the doge.
31:35This is where he would address the people of Venice.
31:39Where he stood to proclaim,
31:42Venice would submit to no one, emperor, king or pope.
31:47The exterior is an extraordinary confection.
31:51Venetian ornament mixes with precious objects from overseas.
31:57In 1075, the doge had proclaimed it was the duty of every traveller in Venetian
32:05to bring treasures back to adorn the façade.
32:09But it is the domes of Saint Mark's, the great altar screen,
32:14but it is the domes of Saint Mark's that give it such a memorable skyline.
32:22Those famous eastern-looking onion domes were put on later.
32:29They are made of wood and covered by lead.
32:33The real stone domes, much flatter and less eye-catching, are hidden underneath.
32:45Saint Mark's set the mood for Venice to be the most sensational stage set the world had ever seen.
32:55Its religious and political centrepieces
32:59proclaimed the city's independence and growing confidence.
33:04Its people had transformed from fishermen into merchants.
33:09Now merchants would become princes of trade.
33:13The early wooden houses were replaced by brick and stone palaces.
33:20Modern Venice was beginning to take shape.
33:24It was around this time my family became successful merchants
33:30and decided to build a grand house.
33:33It is the oldest palazzo to survive on the Grand Canal.
33:38Now it is rotting, and one of the saddest sites of my life.
33:44It is the oldest palazzo to survive on the Grand Canal.
33:48It is the oldest palazzo to survive on the Grand Canal.
33:51Now it is rotting, and one of the saddest sites of my life.
33:56It breaks my heart.
34:02This palace is called Cadavosto.
34:06It was built by my family in the 13th century.
34:11And my ancestor lived here nearly 400 years,
34:14until 1603, when it was bequeathed to another family.
34:20I've driven past it a thousand times,
34:24but I've never been inside.
34:32If I have to be sincere, I'm a little shy to come inside this place.
34:37Because I've always seen this house from outside.
34:42The mask that normally the public sees.
34:46It's difficult to enter a world where you have never been before.
34:52A place you know all the people of your family lived over many centuries.
34:59It's quite a strange sensation.
35:01Something that gives you a feeling of all the history on your shoulders.
35:07You think of who you are in this moment of your life.
35:22My family didn't just live in this house.
35:25They did business here.
35:34They used their house as a warehouse,
35:38a showroom,
35:41and a place to make money,
35:44and a landing stage.
35:56Because the most profitable goods were from overseas,
36:02so a successful merchant had to be a sailor too.
36:17When this house was first built,
36:21it would have been a more modest building.
36:25Just two stories high.
36:28But it stood at the very hub of the city.
36:33It was here that merchants built their boats,
36:38ready to travel ever greater distances across the seas.
36:46These merchant sailors had to be ready to defend themselves.
36:50Their boats, loaded with valuable goods from around the Mediterranean,
36:56had to fight off pirates and foreign rivals.
37:01The Venetian merchant traders became feared
37:05as the ablest military seamen of the age.
37:10Trade, something of a dirty word in the rest of Europe,
37:15was a noble occupation in Venice.
37:18And one merchant would become more famous than any other.
37:23His name was Enrico Dando.
37:33And his story would become linked with the fate of this city.
37:41It began with a gross act of violence against the people of Venice.
37:46Violence that would come from an unexpected source.
37:53By the 12th century, the Venetians had trading posts all over the Mediterranean.
38:00Most profitable of all were the trading links with Byzantium,
38:05and in particular its capital city of Constantinople.
38:16Byzantium had influenced events in Venice for centuries.
38:29But now, power had shifted, and Venice was gaining the upper hand.
38:46This was the old Venetian quarter in Constantinople.
38:5110,000 Venetians lived and worked here.
39:03First they were invited here to trade,
39:07but slowly they were taking over and getting rich.
39:11The Byzantines were not happy.
39:16The Byzantine emperor had given them permission to live in a confined area of warehouses and wharves by the sea wall.
39:26But more and more, the Venetian merchants spread throughout the city.
39:32This all became too much for the Byzantine authorities.
39:37The Venetians were buying up their houses and marrying their women.
39:46And on one quiet night in March,
39:51the Venetian merchants and merchants of Constantinople
39:56And on one quiet night in March 1171,
40:01something happened that would change the course of Venetian history.
40:13As the Venetian trading families sat down to eat,
40:17they all received an unexpected house call.
40:26In just a few days, thousands of Venetians were arrested,
40:36stripped of their possessions and thrown into prison.
40:55The Venetians had been caged by their trading partner.
41:00Humiliated, they could do nothing but wait.
41:12For centuries Venice and Constantinople had been allies,
41:17but now they had become the worst of enemies.
