1 00:00:06,038 --> 00:00:08,529 I'm embarking on the second leg of my world tour 2 00:00:08,707 --> 00:00:12,108 of 80 of the greatest treasures ever created by man. 3 00:00:13,245 --> 00:00:16,180 I'm about to travel through two thousand years of history, 4 00:00:16,348 --> 00:00:18,839 from the ancient civilisations of Mexico 5 00:00:19,018 --> 00:00:21,680 to the promised land of the United States. 6 00:00:23,589 --> 00:00:27,491 It's a journey which will take me from mysterious pyramids and lost cities 7 00:00:27,659 --> 00:00:29,889 to the skyscrapers of New York. 8 00:00:53,585 --> 00:00:57,817 I've been on the road for two and a half weeks. Leaving behind South America, 9 00:00:57,990 --> 00:01:01,448 I fly from Brazil to the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. 10 00:01:31,190 --> 00:01:33,818 I'm in the rainforest of southern Mexico, 11 00:01:33,992 --> 00:01:41,592 and it's here that civilisation started to emerge, three thousand years ago. 12 00:01:44,069 --> 00:01:49,029 I'm searching for a treasure created by this most bloodthirsty of civilisations. 13 00:01:50,676 --> 00:01:52,940 Ah, now here's a clue. 14 00:01:54,179 --> 00:01:56,170 Ancient structure. 15 00:01:56,381 --> 00:01:58,611 I'm obviously heading in the right direction. 16 00:02:01,019 --> 00:02:05,251 For centuries this dense forest concealed a shocking and grisly secret: 17 00:02:05,424 --> 00:02:09,918 a lost city in which human sacrifice was a way of life. 18 00:02:16,602 --> 00:02:19,469 Palenque - the great city of the Mayans, 19 00:02:19,638 --> 00:02:22,334 built in the hundred years after 650 AD, 20 00:02:22,508 --> 00:02:25,102 by King Pacal and his sons. 21 00:02:25,477 --> 00:02:28,844 What a fantastic commanding site. 22 00:02:29,381 --> 00:02:31,975 There's the plain over there - from the city. 23 00:02:32,651 --> 00:02:35,711 The king, his warriors, could watch what's going on. 24 00:02:35,888 --> 00:02:39,551 What we're seeing here is the sacred heart of the city. 25 00:02:39,725 --> 00:02:41,784 The temples and the palace. 26 00:02:45,030 --> 00:02:48,557 Palenque is one of the world's most remarkable ancient cities. 27 00:02:50,602 --> 00:02:53,196 It reveals so much about the Mayan civilisation, 28 00:02:53,372 --> 00:02:56,967 which dates back to a thousand BC or earlier. 29 00:02:57,843 --> 00:03:01,006 The Mayans ruled a vast empire, stretching through Central America 30 00:03:01,146 --> 00:03:04,741 from Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras. 31 00:03:10,088 --> 00:03:13,285 The buildings at Palenque are adorned with reliefs an hieroglyphs 32 00:03:13,458 --> 00:03:17,485 which unlock the door to a sophisticated yet savage world. 33 00:03:20,165 --> 00:03:23,032 The Mayans evolved a calendar and were great astrologers, 34 00:03:23,202 --> 00:03:27,332 and are best known for practising human sacrifice. 35 00:03:30,943 --> 00:03:33,036 At the heart of this violent and bloody world 36 00:03:33,212 --> 00:03:35,203 was King Pacal's palace. 37 00:03:36,048 --> 00:03:38,642 It was built high on a hill to make it easy to defend. 38 00:03:38,817 --> 00:03:42,776 Its thick stone walls were designed to withstand attack. 39 00:03:49,228 --> 00:03:51,822 Wars between rival kingdoms were ritualistic and 40 00:03:51,997 --> 00:03:56,957 governed by the movement of the planet Venus, so were known as 'star wars'. 41 00:04:01,039 --> 00:04:03,872 This must have been a very important courtyard in the palace. 42 00:04:04,042 --> 00:04:09,912 This is where subjects came to pay homage to the king, to bring tribute. 43 00:04:10,182 --> 00:04:16,553 They'd have walked through here and they'd have passed these huge images of captives, 44 00:04:16,722 --> 00:04:24,424 naked figures - of warriors taken in war, people who had been humiliated. 45 00:04:25,197 --> 00:04:28,758 These were a warning to the subjects coming through to pay homage. 46 00:04:28,934 --> 00:04:32,995 These men had frightfully miserable faces. Even the dead, 47 00:04:33,171 --> 00:04:36,334 naked which is a sign of humiliation in this culture. 48 00:04:36,508 --> 00:04:39,443 And this figure at the end is strange - 49 00:04:40,112 --> 00:04:43,411 looking upwards towards perhaps where the king would be. 50 00:04:44,049 --> 00:04:51,046 Naked and with, again this gigantic penis. I wonder why. 51 00:04:52,224 --> 00:04:56,661 I do know that part of the ritual of sacrificing a captive 52 00:04:56,828 --> 00:04:59,888 was often to mutilate, to cause pain, to, 53 00:05:00,065 --> 00:05:03,228 I suppose, prove the warrior was worthy of sacrifice. 54 00:05:03,402 --> 00:05:06,098 He wasn't meant to show the agony he was - put through. 55 00:05:06,405 --> 00:05:12,537 And I suppose this could be a part of that ritual, the scarring of the penis. Astonishing. 56 00:05:16,381 --> 00:05:20,340 Blood sacrifice was at the core of the Mayan way of life. 57 00:05:27,492 --> 00:05:29,119 This is an altar, 58 00:05:29,428 --> 00:05:36,163 and some people believe this is where the Maya sacrificed captives taken in war. 59 00:05:36,768 --> 00:05:39,635 These unfortunate chaps would have their heads cut off, 60 00:05:39,805 --> 00:05:44,208 or more disturbing, their heart plucked out, 61 00:05:44,376 --> 00:05:47,174 and while the heart still pumped the blood 62 00:05:47,346 --> 00:05:51,749 would be smeared over the gods kept in the temple, 63 00:05:51,917 --> 00:05:57,321 and then the body skinned and the skin draped over the priests, would dance around. 64 00:05:57,489 --> 00:06:01,357 Very hard for us to take all this, but of course, you have to remember, 65 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:07,057 the Maya didn't hold life cheaply. They valued it greatly, 66 00:06:07,566 --> 00:06:08,055 that's the point. 67 00:06:08,233 --> 00:06:13,296 It was so precious, it was the most precious thing to give to the gods. 68 00:06:18,710 --> 00:06:21,702 Some mutilated captives would be dragged up the steep steps 69 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:23,677 of the temple of the inscriptions 70 00:06:23,849 --> 00:06:27,012 to face further humiliation and aony at the top. 71 00:06:28,854 --> 00:06:31,379 But blood letting was not restricted to enemies. 72 00:06:31,790 --> 00:06:36,250 After victory in battle, King Pacal himself would pierce his penis 73 00:06:36,428 --> 00:06:39,397 and let it bleed on the altar to thank the gods, 74 00:06:39,765 --> 00:06:42,427 while the queen slit open her tongue. 75 00:06:44,736 --> 00:06:49,264 I'm descending into the bowels of the pyramid, 76 00:06:49,441 --> 00:06:55,676 into the Mayan underworld. Very steep steps. 77 00:06:57,649 --> 00:07:03,588 Above me, is a spectacular system - of vaults for which the Mayans - are famous. 78 00:07:03,755 --> 00:07:08,089 These cauldron vaults, incredible structures. 79 00:07:08,660 --> 00:07:13,723 The amazing thing is, all of this structure and what's below 80 00:07:13,899 --> 00:07:22,864 was lost for nearly 1500 years, buried. 81 00:07:24,910 --> 00:07:28,710 Although I'm deep underground - well, deep in the pyramid - it's incredibly hot. 82 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,314 And these stairs are really treacherous. 83 00:07:31,483 --> 00:07:35,044 They're now running with water condensation 84 00:07:35,220 --> 00:07:37,313 and I've got to be very careful not to tumble down 85 00:07:37,489 --> 00:07:40,151 and maybe never come back again. 86 00:07:40,325 --> 00:07:46,161 Mmm, my goodness me, they are slippery. 87 00:07:48,967 --> 00:07:54,200 Here's a massive slab acting as a door, sealing a tomb. 88 00:07:54,372 --> 00:08:02,575 And inside, here it is, the massive stone sarcophagus of King Pacal. 89 00:08:03,615 --> 00:08:11,021 And what we see is the lid suspended on steel girders now. 90 00:08:11,223 --> 00:08:16,684 Originally, it would have - have sat right down there on the sarcophagus itself - 91 00:08:16,862 --> 00:08:23,563 - in which is this moon-shaped opening which received the king's body. 92 00:08:26,037 --> 00:08:32,704 So here we see a piece of the art as the Mayan people themselves would have seen it, 93 00:08:33,345 --> 00:08:38,282 preserved for all those years. Incredible. 