0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:09 > 0:00:14'I'm on a journey to explore the architecture of death.'
0:00:16 > 0:00:21'The Bohemian chapel where human bones are made into works of art.'
0:00:25 > 0:00:30'An Italian cemetery where death is a sensual experience.'
0:00:33 > 0:00:36'An Indian city where you come to die.'
0:00:43 > 0:00:48'An Egyptian temple to immortalise the soul of a pharaoh.'
0:00:55 > 0:00:59'And Mayan pyramids for human sacrifice.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:48'The sacred River Nile in Egypt.'
0:02:03 > 0:02:08I'm crossing the River Nile at Luxor, moving from the land of the living on the east bank,
0:02:08 > 0:02:12where life is proclaimed each morning with the rising sun,
0:02:12 > 0:02:17to the land of the dead on the west bank where the sun sets
0:02:17 > 0:02:24and where the dead were commemorated, were sustained by awe-inspiring architecture,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27architecture intended to last for eternity.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53I've come here to see a woman who's always intrigued me.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56A woman who died nearly three-and-a-half thousand years ago.
0:02:56 > 0:03:04Her name is Hatshepsut and for nearly 20 years she ruled Egypt as a man, as a pharaoh.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24'This is Hatshepsut's tomb -
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'a strangely neglected and crumbling place,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30'never open to the public.'
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Golly, this is a challenge!
0:03:36 > 0:03:40The shaft stinks of ammonia, bats I suppose,
0:03:42 > 0:03:48and I mustn't touch the sides in case I bring the whole thing down.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50This flaking limestone...
0:03:53 > 0:03:59This shaft's been descending rather steeply for over 200 metres
0:03:59 > 0:04:02and now I have to get on my hands and knees
0:04:02 > 0:04:07to get below the lintel here, all cut from the limestone.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11I've never been in a tomb like this in Egypt before.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13It's rough, it's treacherous.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20Ah, at last!
0:04:20 > 0:04:22What I've been looking for.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24The burial chamber!
0:04:27 > 0:04:29It's very rough.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34No sign of plaster or paintings.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40There's no body of Hatshepsut down here.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46But, never mind, I'll look for her somewhere else.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58This is Hatshepsut's magnificent mortuary temple.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Not a tomb, but a palace to house her spirit and soul.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08'Mortuary temples were a means of obtaining immortality,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11'where the living made offerings to the dead
0:05:11 > 0:05:13'to sustain them in the underworld.'
0:05:15 > 0:05:19Temples were called the Houses of the Millions of Years.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24This temple is architecturally stunning.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28It seems, in its symmetry and its powerful simplicity,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32to represent Maat, that is the Egyptian idea of truth and order.
0:05:32 > 0:05:39Maat prevailing over chaos, represented by the rough, rude cliff face behind.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42An incredible piece of work.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45And imagine in the past all you could see, approaching from afar,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50these rows of statues of Osiris, the god of the underworld.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04The images on these walls proclaim that Hatshepsut
0:06:04 > 0:06:08not only had a pharaoh as a father and as a husband
0:06:08 > 0:06:12but that she was the child of a god, Amun-Ra.
0:06:12 > 0:06:19The story is that Amun-Ra crept into the bed-chamber of Hatshepsut's mother, Ahmose.
0:06:19 > 0:06:26The mother woke up and smelt incense, the sign of the presence of a god, and laughed in pleasure.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31And here it says that the god did with her as he liked,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34and here you see the mother pregnant, a lovely image -
0:06:34 > 0:06:37a little tummy - and gave birth to Hatshepsut.
0:06:37 > 0:06:44So, Hatshepsut had a divine origin and that gave her the right to rule as a pharaoh of Egypt.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02These walls record what Hatshepsut regarded as her greatest worldly achievement -
0:07:02 > 0:07:05a trade mission to the exotic land of Punt.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07No-one quite knows where Punt was.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Probably in modern Somalia or Ethiopia.
0:07:10 > 0:07:17But certainly it was strange enough for the Egyptians to record Punt's everyday architecture.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Here we see it, a little huts on sticks approached with ladders,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23palm trees everywhere.