41:26News of their arrests travelled fast to Venice.
41:36You can imagine how the people felt here when they heard that thousands of their fellow citizens
41:43had been jailed in Constantinople.
41:46Brothers, fathers, sons, even mother and daughters had all been thrown into prison.
41:55It was the greatest threat to Venice since the city had risen from the swamps of the lagoon.
42:04The Venetians decided to negotiate the release of the prisoners.
42:09There was only one man for the job, Enrico d'Andolo,
42:14the greatest merchant seaman of the age.
42:20But it was a trap.
42:21He was taken prisoner and probably tortured.
42:25Either that, or he was beaten up on the streets of Constantinople.
42:34All we know is, when he got back to Venice, he was blind.
42:52We will never know the truth of how Enrico d'Andolo lost his sight,
42:59but one fact we can be sure of.
43:02Even blinded, stuck in his palace on the Rialto,
43:07he never abandoned the cause of the Republic.
43:13Venice had been brought to her knees.
43:16Byzantium had stamped on this city's growing economy
43:21and wiped out her great trading links with the East.
43:26But the Venetians were not about to give in.
43:30Let me tell you something about us Venetians.
43:34We really stick together.
43:36Living in this little island in a lagoon, we have to help each other.
43:41Every building is an achievement.
43:44The Venetian character is in the bridges and in the stones around me here.
43:52How did Venice show her defiance to Constantinople?
43:56Let me show you.
43:58We built this, St. Mark's Square.
44:03Perhaps the world's most beautiful urban space.
44:06Perhaps the world's most beautiful urban space.
44:11The surrounding buildings are later,
44:14but the piazza itself, its proportions and shape,
44:19was created in the 12th century.
44:22Planned, cleared of other buildings,
44:26and paved over at the very moment Venice faced financial ruin.
44:32To build this square, Venetians reached into their own pockets.
44:39The money came from everyone,
44:42from the doge to the ordinary merchant.
44:55For more than 800 years, this square has been the center of Venice's economy.
45:01In a showpiece of Venetian civic pride,
45:05swept daily at dawn to be immaculate,
45:08we care passionately about this open space.
45:32Despite everything, I enjoy it every morning.
45:36Sometimes I sit there and wait for the sun to rise.
45:40I get kissed by the sun, by the reflection of the monuments.
45:45It's strange, because every time you see the piazza,
45:49it's as if it were the first time.
45:52It's like a woman, deeply in love.
45:56St. Mark's Square was to be the first example
46:01of Venice's powers of defiance and recovery,
46:05symbolized in great architecture.
46:10And Venice had created a great stage set for its ceremonial life,
46:17an arena for pageantry and celebration of the Republic.
46:22The earliest image of the square, from 1496,
46:27shows the feast day of St. Mark,
46:30and it captures the spirit of ritual that grew up around the piazza
46:35almost as soon as it was built.
46:42More than anything, the creation of this square showed one thing.
46:46Venice would not be defeated.
46:49And once the square was complete,
46:52to further strengthen their resolve,
46:55Venice elected a new doge.
46:58Venetians greeted him with enthusiasm,
47:02even though he was an old man,
47:05and it was over 20 years since he had been in the public eye.
47:10Enrico Dandolo.
47:12When Dandolo signed his oath of office,
47:15on the 1st of January 1193,
47:18it brought to the office of doge
47:21the greatest patriot Venice had ever known.
47:27In his oath, he swore to advance the cause of the Venetian Republic.
47:33But Dandolo would go further.
47:36At last, the Venetians would not be defeated.
47:39Dandolo would go further.
47:42At last, the Venetians had found a doge
47:45whose ambition for the city would stop at nothing.
47:51In Enrico Dandolo, they had a master tactician,
47:55a brilliant strategist, and a consummate politician.
47:59For me to explain in English is very hard.
48:03Enrico Dandolo era un bugiardo, un falso,
48:06un maestro dell'inganno, un doppio giochista, un mago della propaganda.
48:11And he was always on the lookout to strengthen
48:15the Venetian Republic and its trading prospects.
48:23For a hundred years, Christian Europe
48:26had waged war against the Islamic world
48:29for possession of the Holy Land,
48:32in particular Jerusalem.
48:34In the West, these campaigns became known as the Crusades.
48:39But the Fourth Crusade of 1201
48:43was short of ships, manpower, and money.
48:47In April that year, the Crusaders
48:50sailed into the Venetian lagoon
48:52to ask Enrico Dandolo for Venetian backing.
48:58Venice had avoided serious involvement
49:01in all the previous Crusades,
49:04but now Dandolo seemed interested.