94 00:08:40,485 --> 00:08:43,113 One sees in the middle the king himself. 95 00:08:43,288 --> 00:08:45,153 Now - he died at the age of eighty, 96 00:08:45,323 --> 00:08:48,451 but here you see him as a vigorous young man. 97 00:08:48,860 --> 00:08:52,660 He's lying on his back, he's falling down into the mouth, 98 00:08:52,831 --> 00:08:56,824 the jaws of death, represented by the great jaguar god, 99 00:08:57,002 --> 00:08:59,368 the god of the underworld - the god of death. 100 00:09:00,438 --> 00:09:05,398 That's below the king; above him - rises this - this great tree - the tree of life. 101 00:09:05,577 --> 00:09:11,209 But in the form of a cross. The cross was a sacred symbol for the Mayan people. 102 00:09:11,383 --> 00:09:17,117 Fascinating. It represented the connection between the underworld, where I am now, 103 00:09:17,289 --> 00:09:20,747 the heavens above, and the land of the living - 104 00:09:21,359 --> 00:09:29,733 - whose blood was, in a way, the most powerful sacred element of this - of this world. 105 00:09:30,535 --> 00:09:37,566 Because the whole image here is to do with life coming from death, that's the point. 106 00:09:37,742 --> 00:09:40,006 The great cycle of existence, 107 00:09:40,512 --> 00:09:45,506 as the seasons come and as night follows day and the sun returns in the morning, 108 00:09:45,684 --> 00:09:50,986 this is declaring that through death comes rebirth. 109 00:09:59,331 --> 00:10:03,631 Yet the Mayan way of life did die, in around 900 AD. 110 00:10:04,069 --> 00:10:05,730 Exactly why is a mystery. 111 00:10:05,971 --> 00:10:08,804 The best guess is a combination of famine and war. 112 00:10:11,776 --> 00:10:13,243 I leave Palenque with a yearning 113 00:10:13,411 --> 00:10:17,939 to find out more about the enigmatic civilisations of Central America. 114 00:10:23,955 --> 00:10:25,616 So I head to Central Mexico, 115 00:10:25,790 --> 00:10:29,419 to a place which has been compared to ancient Egypt. 116 00:10:37,268 --> 00:10:41,534 The city of Teotihuacan is larger and older than Palenque, 117 00:10:41,706 --> 00:10:43,139 but lacks its atmosphere 118 00:10:43,308 --> 00:10:45,435 and has been over-restored. 119 00:10:45,877 --> 00:10:47,174 It's not one of my treasures, 120 00:10:47,345 --> 00:10:50,280 but you can't deny its scale and power. 121 00:10:51,182 --> 00:10:55,175 The origins of - Teotihuacan are surrounded in mystery. 122 00:10:55,353 --> 00:10:58,811 It may date from as early as 200 BC - 123 00:10:58,990 --> 00:11:03,620 - and the great creators of the city may have been the enigmatic Toltecs. 124 00:11:05,163 --> 00:11:08,030 At its peak, it was one of the world's largest cities, 125 00:11:08,199 --> 00:11:12,067 with a population of 125,000 people. 126 00:11:12,270 --> 00:11:15,467 It covers an area of up to eight square miles. 127 00:11:17,075 --> 00:11:20,238 The Temple of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world, 128 00:11:20,412 --> 00:11:22,710 after one at Cholula in Mexico 129 00:11:22,881 --> 00:11:25,213 and great pyramid in Egypt. 130 00:11:26,151 --> 00:11:31,418 Phew. Some climb. 63 metres probably. 131 00:11:31,756 --> 00:11:35,453 More like 70 originally, with a temple at the top. 132 00:11:35,627 --> 00:11:38,755 An amazing achievement. 133 00:11:39,364 --> 00:11:41,093 Incredible view here. 134 00:11:41,466 --> 00:11:43,832 There's the Way of the Dead, the great street, 135 00:11:44,636 --> 00:11:49,573 leading the temples each side to the Temple of the Moon over there. 136 00:11:51,142 --> 00:11:53,167 Until recently nobody knew exactly why 137 00:11:53,344 --> 00:11:54,936 these pyramids were built. 138 00:11:55,146 --> 00:11:57,910 Then archaeologists excavating the Temple of the Moon 139 00:11:58,083 --> 00:11:59,948 discovered a dozen skeletons, 140 00:12:00,118 --> 00:12:03,144 ten of whom had been ritually decapitated. 141 00:12:03,955 --> 00:12:05,149 So like Palenque, 142 00:12:05,323 --> 00:12:08,349 this was once the scene of human sacrifice. 143 00:12:16,935 --> 00:12:20,496 To find my treasure, I must follow in the footsteps of the Toltecs, 144 00:12:20,672 --> 00:12:24,870 who in 750 AD mysteriously abandoned Teotihuacan 145 00:12:25,043 --> 00:12:28,103 and built a new capital at Tollan Tula. 146 00:12:34,986 --> 00:12:38,285 Just a few ruins of this once-great city survive. 147 00:12:38,456 --> 00:12:41,687 But these include four mighty warriors. 148 00:13:00,812 --> 00:13:07,479 Here, one of the great, most moving memorials to the Toltec people. 149 00:13:08,319 --> 00:13:11,618 These great statues were only discovered in the 1940s, 150 00:13:11,790 --> 00:13:13,382 buried in a trench. 151 00:13:13,625 --> 00:13:15,786 They date from about 900 AD, 152 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:21,091 and they're thought to be columns supporting a temple on top of a flat pyramid. 153 00:13:21,266 --> 00:13:27,796 The details suggest that they were - representing warriors - or guardian spirits. 154 00:13:27,972 --> 00:13:31,373 Warriors because that is the feathered headdress of a warrior, 155 00:13:31,543 --> 00:13:35,240 and they're holding bows, arrows and spears. 156 00:13:38,016 --> 00:13:42,646 The god they were guarding is revealed, suggested anyway, by some of the details. 157 00:13:42,821 --> 00:13:44,846 The stylised butterfly up there - 158 00:13:45,023 --> 00:13:51,019 - and below - the feet have feathers. 159 00:13:51,262 --> 00:13:54,993 These are emblems of the great god of the Toltecs. 160 00:13:59,037 --> 00:14:02,871 And on the rear of this great warrior or guardian is this solar disk. 161 00:14:03,041 --> 00:14:07,944 Here it is. In the centre, a face - the sun god. 162 00:14:08,646 --> 00:14:11,240 And here, carvings. 163 00:14:11,449 --> 00:14:15,385 You can speculate - this might be writing. No one's deciphered it. 164 00:14:16,688 --> 00:14:21,250 Also there's evidence here of colour. There's red here. 165 00:14:21,459 --> 00:14:25,259 All four of these great giants - originally would have been brightly coloured. 166 00:14:37,642 --> 00:14:43,103 The giants give a hint of just how splendid the city of Tollan Tula must have been. 167 00:14:45,450 --> 00:14:49,409 The later Aztec people told of incredible Toltec treasures. 168 00:14:51,022 --> 00:14:52,546 These have long since disappeared, 169 00:14:52,724 --> 00:14:57,286 but a series of carvings gives an insight into their sinister beliefs. 170 00:15:04,302 --> 00:15:06,998 I'm in the temple area at the base of the pyramid - 171 00:15:07,171 --> 00:15:10,436 - and there are amazing images on the wall. 172 00:15:10,675 --> 00:15:14,406 Jaguars, ferocious heads. 173 00:15:14,979 --> 00:15:19,575 Over there, rattlesnakes devouring - human beings. 174 00:15:19,751 --> 00:15:22,185 Skulls. Amazing. 175 00:15:23,254 --> 00:15:25,745 But the mighty - Toltec empire disappeared 176 00:15:25,924 --> 00:15:30,020 in rather mysterious circumstances in the late 12th century. 177 00:15:30,194 --> 00:15:34,961 It is said that its great king-priest was exiled. 178 00:15:35,133 --> 00:15:40,366 He was associated with the great god Quetzalcoatl, the god of the Toltecs. 179 00:15:40,605 --> 00:15:46,009 This god had a white face and a grey beard, always shown as that. 180 00:15:46,177 --> 00:15:51,740 And it was said that one day he would return from the east to repossess this land. 181 00:15:52,016 --> 00:15:55,816 This god, of course, did return, but not quite as expected. 182 00:15:55,987 --> 00:15:59,582 A man did come from the east, white face, grey beard. 183 00:15:59,757 --> 00:16:01,384 He was Cortez. 184 00:16:02,126 --> 00:16:05,994 Cortez was a Spanish conqueror who arrived in 1519. 185 00:16:06,531 --> 00:16:09,364 By this time, the Aztecs were ruling Mexico. 