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