0:07:23 > 0:07:29But what she really wanted was incense, incense to nourish the gods, the food of the gods,
0:07:29 > 0:07:34and here we see Egyptians carrying incense trees, myrrh trees,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37whole trees in baskets
0:07:37 > 0:07:42with the roots being carried onto ships to be brought back here.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48What she wanted was to plant these trees at this temple
0:07:48 > 0:07:51to please her divine father, Amun-Ra.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58'The building was once rich in images of Hatshepsut.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01'She would've been a strinking presence.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04'The queen was always depicted as a man, with a ceremonial beard.'
0:08:07 > 0:08:13'But most of these images were aggressively erased by her rival for power, Thutmosis III.'
0:08:20 > 0:08:24'The temple is made up of lower and upper terraces
0:08:24 > 0:08:26'connected by giant ramps,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30'each level becoming more sacred as you ascend.'
0:08:55 > 0:08:59This is Hatshepsut's chapel within her mortuary temple.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04Here priests would have come to make offerings to sustain her soul in the underworld
0:09:04 > 0:09:08and here you see ranks and ranks of priests making offerings,
0:09:08 > 0:09:12marching forward carrying fowls and fruits, I think, and liquids,
0:09:12 > 0:09:17all going, I suppose, towards where her image would have been.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21Now gone. What does survive is this wonderful thing,
0:09:21 > 0:09:27this false door that allowed her spirit and soul to travel between this world and the next,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30to enter her temple and leave it for the underworld.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35What is striking though is that all the images of Hatshepsut
0:09:35 > 0:09:41and her cartouche, her name, they've been removed, brutally cut away.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44That is a frightful fate.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48She has been, I suppose, consigned to oblivion,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51her name removed from memory.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55The intention is that that would give her a second, permanent death.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07'The route through the building ends by taking me into the mountain itself.'
0:10:08 > 0:10:12This is the sacred epicentre of the temple.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Only the highest in the land could enter here.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18It's the sanctuary of Amun-Ra,
0:10:18 > 0:10:24who was Hatshepsut's divine father, the great god of Thebes.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27The sanctuary is cut into the mountainside
0:10:27 > 0:10:30of the mountain that defines the Valley of the Kings.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34The tombs lie just over there.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Now, I'm going into the inner parts of the sanctuary.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43It gets smaller, darker, more intimate, more holy.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47Only the high priests and the Pharaoh, I guess, could penetrate this far.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50And here is something I've dreamed of finding.
0:10:50 > 0:10:51It's incredible.
0:10:51 > 0:10:57Here is an image of Hatshepsut not destroyed by Thutmosis.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Hatshepsut, of course, in the image of a powerful man.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04I know it's her because her cartouche, her name, survives.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Here it is.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10It doesn't say Hatshepsut, but it's her birth name...
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Maat Ka Ra.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16There it is.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Her fantastic image.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27Hatshepsut wanted to obtain immortality through architecture,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30through art, and despite all the attacks upon her,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34her temple and this image of her, her name here, survives!
0:11:34 > 0:11:39So she's not consigned to memory, obliterated. She lives!
0:11:39 > 0:11:42I can utter her name. Hatshepsut.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44Wonderful to see her.
0:11:44 > 0:11:50And if her soul is still alive, then it must need nourishment, offerings.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53After all these centuries, she must be starving!
0:11:53 > 0:11:58So, I want to give her what she gave her divine father, Amun-Ra -
0:11:58 > 0:12:02magical myrrh from the land of Punt.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Here it is.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Incense that feeds the soul.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13That purifies.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17And I hope this reaches her in the other world.
0:13:04 > 0:13:10'Kutna Hora, one of the richest cities of old Bohemia.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12'Now in the Czech Republic.'
0:13:20 > 0:13:26'From the Middle Ages onwards, the city poured money into fantastic religious architecture,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31'celebrating in stone the triumph of resurrection over death.'
0:13:34 > 0:13:36'But on the outskirts of Kutna Hora
0:13:36 > 0:13:39'is a chapel where actual human remains
0:13:39 > 0:13:42'have been transformed into art and architecture.'