186 00:16:09,534 --> 00:16:14,198 Their emperor, Montezuma, mistook Cortez for Quetzalcoatl 187 00:16:14,372 --> 00:16:16,772 and welcomed him as a saviour. 188 00:16:18,276 --> 00:16:21,643 This proved to be the downfall of Aztec civilisation. 189 00:16:23,614 --> 00:16:27,607 The ancient culture of Central America was mercilessly destroyed. 190 00:16:27,852 --> 00:16:30,218 The Spaniards laid waste to Aztec cities, 191 00:16:30,388 --> 00:16:33,824 looted their treasures and slaughtered the population. 192 00:16:59,317 --> 00:17:01,512 My journey now takes me to Mexico City, 193 00:17:01,686 --> 00:17:05,554 a sprawling metropolis of 22 million people. 194 00:17:06,591 --> 00:17:09,287 It's here that the Spanish conquerors built their capital, 195 00:17:09,460 --> 00:17:11,894 on the site of a great Aztec city. 196 00:17:12,964 --> 00:17:16,525 Mexico finally gained independence from Spain in 1821, 197 00:17:16,701 --> 00:17:20,228 leaving the Catholic Church and a succession of dictators and emperors 198 00:17:20,405 --> 00:17:22,737 to fight for the soul of the nation. 199 00:17:25,209 --> 00:17:28,508 In the 1920s, Mexico enjoyed a great renaissance in the arts, 200 00:17:28,679 --> 00:17:31,773 fired by the idealism of the political Left. 201 00:17:32,250 --> 00:17:33,740 From this was born my next treasure, 202 00:17:33,918 --> 00:17:36,512 the first painting on my journey. 203 00:17:36,687 --> 00:17:41,090 However, its story doesn't start here, but thousands of miles away. 204 00:17:44,829 --> 00:17:49,391 It's the story of two men who embody one of the great struggles of the 20th century, 205 00:17:49,567 --> 00:17:52,365 between Capitalism and Communism. 206 00:17:53,271 --> 00:17:57,264 In 1933, the American tycoon Nelson Rockefeller 207 00:17:57,442 --> 00:18:00,502 commissioned the leftwing Mexican artist Diego Rivera 208 00:18:00,678 --> 00:18:05,138 to paint a huge mural for his flagship office block in New York City. 209 00:18:08,820 --> 00:18:13,484 Rockefeller was so much offended by the content of the painting that he had it destroyed. 210 00:18:14,092 --> 00:18:18,119 But that wasn't the end of the story. The artist made sure of that. 211 00:18:24,936 --> 00:18:28,201 Rivera wanted to bring his murdered mural back to life, 212 00:18:28,372 --> 00:18:32,206 and he achieved it here, in the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. 213 00:18:32,477 --> 00:18:34,172 This was painted in 1934. 214 00:18:34,345 --> 00:18:40,443 And this version - is called Man, Controller of the Universe. 215 00:18:40,651 --> 00:18:45,145 And we see in the centre of the picture, man, the worker, 216 00:18:45,323 --> 00:18:50,488 using modern technology to look into the future, to control the future, 217 00:18:50,661 --> 00:18:53,721 to select the world in which he wants to live. 218 00:18:54,966 --> 00:18:59,027 The painting - tells another story, is divided in half. 219 00:18:59,203 --> 00:19:01,967 It's the conflict of two world visions, 220 00:19:02,140 --> 00:19:05,769 the conflict between - Communism and Capitalism. 221 00:19:07,111 --> 00:19:12,447 Here on the left, between the wings, one sees a nightclub scene, a speakeasy. 222 00:19:12,617 --> 00:19:14,710 Men and women drinking martinis, I think. 223 00:19:14,886 --> 00:19:17,650 Obviously this is the decadence of capitalism. 224 00:19:17,822 --> 00:19:20,484 There's a lovely little portrait here of Rockefeller. 225 00:19:21,692 --> 00:19:23,523 Then there's a strange image indeed. 226 00:19:23,694 --> 00:19:29,326 The great sort of Roman or Greek statue looking down rather threateningly, 227 00:19:29,500 --> 00:19:32,025 and round its neck a crucifix. 228 00:19:32,270 --> 00:19:36,001 This is a - a cry - for - for - for the - for the indigenous peoples of this land 229 00:19:36,174 --> 00:19:38,506 and their ancient religions and culture. 230 00:19:38,743 --> 00:19:42,110 And he obviously sees the church as a tool in the hands of the capitalists 231 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:47,274 to oppress and suppress the spirit and the nature of the people, 232 00:19:47,451 --> 00:19:49,646 the true ancient people of this land. 233 00:19:50,488 --> 00:19:53,514 Then in the centre a scene again from New York. 234 00:19:53,824 --> 00:19:55,621 Police attacking workers. 235 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,852 And there's police on horses with batons thumping on their heads. 236 00:20:00,031 --> 00:20:01,191 A scene of skyscrapers. 237 00:20:01,365 --> 00:20:06,530 Amazing image. Over here, though, we see the artist's ideal universe. 238 00:20:13,177 --> 00:20:20,083 This half of the painting is dedicated to the - the beauties, the benefits of Communism. 239 00:20:20,318 --> 00:20:26,223 We see there one of the great powers of early Communism, Lenin, 240 00:20:26,390 --> 00:20:28,858 holding hands with the workers. 241 00:20:31,829 --> 00:20:34,423 At the top, workers marching together. 242 00:20:34,599 --> 00:20:38,399 Below them, the red flag being held by Marx and Trotsky. 243 00:20:38,569 --> 00:20:43,871 Trotsky a man that came to Mexico and that Rivera knew in the late 1930s. 244 00:20:44,775 --> 00:20:48,802 So there we are an incredible powerful image of how things ought to be. 245 00:20:48,980 --> 00:20:53,076 But of course reflecting back with the perspective of history, 246 00:20:53,251 --> 00:20:57,381 it has a certain sadness indeed absurdity really. 247 00:20:58,589 --> 00:21:02,081 The whole vision offered up here has crumbled, 248 00:21:04,362 --> 00:21:10,767 and the evil world of Capitalism, which the artist here is doing his best to destroy, 249 00:21:10,935 --> 00:21:13,870 has flourished and gained new strength. 250 00:21:21,646 --> 00:21:26,982 In a way, it's a sad document to a great aspiration not realised, 251 00:21:27,151 --> 00:21:33,021 partly because of the weakness of the politicians who had the world in their hands, 252 00:21:33,190 --> 00:21:35,488 and also sad because the artist himself 253 00:21:35,660 --> 00:21:41,030 proved to be a lesser man than the painting proclaims. 254 00:21:43,334 --> 00:21:45,234 Rivera's politics may have been socialist, 255 00:21:45,403 --> 00:21:46,836 but his way of life wasn't. 256 00:21:47,004 --> 00:21:49,973 He was intoxicated by the glamour of high living. 257 00:21:54,211 --> 00:21:56,509 I wonder what Rivera would make of modern Mexico, 258 00:21:56,681 --> 00:21:58,649 where Capitalism has triumphed. 259 00:21:59,016 --> 00:22:01,246 He'd probably feel very much at home. 260 00:22:04,422 --> 00:22:06,390 When I go for supper in the Plaza Garibaldi, 261 00:22:06,557 --> 00:22:10,084 I'm immediately pounced on by dozens of mariachi singers. 262 00:22:15,266 --> 00:22:16,631 Tonight I'm going to be serenaded, 263 00:22:16,801 --> 00:22:18,393 whether I like it or not. 264 00:22:22,873 --> 00:22:26,138 My ears take a battering from this strange cacophony. 265 00:22:28,346 --> 00:22:30,371 I've been on the road for almost three weeks 266 00:22:30,548 --> 00:22:32,573 and it's beginning to take its toll. 267 00:22:41,859 --> 00:22:46,319 The following day I head for another country, the most powerful on earth. 268 00:22:48,499 --> 00:22:52,026 The flight across the stunning landscape of the south-western United States 269 00:22:52,203 --> 00:22:55,138 brings much-needed calm and respite. 270 00:23:04,148 --> 00:23:07,379 The USA is a wonderfully curious creation. 271 00:23:07,952 --> 00:23:11,251 In little more than two centuries, this great melting pot of people 272 00:23:11,422 --> 00:23:16,291 has achieved a powerful sense of identity and grown to world domination. 273 00:23:26,237 --> 00:23:29,172 In my short time here, I hope to dig beneath the surface 274 00:23:29,340 --> 00:23:32,901 and through my treasures learn more about the way the United States, 275 00:23:33,077 --> 00:23:36,274 the land of the free, views itself. 