49:08All of Christendom waited for his response.
49:12Let's think about it.
49:14What did Venice have to gain from a crusade to Jerusalem?
49:18We'd make the Pope happy? Good.
49:21Everybody would like us? Fine.
49:24But how important is that?
49:27But Dandolo agreed to help.
49:30Venice would build and pay for more ships
49:34and land to sail in them.
49:37In exchange, he demanded a high price,
49:4050% of the conquered land.
49:44It was a hard bargain.
49:46Suddenly, it was Dandolo's crusade.
49:52This was outrageous.
49:54He was hijacking the crusade.
49:57But Dandolo wasn't interested in Jerusalem.
50:00He had another aim in mind.
50:05Dandolo's galleon led the fleet of 480 ships
50:11out of the lagoon on the morning of 8 November 1202.
50:17At first, everything went according to the agreed plan.
50:22But then Dandolo changed course.
50:26No longer was Muslim-held Jerusalem their destination.
50:31They would sail instead for Christian Constantinople.
50:44The fleet dropped anchor with Constantinople in their sights.
50:50Now Dandolo would put the final touches to his plans for revenge
50:56on the city that 30 years before had imprisoned him.
51:01And so brutally decimated the population of Venetian traders
51:06living within its walls.
51:17The walls of Constantinople surrounded the city on the land side
51:22and all along the coast.
51:25Over the centuries, they had repelled attacks
51:29from the ferocious Bulgars, the bloodthirsty Saracens
51:34and even the vast army of the Russians.
51:39The walls were the most impressive man-made defences
51:44of any city in the world.
51:47The Venetians would launch their attack from the sea
51:51and from the land.
51:56At the base of the walls, the Crusaders fought with Byzantine soldiers
52:03and attempted to break the defences with battering rams.
52:12This was brutal, barbaric, bloody
52:17barbaric, bloody, murder.
52:26But it was clear there was only one answer.
52:32They had to go over the top of the walls.
52:41The attackers threw up scaling ladders
52:47but they were easy prey for the Byzantine forces.
52:52And now a storm was blowing up.
52:55The Venetian ships were being smashed against each other.
53:00The battle was turning against them.
53:05It was then that one act of mad desperation turned the day.
53:11A man leapt to plant a Venetian flag on the shore.
53:15It was the Doge, Enrico Dandolo.
53:19This roused the Venetians for one last great attack.
53:26They tied their ships in pairs and built towers on the decks.
53:32From the towers, they lashed wooden planks together
53:36as bridges onto the ramparts.
53:40The attackers had made it over the walls and into the city.
53:56Once inside the city walls, the Venetians spared no one.
54:09They murdered old and young.
54:20They raped women, girls, nuns.
54:31They secreted churches.
54:35They torched the city.
54:40This was a shameful victory for the Venetians.
54:51In the great church of Hagia Sophia, now a mosque,
54:56lies the tomb of the man who engineered it all.
55:01He changed the entire course of Venetian history
55:06and the history of the world.
55:09But now, almost no one visits his tomb.
55:18Doge Enrico Dandolo never made it back to Venice.
55:24But what he sent home would enrich my city
55:29and would change Europe for centuries to come.
55:43The Crusaders had destroyed so many churches
55:47that they had to build a new one.
55:50The Crusaders had destroyed so many treasures of the ancient world.
55:56And what the Venetians saved, they saved only for their own profit.
56:02The value of goods and money shipped back to Venice
56:07is impossible to calculate.
56:09Gold, silver and jewels in immense quantities.
56:14The Basilica of St. Mark's became the greatest robber's den in the world.
56:20An Aladdin's cave of stolen booty and plundered treasure.
56:26The opulent altar screen, the paladolo,
56:30was re-embellished with jewels stolen from Constantinople.
56:44On the outside, the Venetians proudly displayed more stolen treasure.
56:53Great columns in finest marble.
56:59These 4th century Roman emperors are carved out of porphyry
57:06and originally came from Egypt.
57:14But the crowning glory from Constantinople was the 4 great bronze horses.
57:25Their origins are lost in the mist of time.
57:30But legend has it once they stood in ancient Greece,
57:35testimony to the artistic genius of the classical world.
57:40These statues were more artistically brilliant than anything Venice had ever dreamed of.
57:48A shiny example that Venetian artists would now seek to emulate.
57:54They were symbols of a new era for Venice.
58:04Venice stood on the brink of its golden age.
58:07Richer and more powerful than ever before.
58:12It would become home to some of the most brilliant artists and architects the world had ever seen.
58:29The DVD box set of this beautiful series, Francesco's Venice, is available for you now.
58:37www.vintrospektiv.de