0:13:48 > 0:13:52In the heart of Bohemia is an astonishing and architecturally evocative shrine
0:13:52 > 0:13:58that reveals much about Western, Christian attitudes to death and burial.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07'Just three miles from the centre of Kutna Hora is the town of Sedlec,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11'where the human body has been elevated into an altarpiece.'
0:14:18 > 0:14:24Christians, of course, believe that we humans are made in the image of God.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30The body is sacred, it's a temple, and must be treated with great respect after death.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33Also, of course, Christians believe in resurrection.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Where Christ rose after three days,
0:14:36 > 0:14:41we, on the day of judgement, will rise to be judged.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42And I'm going to a place now
0:14:42 > 0:14:46where the Christian preservation of the body
0:14:46 > 0:14:49has reached bizarre extremes.
0:15:00 > 0:15:06'In the Middle Ages, Sedlec possessed one of central Europe's most popular burial grounds.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12'It contained soil brought from Jerusalem, making this holy land.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16'Graves would be cleared and the remains housed in this ossuary -
0:15:16 > 0:15:19'a chapel for bones.'
0:15:55 > 0:15:57This is the realm of death.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Here, the earthly remains of the dead were gathered together
0:16:01 > 0:16:05to await the last judgement, to await resurrection.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07This is the underworld.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16'This grisly spectacle reminded the living of their inevitable death,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20'when they would be judged for their actions in life.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24'In the 18th century these bell shapes were created,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28'symbolising the bells that would toll on the day of judgement.'
0:16:35 > 0:16:39These are the bones of people who died between 500 and 600 years ago.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44I can't resist picking up this skull.
0:16:44 > 0:16:51Golly! I wonder who this person was, how they died, when exactly.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55It's incredible! One feels so strangely intimate with these people
0:16:55 > 0:16:59when one handles their earthly remains.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05'But it was in the late 19th century
0:17:05 > 0:17:08'that the Christian fascination with the dead body
0:17:08 > 0:17:10'found its ultimate expression.'
0:17:22 > 0:17:27'The chapel had been acquired by a rich family, the Schwarzenbergs.'
0:17:30 > 0:17:35'They employed a woodcarver to clean up the ossuary,
0:17:35 > 0:17:37'and the results are extraordinary.'
0:17:46 > 0:17:48And here's the Schwarzenberg coat of arms,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52varied heraldic devices made from different bones.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Here is a bird pecking out the eye of a Muslim Turk,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03his hair represented by rib bones.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05All very macabre.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18'The display in this ossuary might seem grotesque,'
0:18:20 > 0:18:23'but these bones, fashioned into ornaments,
0:18:23 > 0:18:29'occupy sacred ground and celebrate the wonder of God's creation.'
0:18:42 > 0:18:47In the centre of the ossuary hangs this rather monstrous chandelier.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51A specimen of every bone in the human body is used in its construction. Incredible.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54I can spot vertebrae there,
0:18:54 > 0:18:55base of spine,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59and up there, jawbones.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04All this hangs from a festoon of skull and crossbones.
0:19:17 > 0:19:23'But with any delicate decoration, there's always the problem of keeping it clean.'
0:19:26 > 0:19:29VACUUM CLEANER STARTS
0:19:39 > 0:19:45'It's been estimated that there are around 40,000 skeletons in the ossuary.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49'One man has been tending these bones for 15 years.'
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Does it feel like living with the dead,
0:19:56 > 0:20:01working day after day with the mortal remains of thousands of human beings?
0:20:03 > 0:20:06HE SPEAKS CZECH
0:20:06 > 0:20:09TRANSLATION:
0:20:36 > 0:20:40'This uncanny place is a reminder of a time in the Christian West
0:20:40 > 0:20:46'when death was part of life and the living learned from the dead.'
0:21:22 > 0:21:25'This is Guatemala.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29'Once a land of the Maya, an ancient civilisation
0:21:29 > 0:21:32'whose influence can still be felt in this land.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40'I'm arriving on a day when the souls of the dead
0:21:40 > 0:21:44'are said to return to earth to commune with the living.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47'The Day of the Dead.'