276 00:23:38,149 --> 00:23:43,485 My first treasure here is sure to offend some people, but it's arguably the single object 277 00:23:43,654 --> 00:23:46,054 which best defines the United States. 278 00:23:47,758 --> 00:23:49,919 It's a dark, indeed a deadly treasure, 279 00:23:50,094 --> 00:23:52,722 that enabled white Europeans to express their conviction 280 00:23:52,897 --> 00:23:56,128 that it was their manifest destiny to possess this land, 281 00:23:56,300 --> 00:24:00,236 and in the process suppress its indigenous peoples. 282 00:24:02,573 --> 00:24:05,599 To find it, I've come to Cortez in Colorado. 283 00:24:06,377 --> 00:24:09,107 I have an appointment with Dale, alias William D. Foot 284 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,544 of the Windy Gap Regulators Gun Club. 285 00:24:11,715 --> 00:24:12,079 Hi. 286 00:24:12,249 --> 00:24:14,080 - How you doing? - Very well. And 287 00:24:14,251 --> 00:24:16,014 - Pleased to meet you. - Nice to meet you, Dale. 288 00:24:16,187 --> 00:24:20,715 Here's my treasure. The 1851 colt revolver. 289 00:24:27,398 --> 00:24:31,095 The 1851 Navy Colt revolutionised gun design 290 00:24:31,268 --> 00:24:33,259 and helped change the world. 291 00:24:43,314 --> 00:24:48,775 The Colt has a - a terrific beauty. A violent beauty, I suppose. 292 00:24:49,086 --> 00:24:50,519 There isn't another gun like them. 293 00:24:50,888 --> 00:24:54,346 It was the most popular of all of the hand guns during the Civil War. 294 00:24:54,525 --> 00:24:58,723 And then after the Civil War a lot of the soldiers were able to keep their weapons, 295 00:24:58,896 --> 00:25:02,832 and they moved west with them and these guns made the journey west 296 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,026 and were a - a big part in taming the western frontier. 297 00:25:06,270 --> 00:25:12,368 Interesting, of course, in - in American history, the gun has this very powerful role. 298 00:25:12,543 --> 00:25:15,103 Almost as if - it's almost a symbol of - of freedom and independence, 299 00:25:15,279 --> 00:25:17,179 going of course back to the Second Amendment, I suppose. 300 00:25:17,348 --> 00:25:21,216 Every citizen has a right to bear arms to protect the freedom of their country. 301 00:25:21,385 --> 00:25:24,013 And of course that is very much an issue today, isn't it? 302 00:25:24,188 --> 00:25:26,622 So it's still very pertinent, there's a debate about the right to bear arms 303 00:25:26,790 --> 00:25:28,781 - and the meaning of - of guns and all that. - Oh yes. 304 00:25:28,959 --> 00:25:31,860 What do you reckon guns mean now? In this - in this land? 305 00:25:32,029 --> 00:25:35,692 There's - there's several different sayings about firearms and freedom. 306 00:25:35,966 --> 00:25:39,231 An armed man is a free man, 307 00:25:39,603 --> 00:25:41,195 an unarmed man's a slave. 308 00:25:41,405 --> 00:25:45,865 And that's kind of the philosophy of people in this country for the most part, I think. 309 00:25:46,710 --> 00:25:50,111 We - we tend to appreciate our guns. 310 00:25:50,281 --> 00:25:51,771 We don't - we don't want to misuse them. 311 00:25:51,949 --> 00:25:54,440 We don't - we don't go around shooting everyone we see, 312 00:25:54,618 --> 00:25:57,985 but we have the right to defend ourselves and to protect our home and our families. 313 00:25:58,155 --> 00:26:01,215 And guns are an integral part of that. 314 00:26:01,859 --> 00:26:05,659 So Samuel Colt came up with the idea, invented the six shot cylinder. 315 00:26:05,829 --> 00:26:08,730 - The revolver, right. - Yeah, revolver. Six shots in - 316 00:26:08,899 --> 00:26:13,768 you know, without having to reload made it possible to do a lot of damage to an enemy. 317 00:26:13,938 --> 00:26:15,200 Oh definitely, yeah. 318 00:26:15,372 --> 00:26:19,331 It's a pioneering mass produced object with components which one could - 319 00:26:19,510 --> 00:26:22,502 - I suppose damaged components could be replaced, or indeed - Exactly. 320 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:24,375 A new cylinder dropped in. 321 00:26:26,584 --> 00:26:31,283 It has a extraordinary functional engineered beauty, 322 00:26:31,455 --> 00:26:37,485 which also in some extraordinary way absolutely expresses its rather lethal power. 323 00:26:38,329 --> 00:26:40,524 - Do you love them? - Oh yes. Yeah. 324 00:26:40,698 --> 00:26:44,225 The 1851 is my favourite of all the cap and ball revolvers. 325 00:26:44,401 --> 00:26:46,961 So - so have you - these - these are - are component objects, 326 00:26:47,137 --> 00:26:50,664 very much pieces of pioneering 19th century industrial design. 327 00:26:51,008 --> 00:26:52,737 - Right, easy to take apart. - Remove this pin. 328 00:26:52,910 --> 00:26:55,743 - The pin's the key, isn't it? - It's called the wedge, by the way. 329 00:26:55,913 --> 00:26:57,778 - The wedge. - That's right. That's right. 330 00:26:57,948 --> 00:27:02,578 Slide the barrel assembly off. Slide the cylinder out. 331 00:27:03,053 --> 00:27:04,452 And those are your three main components. 332 00:27:04,622 --> 00:27:10,788 Each object in itself is this pure industrial design of the highest order. 333 00:27:10,961 --> 00:27:13,156 Just a very classic, classic pistol. 334 00:27:18,302 --> 00:27:21,294 - Do you think you want to fire one of these? - I think I do. All right. 335 00:27:31,482 --> 00:27:33,006 My finger on the trigger, 336 00:27:33,450 --> 00:27:37,819 get into a position which feels comfortable. I'm going to squeeze it now. 337 00:27:40,424 --> 00:27:41,550 Good shot. 338 00:27:43,027 --> 00:27:44,756 - Thank you. - You got it. 339 00:27:45,095 --> 00:27:47,188 When you cock this time, just turn it sideways as you cock, 340 00:27:47,364 --> 00:27:50,265 to keep that fired cap from falling down and blocking the cylinder motion. 341 00:27:50,434 --> 00:27:51,458 Yes, I'm with you. 342 00:27:51,635 --> 00:27:53,500 So I put my finger on the trigger. 343 00:27:55,973 --> 00:28:00,342 - Squeeze it. - Oh right. 344 00:28:01,912 --> 00:28:04,346 It's a good smell, black powder. 345 00:28:05,115 --> 00:28:07,276 - I love the smoke and smell. - I love the smell 346 00:28:08,585 --> 00:28:09,347 of powder in the afternoon. 347 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,683 Keep your hand on your gun, 348 00:28:13,991 --> 00:28:16,687 don't you trust anyone. 349 00:28:18,095 --> 00:28:21,064 There's just one kind of man that you can trust, 350 00:28:21,231 --> 00:28:26,863 that's a dead man, or a gringo like me. 351 00:28:28,505 --> 00:28:29,472 All right. 352 00:28:31,241 --> 00:28:33,175 - Good job. - That was very enjoyable. Thank you. 353 00:28:37,147 --> 00:28:39,638 I leave Dale feeling very uneasy. 354 00:28:40,350 --> 00:28:43,376 The Navy Colt is a fine and pioneering machine, 355 00:28:43,887 --> 00:28:45,787 yet I feel guilty for admiring it 356 00:28:45,956 --> 00:28:48,982 because of its role in winning the west for the white man 357 00:28:49,159 --> 00:28:52,560 and destroying the native American way of life. 358 00:28:59,336 --> 00:29:02,396 I've always been fascinated by the early history of North America, 359 00:29:02,573 --> 00:29:05,098 so for my next treasure I stay in Colorado 360 00:29:05,275 --> 00:29:07,470 but step back in time. 361 00:29:08,746 --> 00:29:10,475 Deep in the canyons of the Rocky Mountains 362 00:29:10,647 --> 00:29:14,344 lies the most important ancient site in the United States. 363 00:29:14,551 --> 00:29:16,678 Its very existence is a riddle. 364 00:29:17,988 --> 00:29:20,422 It was created by mysterious people who disappeared 365 00:29:20,591 --> 00:29:25,324 without trace long before Europeans set foot on the Americas. 366 00:29:36,006 --> 00:29:38,702 When it was discovered by two cowboys a century ago, 367 00:29:38,876 --> 00:29:42,073 Mesa Verde rewrote the history of the west. 368 00:29:43,147 --> 00:29:46,947 It showed that native Americans in this region had lived in well-built, 369 00:29:47,117 --> 00:29:50,814 organised and permanent urban communities. 370 00:29:57,094 --> 00:30:04,398 Within Mesa Verde are concealed the remains of a mysterious people 371 00:30:04,735 --> 00:30:09,138 who flourished here about a thousand years ago. 372 00:30:09,573 --> 00:30:14,943 So little is known about them beyond the fact that they were great builders. 373 00:30:15,345 --> 00:30:20,305 They constructed for themselves essentially urban communities. 374 00:30:20,484 --> 00:30:27,356 And what one gets here is this incredible sense of their at-oneness, 375 00:30:27,524 --> 00:30:28,991 I suppose, with the world in which they live. 376 00:30:29,159 --> 00:30:30,990 This organic building. 377 00:30:32,396 --> 00:30:34,864 So who were these remarkable people? 378 00:30:35,032 --> 00:30:36,897 The answer is, we really don't know. 379 00:30:37,067 --> 00:30:39,365 Sometimes they're called the Anasazi, 380 00:30:39,536 --> 00:30:43,734 but that's simply the Navajo name for 'the ancient ones'. 381 00:30:44,107 --> 00:30:47,668 The fact is, they've disappeared from history, 382 00:30:47,878 --> 00:30:51,075 leaving behind this haunting imagery, 383 00:30:51,248 --> 00:30:54,183 these beautifully constructed buildings. 384 00:31:00,057 --> 00:31:02,890 Little is known about the spiritual beliefs of the Anasazi. 385 00:31:03,060 --> 00:31:04,186 What we do know has been gleaned 386 00:31:04,361 --> 00:31:08,161 from intriguing underground ruins known as kivas. 387 00:31:10,968 --> 00:31:13,266 Most have now lost their roofs. 388 00:31:15,572 --> 00:31:19,474 Ah now, this is a very good example of a kiva. 389 00:31:19,643 --> 00:31:22,942 A circular subterranean room, 390 00:31:23,113 --> 00:31:26,173 where the family would gather as if for prayers, 391 00:31:26,350 --> 00:31:27,908 to tell tales. 392 00:31:28,652 --> 00:31:30,711 And on the floor are two holes. 393 00:31:31,021 --> 00:31:32,784 The bigger hole, fireplace. 394 00:31:32,956 --> 00:31:35,083 The smaller hole is a (sipapu) 395 00:31:35,259 --> 00:31:37,625 That is, a symbolic connection 396 00:31:37,794 --> 00:31:40,490 to the underworld, to their place of origin. 397 00:31:40,664 --> 00:31:45,158 They're returning to their place of creation, into the womb. 398 00:31:46,703 --> 00:31:49,399 This small town, known as Cliff Palace, 399 00:31:49,573 --> 00:31:51,200 has 23 kivas, 400 00:31:51,375 --> 00:31:53,138 about 220 rooms, 401 00:31:53,310 --> 00:31:56,541 and was home to around 250 people. 402 00:31:56,914 --> 00:32:00,008 Here clearly is the front door. 403 00:32:00,817 --> 00:32:01,909 A step. 404 00:32:02,252 --> 00:32:03,742 Set of steps going up. 405 00:32:03,987 --> 00:32:06,353 A small tapering entrance through 406 00:32:06,523 --> 00:32:08,787 which these people would have passed. 407 00:32:10,494 --> 00:32:11,927 See if I can get in here. 408 00:32:12,529 --> 00:32:14,087 I suppose this is the right approach. 409 00:32:14,264 --> 00:32:15,993 Leg over. Ah, yes. 410 00:32:19,002 --> 00:32:20,367 Oh. 411 00:32:24,141 --> 00:32:25,335 Astonishing. 412 00:32:25,776 --> 00:32:26,640 This is where a family, I suppose, 413 00:32:26,810 --> 00:32:30,803 would have lived, slept after a hard day's toil 414 00:32:31,214 --> 00:32:32,272 in the fields above on the mesa. 415 00:32:32,449 --> 00:32:33,939 They'd come down here. 416 00:32:35,452 --> 00:32:36,817 Another door. 417 00:32:39,923 --> 00:32:41,015 Ah! 418 00:32:41,191 --> 00:32:43,751 Good god. Absolutely amazing. 419 00:32:43,927 --> 00:32:46,828 Up here there are wall paintings. 420 00:32:46,997 --> 00:32:51,229 If these people are, as some people think, Toltecs who came up here 421 00:32:51,401 --> 00:32:52,163 from Central America 422 00:32:52,336 --> 00:32:55,066 and then went back they'd have seen, they'd have remembered, 423 00:32:55,238 --> 00:32:57,138 these great pyramidal structures 424 00:32:57,941 --> 00:32:59,272 would have been part of their landscape, 425 00:32:59,443 --> 00:33:03,004 their experience from centuries past. 426 00:33:03,847 --> 00:33:04,279 Incredible. 427 00:33:04,448 --> 00:33:06,848 Being in here, one connects so directly 428 00:33:07,017 --> 00:33:09,508 with this mysterious and lost people. 429 00:33:15,058 --> 00:33:16,582 In the days of the Anasazi, 430 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,887 the only way to reach the fields on top 431 00:33:19,062 --> 00:33:21,826 was by climbing the steep cliffs using footholds 432 00:33:21,999 --> 00:33:23,432 cut in the rock. 433 00:33:26,903 --> 00:33:29,371 They must have had the agility of mountain goats. 434 00:33:29,539 --> 00:33:31,939 I soon give up and resort to ladders, 435 00:33:32,109 --> 00:33:33,974 which are treacherous enough. 436 00:33:37,114 --> 00:33:39,548 As I explore, it soon becomes clear that Cliff Palace, 437 00:33:39,716 --> 00:33:44,449 one of many small communities and homesteads built into the Rockies. 438 00:33:56,266 --> 00:33:58,757 I can't help reflecting on the fate of the indigenous peoples 439 00:33:58,935 --> 00:34:02,894 of the Americas stretching back thousands of years. 440 00:34:04,541 --> 00:34:06,873 They were very sophisticated and very admirable, 441 00:34:07,044 --> 00:34:09,478 particularly in their relationship with nature. 442 00:34:10,814 --> 00:34:12,543 They respected the world in which they lived. 443 00:34:12,716 --> 00:34:14,047 They recycled. 444 00:34:14,217 --> 00:34:16,811 They worked with nature, not against it. 445 00:34:16,987 --> 00:34:19,182 They didn't obliterate the environment. 446 00:34:20,757 --> 00:34:22,418 We can learn from this. 447 00:34:45,248 --> 00:34:47,239 From one of America's earliest-known towns, 448 00:34:47,417 --> 00:34:49,476 I travel 1700 miles 449 00:34:49,653 --> 00:34:52,019 to the most powerful place on earth. 450 00:34:52,989 --> 00:34:54,081 Washington DC 451 00:34:54,257 --> 00:34:56,725 is the home of United States democracy, 452 00:34:56,893 --> 00:34:57,917 and the capital of the world 453 00:34:58,095 --> 00:34:59,790 in everything but name. 454 00:35:00,630 --> 00:35:04,589 The United States proclaims high ideals of equality, liberty and justice, 455 00:35:04,768 --> 00:35:05,928 but can be overbearing 456 00:35:06,103 --> 00:35:08,128 in the pursuit of its goals. 457 00:35:10,207 --> 00:35:12,573 In Washington's imposing neoclassical builders, 458 00:35:12,742 --> 00:35:14,334 power brokers deliberate 459 00:35:14,511 --> 00:35:16,479 over the fate of nations. 460 00:35:17,948 --> 00:35:19,939 But none of these, not even the White House, 461 00:35:20,117 --> 00:35:21,345 is my treasure. 462 00:35:21,718 --> 00:35:24,346 Instead I've chosen a building which is, in my view, 463 00:35:24,521 --> 00:35:28,821 a much more potent symbol of nationhood and independence. 464 00:35:31,728 --> 00:35:34,356 It lies about a hundred miles south-west of Washington, 465 00:35:34,531 --> 00:35:37,728 in the small Virginian town of Charlottesville. 466 00:35:46,510 --> 00:35:49,308 Monticello was designed and built in the late 18th century 467 00:35:49,479 --> 00:35:51,071 by America's third president and 468 00:35:51,248 --> 00:35:55,446 one its most revered founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson. 469 00:35:56,353 --> 00:35:58,651 He drafted the Declaration of Independence, 470 00:35:58,822 --> 00:36:01,552 which proclaimed that all men are equal 471 00:36:01,725 --> 00:36:07,163 and laid down man's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 472 00:36:10,834 --> 00:36:11,858 His home is not huge, 473 00:36:12,035 --> 00:36:17,337 but it reveals more about the early history of the United States than any other building. 474 00:36:18,108 --> 00:36:23,876 Monticello's a declaration of independence, American independence, in bricks and mortar. 475 00:36:24,047 --> 00:36:29,144 It's an affirmation of national identity, a symbol for the new nation. 476 00:36:29,319 --> 00:36:34,279 Thomas Jefferson wanted to create a new architecture for this new land, 477 00:36:34,457 --> 00:36:38,518 an architecture which summed up the aspirations of the people. 