0:21:47 > 0:21:50VILLAGERS SING
0:21:56 > 0:22:02'Once a year, the tiny village of San Jose gathers in its church
0:22:02 > 0:22:05'to venerate three skulls.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08'Some say they belonged to Catholic missionaries,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12'others that they're the remains of Mayan chiefs or holy men.'
0:22:13 > 0:22:17'The festival is a strange marriage of Catholicism,
0:22:17 > 0:22:23'imposed by the Spanish conquistadors, and indigenous Mayan beliefs.'
0:22:23 > 0:22:26BELL RINGS
0:22:26 > 0:22:31The Catholic Church doesn't recognise the festival of the Day of the Dead,
0:22:31 > 0:22:36at least officially, so this is a most intriguing church service.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38It's held on All Saints Day,
0:22:38 > 0:22:43so I suppose one can say it's celebrating that, but I'm not sure.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47The skull itself is a very powerful Mayan symbol.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Mayans would keep the skulls of their ancestors
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and once a year present them, venerate them, really,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58and paint between the eyes. Where the cross is painted on these skulls,
0:22:58 > 0:23:03they'd paint the name of the dead person, and they'd collect the skulls of vanquished enemies.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08The skull's a very ancient and important relic image in this part of the world.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10BELL RINGS
0:23:16 > 0:23:18After the service, there's a procession
0:23:18 > 0:23:22in which one of the skulls is taken from house to house.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42CHANTING
0:23:46 > 0:23:49WOMAN PRAYS
0:23:56 > 0:23:58All of it? Oh! Gracias.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04This is extremely interesting.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Over there is the offering altar,
0:24:07 > 0:24:12but around the skull are bowls of food and even a bottle of beer.
0:24:12 > 0:24:19They're there to attract the souls of the dead ancestors, to nourish them.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23So, on that offering table, we have Christian ritual,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26and ritual objects of the Day of the Dead, combined.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38BELL RINGS
0:24:39 > 0:24:43'Throughout the village, people are waiting for their ancestors to return.'
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Oh. Hola.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50'Old friends, living and dead, are meeting again this night.'
0:24:50 > 0:24:54MAN SPEAKS SPANISH
0:24:55 > 0:24:58TRANSLATION:
0:25:05 > 0:25:09In most societies death is feared, but here, it seems death is not so alarming
0:25:09 > 0:25:13because you continue to have a relationship with the dead, the dead with the living.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53'The atmosphere surrounding the procession is not morbid but joyful,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58'because here the spirit of the Maya is very much alive.
0:25:58 > 0:26:04'But tomorrow, I'm going to explore the darker side of the Mayan cult of death.'
0:26:11 > 0:26:18'Deep in the rainforest lie the remains of the great lost Maya city of Yaxha,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21'discovered by the explorer Teobert Maler.'
0:26:25 > 0:26:31He was a headstrong, cantankerous fellow, but with a love of the Maya.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35He described arriving here in 1904.
0:26:35 > 0:26:41He'd been travelling for some time, and his men were rather restless,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45and he was also clearly a bit fed up because he said
0:26:45 > 0:26:49that they didn't want to work and could only think of guzzling.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02'But what Maler found silenced their grumbling.'
0:27:10 > 0:27:13'Yaxha was constructed about 1,200 years ago
0:27:13 > 0:27:17'and the temples are very precisely built,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21'even though the Maya didn't have metal tools or the wheel.'
0:27:31 > 0:27:35'These step pyramids served as platforms for temples.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38'Staircases to the gods.'
0:27:44 > 0:27:47This was a vast city,
0:27:47 > 0:27:52but now only the elite buildings survive above ground level -
0:27:52 > 0:27:54the palaces, the temples.
0:27:54 > 0:28:01The more humble buildings, well, they're lost, buried in the rainforest.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05The Maya was a very sophisticated civilisation.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08There was a written language, there was mathematics.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13They were great astronomers, they charted the movements of the planets and stars
0:28:13 > 0:28:17to create a very accurate calendar, and all of this civilisation,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20all of these ideas lie here, locked in the buildings.