478 00:36:39,362 --> 00:36:42,354 And he did this by fusing different architectures - 479 00:36:42,532 --> 00:36:44,124 Italian Renaissance architecture - 480 00:36:44,301 --> 00:36:45,734 - English 18th century architecture, 481 00:36:45,902 --> 00:36:50,032 and above all, French 18th century architecture. 482 00:36:50,373 --> 00:36:52,773 All these architectural styles were classical, 483 00:36:52,943 --> 00:36:57,505 and in the late 18th century classicism has a very particular meaning. 484 00:36:58,048 --> 00:36:59,572 In newly-born republican France, 485 00:36:59,749 --> 00:37:01,774 it had come to stand for revolution 486 00:37:01,952 --> 00:37:05,854 and the ideals of equality, liberty and fraternity. 487 00:37:07,591 --> 00:37:13,188 Those great inspirational moments when people are free of the tyranny of kings and princes, 488 00:37:13,363 --> 00:37:15,797 free to express themselves as individuals, 489 00:37:15,966 --> 00:37:19,367 and that is what this building is meant to represent. 490 00:37:28,311 --> 00:37:31,178 Now, the entrance hall, like the exterior, 491 00:37:31,348 --> 00:37:34,476 has a very particular and powerful meaning. 492 00:37:34,651 --> 00:37:39,145 A meaning to do with the new nation of the United States. 493 00:37:39,789 --> 00:37:42,349 Jefferson called this his Indian hall, 494 00:37:42,525 --> 00:37:46,393 because he embellished it with Indian artefacts along 495 00:37:46,563 --> 00:37:50,624 with other artefacts and objects from this great new promised land - 496 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:56,568 to make it clear that it had a unique very powerful individual identity. 497 00:37:56,940 --> 00:38:01,707 As you walk around, it's clear how much Jefferson was inspired by European culture. 498 00:38:02,145 --> 00:38:07,515 But Monticello is more compact and practical than grand and ostentatious. 499 00:38:08,051 --> 00:38:12,715 And also on the ground floor Jefferson's own private world. 500 00:38:12,889 --> 00:38:18,054 He wanted to make this house convenient and comfortable as well as a political statement. 501 00:38:18,228 --> 00:38:20,822 And so here he has this bed alcove. 502 00:38:20,997 --> 00:38:22,658 So he gets into bed this side. 503 00:38:23,300 --> 00:38:28,203 So morning cock crows, up comes Jefferson - 504 00:38:28,571 --> 00:38:30,630 and steps straight into his study. 505 00:38:31,007 --> 00:38:34,340 Practical chap, can get on with his scientific experiment, 506 00:38:34,511 --> 00:38:38,971 and all the time one sees emerging in this house this new nation, 507 00:38:39,149 --> 00:38:41,447 with all its power, with all its complexity, 508 00:38:41,618 --> 00:38:44,143 with all its contradictions of course. 509 00:38:48,825 --> 00:38:51,487 Monticello with its 5,000 acre estate 510 00:38:51,661 --> 00:38:54,255 offers an idyllic vision of the New World. 511 00:38:54,497 --> 00:38:57,125 A green and plentiful Arcadia. 512 00:38:58,468 --> 00:39:03,531 But it has dark secrets that lie at the heart of the Great American Dream. 513 00:39:06,176 --> 00:39:08,269 Despite his fine liberal pronouncements, 514 00:39:08,445 --> 00:39:12,939 Jefferson supported the forcible removal of native American tribes from their land, 515 00:39:13,116 --> 00:39:17,018 and exploited slave labour on his plantations at Monticello. 516 00:39:20,757 --> 00:39:22,588 When he died in 1809, 517 00:39:22,759 --> 00:39:27,389 Jefferson chose his beloved Monticello for his final resting place. 518 00:39:29,232 --> 00:39:32,497 The memorial bears testament to his proudest achievements, 519 00:39:32,669 --> 00:39:37,697 including the Declaration of Independence and the statue establishing religious freedom. 520 00:39:39,542 --> 00:39:42,534 So those are great things, admirable things. 521 00:39:42,712 --> 00:39:48,241 But of course there are other sides to the man. He was a paradox. 522 00:39:48,685 --> 00:39:52,883 Even after he'd written the words that all men are created equal, 523 00:39:53,056 --> 00:39:57,186 he kept slaves to serve his needs. 524 00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:02,491 And I suppose in a way, one can say he was a victim of the age, 525 00:40:02,665 --> 00:40:07,602 despite his vision he was very much a man of the late 18th century. 526 00:40:07,771 --> 00:40:10,433 He liked the common man, but at a distance. 527 00:40:10,607 --> 00:40:15,203 And in a way, the paradoxes, the flaws in his character, 528 00:40:15,378 --> 00:40:21,044 are the flaws and paradoxes in the very nation which was involved in creating - 529 00:40:21,217 --> 00:40:27,781 a nation dedicated to freedom, to vision, to the expression of individual rights. 530 00:40:34,130 --> 00:40:37,395 Jefferson is revered as a hero by many Americans, 531 00:40:37,567 --> 00:40:40,627 but not all, as I find out when I talk to Ben Thomas, 532 00:40:40,804 --> 00:40:44,501 who served as a marine corps sergeant in Vietnam. 533 00:40:46,309 --> 00:40:49,005 Well, I'll say, I'll say that he was a brilliant man. 534 00:40:49,179 --> 00:40:55,084 But I also said that he helped write the Declaration of Independence 535 00:40:55,251 --> 00:40:58,220 which said all men was created equal. 536 00:40:58,388 --> 00:41:02,415 He forgot the clause they should have had in there, 'except black'. 537 00:41:02,759 --> 00:41:07,662 Because at that time he owned five thousand slaves, when he wrote it. 538 00:41:09,265 --> 00:41:11,392 Jefferson is said to have fathered an illegitimate child 539 00:41:11,568 --> 00:41:14,298 with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings. 540 00:41:14,471 --> 00:41:16,735 I asked Ben what he thinks about that. 541 00:41:17,707 --> 00:41:20,267 There was an engineer out at the airport - 542 00:41:21,744 --> 00:41:27,011 and one day we was talking about Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson, 543 00:41:27,183 --> 00:41:31,051 and President Clinton and Lewinsky. 544 00:41:31,387 --> 00:41:35,721 So he said, 'oh, they're both the same, they're both the same.' 545 00:41:35,892 --> 00:41:38,224 So I said, 'I - I beg your pardon, my good man.' 546 00:41:38,394 --> 00:41:46,426 I said, 'the women that slept with Clinton did it because they wanted to, 547 00:41:46,603 --> 00:41:51,802 the women that slept with Thomas Jefferson had to because he owned them.' 548 00:41:51,975 --> 00:41:57,003 That gentleman never spoke to me from that day until this very day. 549 00:41:57,180 --> 00:41:59,375 He never spoke to me again. 550 00:42:01,851 --> 00:42:06,049 So it seems the contradictions and the broken promises of the American Dream 551 00:42:06,222 --> 00:42:09,020 can be traced right back to Jefferson. 552 00:42:10,326 --> 00:42:11,918 By the time I reached Washington station, 553 00:42:12,095 --> 00:42:16,532 I hadn't slept for nearly 40 hours and I'm weary beyond words. 554 00:42:17,767 --> 00:42:21,134 The constant travelling and long hours are catching up with me. 555 00:42:32,515 --> 00:42:37,214 But if there's one place which can reinvigorate me, it's my next port of call. 556 00:42:43,493 --> 00:42:47,156 New York is one of the world's greatest and most vibrant cities. 557 00:42:47,363 --> 00:42:49,331 I arrive at my hotel after midnight. 558 00:42:49,499 --> 00:42:53,492 My spirits perk up as I look out over the Queensborough bridge. 559 00:42:53,670 --> 00:42:57,333 I love this city. It feeds the body and the soul. 560 00:43:19,929 --> 00:43:21,396 I'm off to see a treasure 561 00:43:21,564 --> 00:43:27,332 that represents the aspirations, the pride, the claims, the hopes of a nation, 562 00:43:27,503 --> 00:43:30,370 a symbol recognised around the world. 563 00:43:30,540 --> 00:43:33,373 I want to see if it lives up to its reputation. 564 00:44:00,403 --> 00:44:04,305 The Statue of Liberty is one of the world's most famous icons. 565 00:44:04,641 --> 00:44:08,600 Behind its kitsch image lie powerful truths. 566 00:44:09,646 --> 00:44:10,977 Like Jefferson's Monticello, 567 00:44:11,147 --> 00:44:17,052 it embodies so much of what is admirable and what is troubling about the United States. 568 00:44:21,457 --> 00:44:24,824 She stands 47 metres high, hollow 569 00:44:24,994 --> 00:44:27,485 and inside is a spiral staircase, 570 00:44:27,664 --> 00:44:30,758 and the idea was from the start that people would go up the staircase 571 00:44:30,933 --> 00:44:36,098 and go into a viewing platform, just within - within her crown. Terrific. 572 00:44:36,272 --> 00:44:39,400 - And this in front of me is the door, 573 00:44:39,575 --> 00:44:43,011 the public door leading to the viewing platform. 574 00:44:43,613 --> 00:44:46,707 But as you can see, it's closed. 575 00:44:47,183 --> 00:44:49,413 And there are crowds of people here all wanting to get up. 576 00:44:49,585 --> 00:44:54,750 It's been closed since the attack of 9/11 on the World Trade Centre Tower, 577 00:44:54,924 --> 00:44:56,824 the twin towers just over there. 578 00:44:57,493 --> 00:45:04,729 Sadly, there are no plans to reopen the spectacular staircase offering this terrific 579 00:45:04,901 --> 00:45:10,840 and tremendous view from the image of liberty over the great city of New York. 580 00:45:12,275 --> 00:45:16,336 If this is to be a symbol of freedom and liberty, then it has to be just that. 581 00:45:16,512 --> 00:45:22,041 The power to say, 'we are a free country - 582 00:45:22,585 --> 00:45:27,682 and we will operate as we intend this symbol to represent.' 583 00:45:28,024 --> 00:45:30,754 But no, alas, it's closed down. 584 00:45:30,927 --> 00:45:31,859 Terror has won 585 00:45:32,028 --> 00:45:36,988 and the internal world of the statue is denied me and everybody else. 586 00:45:37,567 --> 00:45:38,659 Bad. 587 00:45:41,170 --> 00:45:46,107 It's a far cry from the spirit in which it was conceived in 1865. 588 00:45:46,375 --> 00:45:48,070 A gift from France to the United States, 589 00:45:48,244 --> 00:45:54,410 the statue was to celebrate the final abolition of slavery and the centenary of independence. 590 00:45:55,284 --> 00:45:58,776 The statue was designed by the sculptor, August Bartholdi 591 00:45:58,955 --> 00:46:01,822 and the engineer Gustave Eiffel. 592 00:46:02,725 --> 00:46:05,626 They built the colossus out of sheet copper beaten 593 00:46:05,795 --> 00:46:09,162 and moulded over a steel and iron skeleton. 594 00:46:09,799 --> 00:46:12,290 It was prefabricated in France in sections 595 00:46:12,468 --> 00:46:15,403 before being shipped to New York for assembly. 596 00:46:16,072 --> 00:46:18,905 It was supposed to be the great symbol of freedom, 597 00:46:19,075 --> 00:46:22,203 but from day one was dogged by controversy. 598 00:46:22,512 --> 00:46:25,208 Suffragettes protested that if Liberty were a woman, 599 00:46:25,381 --> 00:46:28,578 why do women have so few rights in America? 600 00:46:29,852 --> 00:46:31,615 I suppose most troubling of all 601 00:46:31,788 --> 00:46:36,782 is the fact that when the statue was unveiled eventually in October 1886, 602 00:46:36,959 --> 00:46:40,861 things had changed very radically for the worst in America. 603 00:46:42,431 --> 00:46:44,899 Draconian new immigration laws were brought in, 604 00:46:45,067 --> 00:46:46,432 keeping out the sick and the poor, 605 00:46:46,602 --> 00:46:49,799 criminals, dissidents and Chinese labourers. 606 00:46:56,846 --> 00:47:00,680 People fleeing oppression and poverty were given the briefest glimpse of liberty 607 00:47:00,850 --> 00:47:04,342 as they arrived at Ellis Island in the shadow of the statue. 608 00:47:08,090 --> 00:47:11,457 Their dreams were cruelly crushed as they were turned away, 609 00:47:11,627 --> 00:47:14,061 often with families torn apart. 610 00:47:14,597 --> 00:47:17,760 Many did not make it back to their homelands alive. 611 00:47:21,704 --> 00:47:27,006 I find the statue so enthralling because it embodies the paradox of America. 612 00:47:28,044 --> 00:47:33,744 She's certainly a very ingenious construction. Very elegant actually. 613 00:47:34,250 --> 00:47:38,744 And of course she's one of this big family of colossal figures dating back to antiquity: 614 00:47:38,921 --> 00:47:42,516 the Colossus of Rhodes or many of those great images around the world. 615 00:47:42,692 --> 00:47:45,320 I've seen one already in Rio, Christ the Redeemer. 616 00:47:45,494 --> 00:47:48,395 And she's certainly more handsome. 617 00:47:53,436 --> 00:47:55,700 I'm seeing her for what she is. 618 00:47:55,938 --> 00:47:59,965 And she is a thing of beauty, if flawed, if there are many contradictions, 619 00:48:00,576 --> 00:48:01,941 which there are. 620 00:48:02,678 --> 00:48:05,203 What liberty? What liberty now? 621 00:48:06,082 --> 00:48:10,951 But nevertheless, as an ideal, as an aspiration 622 00:48:11,988 --> 00:48:13,478 she is sublime. 623 00:48:21,430 --> 00:48:26,094 In 1886 the Statue of Liberty must have seemed like a giant. 624 00:48:26,335 --> 00:48:28,098 All that was soon to change. 625 00:48:28,571 --> 00:48:31,870 The 20th century heralded an ambitious new age for America, 626 00:48:32,041 --> 00:48:35,568 one which is encapsulated by my next treasure. 627 00:48:37,346 --> 00:48:41,715 When you think of the great modern cities, you picture a towering skyline. 628 00:48:42,051 --> 00:48:44,815 This brave new world started in New York and Chicago 629 00:48:44,987 --> 00:48:46,887 more than a century ago. 630 00:48:48,491 --> 00:48:51,585 Manhattan was to become the world's first vertical metropolis, 631 00:48:51,761 --> 00:48:56,391 a showcase for the engineering miracle called the skyscraper. 632 00:48:57,733 --> 00:49:00,224 The Statue of Liberty aspired to the American Dream, 633 00:49:00,403 --> 00:49:03,031 but the skyscraper delivered it. 634 00:49:03,906 --> 00:49:07,672 It has become the great symbol of commerce and Capitalism. 635 00:49:13,983 --> 00:49:15,951 My next treasure is a skyscraper. 636 00:49:16,118 --> 00:49:20,646 My challenge is choosing one. There are so many contenders. 637 00:49:29,899 --> 00:49:34,268 The Flatiron Building is the best of New York's early skyscrapers. 638 00:49:34,437 --> 00:49:38,168 Completed in 1902 to designs of D. H. Burnham, 639 00:49:38,341 --> 00:49:41,037 it has a pioneering steel frame construction, 640 00:49:41,210 --> 00:49:48,446 but outside it's clad in stone and made to look rather like an extruded Italianate palazzo. 641 00:49:48,784 --> 00:49:50,809 Rather charming, also rather odd. 642 00:49:50,987 --> 00:49:52,852 But it's not my treasure. 643 00:50:02,465 --> 00:50:03,989 For many, the Chrysler building 644 00:50:04,166 --> 00:50:06,634 embodies the golden age of the skyscraper, 645 00:50:06,802 --> 00:50:12,604 when art deco was the style of choice for the image-conscious magnates of Manhattan. 646 00:50:19,648 --> 00:50:22,640 The Empire State building and the Chrysler building, 647 00:50:22,818 --> 00:50:24,911 both completed in the late 1920s, 648 00:50:25,087 --> 00:50:27,988 are icons of skyscraper design. 649 00:50:28,157 --> 00:50:32,560 They are technically superb, both with massive steel frames, 650 00:50:32,728 --> 00:50:34,855 constructed very, very quickly indeed, 651 00:50:35,031 --> 00:50:39,900 yet over this modern steel frame there is still a veneer of history. 652 00:50:40,069 --> 00:50:42,629 They still pay homage to the past. 653 00:50:42,838 --> 00:50:45,898 The Chrysler even with gargoyles. 654 00:50:48,144 --> 00:50:52,103 They are superb but they're not my treasures. 655 00:51:00,122 --> 00:51:02,022 In fact, this is my treasure. 656 00:51:02,191 --> 00:51:05,251 It's not the tallest at only 39 stories high, 657 00:51:05,428 --> 00:51:08,989 nor is it the oldest. It dates from the unfashionable '50s. 658 00:51:09,165 --> 00:51:12,066 Yet I adore the Seagram building. 659 00:51:16,672 --> 00:51:19,607 Now many people will be surprised, even shocked that 660 00:51:19,775 --> 00:51:24,109 I've chosen this rather than the Flatiron building, the Chrysler building - 661 00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:25,804 or the Empire State building. 