0:28:27 > 0:28:34'The ancient Maya saw the worlds of the living and of the dead as one and the same.'
0:28:43 > 0:28:48'Everywhere there are monuments to communicate between this life and the next.'
0:28:49 > 0:28:53In front of me are the fragmentary remains of an altar,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57and around altars such as this a ritual took place
0:28:57 > 0:29:01that we would find absolutely extraordinary.
0:29:01 > 0:29:07Here, the King and Queen came to spill their own blood.
0:29:07 > 0:29:13The Queen would take a bit of cord with thorns and run it through her tongue,
0:29:13 > 0:29:20and the blood that would explode out she'd throw on the images of the gods standing on the altar here.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24The King would take his penis and run a spine through it
0:29:24 > 0:29:30and the blood from that, he'd throw on the images of the gods.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34For Mayans, blood was the most precious substance.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37It contained the sacred life essence they called Ku'ul,
0:29:37 > 0:29:42and only blood could nourish, could appease the gods.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54'But it wasn't just their own blood that was spilled.
0:29:54 > 0:30:01'On the top of pyramids like this, Yaxha's tallest, they performed human sacrifice.'
0:30:06 > 0:30:13The victim would have been brought up the staircase on the front of the pyramid,
0:30:13 > 0:30:18led to the altar. The altar would have had a convex top,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22so the victim would have been stretched over it on their back,
0:30:22 > 0:30:24with the chest sticking up.
0:30:24 > 0:30:29They'd have been held down by four men, and a fifth man with a great stone knife
0:30:29 > 0:30:33would have inserted the knife into the stomach just below the chest,
0:30:33 > 0:30:39ripped open the wound and thrust a hand into the chest cavity
0:30:39 > 0:30:42and pulled out the still-living heart,
0:30:42 > 0:30:48the heart pumping gushes of precious sacred blood.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52Then the corpse of the victim would have been held up,
0:30:52 > 0:30:56and it would have been painted blue, the colour of sacrifice,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00and this body would have been thrown down the stairs
0:31:00 > 0:31:03to the base of the pyramid,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07and there the victim would have been skinned,
0:31:07 > 0:31:09and the skin,
0:31:09 > 0:31:13this awful-looking garment
0:31:13 > 0:31:18would have been wrapped on and around the officiating priest,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21and he'd have danced in a solemn manner down there
0:31:21 > 0:31:25with the people who'd gathered to watch the sacrifice.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47The Maya are a problem, a paradox.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50They believed in utter desolation,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54yet they built to last for eternity.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58They were a very sophisticated civilisation,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01yet steeped in blood and murder.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03What is one to make of them?
0:32:03 > 0:32:07I suppose the obvious point is that, for them,
0:32:07 > 0:32:13life was not held cheap. It was the most precious of things,
0:32:13 > 0:32:18and blood had to be given to the gods to allow the gods to do their job,
0:32:18 > 0:32:23which was to ensure that creation would go on, that the sun would rise each day.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27So, really, out of love, the Maya killed,
0:32:27 > 0:32:31the Maya took life to ensure that life would continue.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18'I've come to Genoa, on the Italian Riviera.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20'The largest port in all Italy.'
0:33:23 > 0:33:30Genoa's an ancient trading city that, through the centuries, survived many tribulations.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35But in the early 19th century, it faced a potentially catastrophic threat.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39A threat that came not from the living, but from the dead!
0:33:54 > 0:33:59'This is Staglieno cemetery, a vast city of the dead
0:33:59 > 0:34:05'with monuments, chapels, streets and a triumphal gateway.'
0:34:08 > 0:34:12'It saved the city from disaster.
0:34:12 > 0:34:13'Genoa was blighted by disease
0:34:14 > 0:34:20'caused by ill-buried rotting bodies crowded into church vaults and graveyards.'