662 00:51:25,981 --> 00:51:29,417 But for me, this is where those buildings were leading. 663 00:51:29,585 --> 00:51:35,353 This is a quintessence of skyscraper commercial design. 664 00:51:35,524 --> 00:51:37,788 An amazing object. 665 00:51:38,494 --> 00:51:41,588 It's an honest, ruthless, elegant expression - 666 00:51:41,764 --> 00:51:46,224 - of its means of construction, materials of construction, and of its use. 667 00:51:47,770 --> 00:51:49,101 The Seagram building was designed by 668 00:51:49,271 --> 00:51:52,104 the German architect Ludovic Mies van der Rohe, 669 00:51:52,274 --> 00:51:55,801 who emigrated to the United States in 1937. 670 00:51:57,446 --> 00:52:02,110 Mies preached simplicity and clarity, but he did not stint on costs. 671 00:52:02,284 --> 00:52:05,685 His masterpiece has specially-tinted glass to reduce glare 672 00:52:05,855 --> 00:52:09,723 and its steel frame was clad on the outside with bronze. 673 00:52:10,259 --> 00:52:16,289 This made the Seagram, per square metre, the most expensive skyscraper of its time. 674 00:52:18,300 --> 00:52:20,700 The building is set in its own small square, 675 00:52:20,870 --> 00:52:23,805 to give it maximum light and unlimited views. 676 00:52:23,973 --> 00:52:28,239 Unlike traditional New York skyscrapers, which rose up from the pavement's edge 677 00:52:28,410 --> 00:52:31,379 to form dark, canyon-like streets. 678 00:52:37,486 --> 00:52:39,078 Although the building doesn't have any obvious 679 00:52:39,255 --> 00:52:43,316 or superficial references to past historical styles of architecture, 680 00:52:43,492 --> 00:52:47,121 Mies was deeply influenced by architectural history, 681 00:52:47,296 --> 00:52:52,563 particularly by the rational constructional systems of Greece and Rome. 682 00:52:52,735 --> 00:52:57,468 He loved columns supporting entablatures, vertical and horizontal. 683 00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:01,906 And you get that here, on the entrance. His columns, this great horizontal element above. 684 00:53:02,077 --> 00:53:09,245 And the curtain walling, which is this glass skin over the steel frames inside. 685 00:53:09,418 --> 00:53:10,510 Very rational. 686 00:53:10,719 --> 00:53:14,917 Simply curtain wall is like a curtain wrapped round the structural frame - 687 00:53:15,090 --> 00:53:17,388 not structural itself, simply hung there. 688 00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:18,652 Incredible detailing. 689 00:53:18,827 --> 00:53:24,265 I love these little steel I-section columns that brace up the whole curtain wall there. 690 00:53:24,433 --> 00:53:25,923 Now inside. 691 00:53:42,851 --> 00:53:47,379 The entrance hall. Absolutely fascinating. Very revealing. 692 00:53:47,556 --> 00:53:51,151 This is bold simplicity, very vocal simplicity. 693 00:53:51,327 --> 00:53:55,354 Mies said, 'less is more.' And this is it. 694 00:53:55,598 --> 00:53:59,932 Just beauty coming from the simplest of forms. 695 00:54:00,102 --> 00:54:04,732 He got to the essence of things, stripped back, inspired by history, 696 00:54:04,907 --> 00:54:08,741 but he wanted to get to the central qualities of history. 697 00:54:08,911 --> 00:54:11,846 He loved classical proportions, golden section, 698 00:54:12,014 --> 00:54:13,777 root two, two to one proportion. 699 00:54:13,949 --> 00:54:19,182 Those things he believed would give power and memory to the most simple of spaces. 700 00:54:19,355 --> 00:54:21,186 And here we see it in his entrance hall. 701 00:54:21,357 --> 00:54:24,690 A powerful space achieved simply by proportion. 702 00:54:24,860 --> 00:54:29,229 No obvious overlay of grandeur or history. I love it. 703 00:54:29,498 --> 00:54:33,264 One, two, three, four simple lift doors, punched in the wall, 704 00:54:33,435 --> 00:54:37,394 but of a beautiful proportion with incredibly simple detailing. 705 00:54:37,573 --> 00:54:42,169 That's what it's about. Power through simplicity. Less is more. 706 00:54:42,344 --> 00:54:43,902 God in the detail. 707 00:55:01,163 --> 00:55:02,221 38. 708 00:55:02,665 --> 00:55:04,530 38th floor. Astonishing lift. 709 00:55:04,700 --> 00:55:09,467 This dates apparently from 1958, when the building was complete. Incredible. 710 00:55:09,638 --> 00:55:11,230 Oh my goodness, extraordinary dazzle pattern, 711 00:55:11,407 --> 00:55:14,376 but here we see Mies' sort of high tech. 712 00:55:14,710 --> 00:55:18,441 This is almost 50 years old, this interior, 713 00:55:18,614 --> 00:55:21,447 and it's so modern, pioneering, cutting edge, still. 714 00:55:21,617 --> 00:55:24,609 That's the thing, when you get to the essence of things it's timeless isn't it? 715 00:55:24,787 --> 00:55:31,124 Beautiful detail here. Everything's thought out and reduced to the functional essence. 716 00:55:31,293 --> 00:55:35,252 I love this, it's all steel and copper. Dramatic. 717 00:55:36,765 --> 00:55:38,824 Peep into each floor. So here we go. 718 00:55:39,234 --> 00:55:42,169 Level 38, the top of the building more or less. 719 00:55:44,606 --> 00:55:46,198 The floor is currently unoccupied 720 00:55:46,375 --> 00:55:49,776 and it shows off the benefits of this type of building. 721 00:55:55,984 --> 00:55:59,943 Now, this is the great thing about metal framed buildings, they're very flexible. 722 00:56:00,122 --> 00:56:04,957 All the loads are carried on columns and one can have partitions like this put in and moved around. 723 00:56:05,127 --> 00:56:06,526 They're not structural. 724 00:56:06,695 --> 00:56:08,754 This one has a great, as I say, open plan. 725 00:56:08,931 --> 00:56:14,267 Very good sort of thing for all sorts of different uses. 726 00:56:14,436 --> 00:56:22,571 And ah, vindicated really. Light flooding in and terrific views out. 727 00:56:22,745 --> 00:56:24,542 The whole point, as I said before, 728 00:56:24,713 --> 00:56:29,844 of this sort of architecture with the curtain walling being entirely glazed, 729 00:56:30,018 --> 00:56:34,614 one has glass from floor to ceiling and no wall, 730 00:56:34,790 --> 00:56:39,227 because the - the structure is being carried on the columns back there, 731 00:56:39,395 --> 00:56:41,761 or the occasional columns, there's one over there. 732 00:56:41,930 --> 00:56:46,162 So I say - here we go, the whole point of a building like this, 733 00:56:46,335 --> 00:56:50,738 light flooding in, terrific views out. 734 00:56:59,715 --> 00:57:02,240 The skyscraper reached its apogee in Manhattan. 735 00:57:02,418 --> 00:57:07,253 But somewhere along the line the bold and ethical vision of building cities in the skies 736 00:57:07,423 --> 00:57:09,948 has been lost and confused. 737 00:57:20,636 --> 00:57:24,128 Skyscrapers are part of a - an urban ideal, 738 00:57:24,306 --> 00:57:28,834 part of a vision of a futuristic city of towers. 739 00:57:29,044 --> 00:57:32,878 They were meant to harness technology to help man, 740 00:57:33,048 --> 00:57:39,783 they were to realise high rise housing giving working people light, 741 00:57:39,955 --> 00:57:43,220 healthy area homes with a great prospect, 742 00:57:43,392 --> 00:57:49,695 or they're meant to provide commercial space in tight city centres. 743 00:57:49,865 --> 00:57:53,665 But the vision was betrayed. 744 00:57:54,369 --> 00:57:59,136 The high rise housing became housing hells, terrible ghettos. 745 00:57:59,908 --> 00:58:04,038 And office blocks really became images of commercial greed. 746 00:58:04,213 --> 00:58:10,618 So towers have become symbols of all that's wrong with modern urban living. 747 00:58:14,089 --> 00:58:19,117 Most of my treasures in North America were born from worthy principles and high ideals 748 00:58:19,294 --> 00:58:21,990 and ended up being compromised. 749 00:58:23,198 --> 00:58:27,294 And today this nation, conceived in the battle for liberty and democracy, 750 00:58:27,469 --> 00:58:30,165 offers a divided world a stark choice: 751 00:58:30,339 --> 00:58:35,038 accept the American way or face the consequences.