0:34:26 > 0:34:30'So Staglieno was opened on January 1st, 1851
0:34:30 > 0:34:34'and this city of the dead, like cities of the living,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37'had its own social hierarchies.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40'Your status in life would determine your position in death.'
0:34:51 > 0:34:57The rotunda is the main chapel in the cemetery and it's a splendid piece of architecture.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02It's inspired by the ancient Pantheon in Rome, the Temple of all the Gods,
0:35:02 > 0:35:06and therefore it's rather appropriate
0:35:06 > 0:35:11that the great of Genoa are commemorated in this building.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16Wealth and fame secured you the best locations here.
0:35:16 > 0:35:21But the middle class of Genoa also loved this cemetery.
0:35:21 > 0:35:22They brought their dead here
0:35:22 > 0:35:26and they honoured them with spectacular monuments
0:35:26 > 0:35:29that were intended to grant immortality.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55'In these arcades, middle-class families
0:35:55 > 0:35:58'created elaborate shrines to honour their dead.'
0:36:01 > 0:36:03'And to make their memorials truly impressive,
0:36:03 > 0:36:07'the families commissioned the best artists in Italy.'
0:36:12 > 0:36:17Walking here, you feel that you're meeting these long-dead people,
0:36:17 > 0:36:23getting to meet them and their mourners, to share in the mourners' grief.
0:36:24 > 0:36:30This young lady is a widow, and she's leaving the tomb of her husband.
0:36:30 > 0:36:31A cross around her neck,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34bible in her hand,
0:36:34 > 0:36:38and an expression on her face of pure sorrow.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Most beautiful.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53'Over the decades Staglieno's collection of sculpture grew
0:36:53 > 0:36:56'to make it one of the most awe-inspiring
0:36:56 > 0:36:58'and imitated cemeteries in world.'
0:37:01 > 0:37:04'And one statue, more than any other,
0:37:04 > 0:37:08'came to define the values and aspirations of Staglieno.'
0:37:10 > 0:37:14This is one of the most famous monuments in the cemetery.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17It shows Caterina Campodonico.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22And she was a hawker at local fairs and feasts.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27And during her lifetime, she paid for this spectacular monument
0:37:27 > 0:37:34to be made using her savings, her meagre savings, for this spectacular object.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36It shows how she made her money.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40She sold nuts and bread at these fairs.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44These objects, these tools of her trade, are proudly shown -
0:37:44 > 0:37:48she's not ashamed of how she made her money.
0:37:48 > 0:37:49And I love the face.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53She's staring defiantly in the face of death.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58This statue gives her a foothold on eternity.
0:37:58 > 0:38:05And also shows that, in death, she at last gained some middle-class respectability.
0:38:22 > 0:38:29'Artists grew in ambition, introducing increasingly inventive ways of approaching death.'
0:38:30 > 0:38:35'The cemetery became more famous for the quality of its art than the people buried there.'
0:38:42 > 0:38:47Ah, here's a very charming, solid, middle-class couple.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Wealthy tradespeople, I should think.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52Very realistically rendered.
0:38:52 > 0:38:53Lovely.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58But above them, an extraordinary scene is being enacted.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Here is a skeleton, on its back.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04It's Death, the Grim Reaper.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06Here's his scythe.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09And flames are bursting through the rib cage here.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12He's being struck by a bolt of lightning.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16All of this is being orchestrated by this very charming angel.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21The personification of eternal life promised by Christ.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25So here we see the values of this couple.
0:39:25 > 0:39:31They achieve immortality through commissioning art and through their Christian belief.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34Death itself is being destroyed.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48'By the turn of the 19th century,
0:39:48 > 0:39:55'old Christian certainties about resurrection and the afterlife began to be questioned.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58'The symbolism became more outlandish.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02'Artists explored their darkest fantasies,
0:40:02 > 0:40:07'producing statues that were disturbing, sensuous, erotic.'
0:40:11 > 0:40:17This is one of the most strangely, darkly thrilling tombs in the entire cemetery.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19It was made for a local rich businessman,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23but most of the imagery here has very little to do with him in particular.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27It's more elemental, more primal.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30It's to do with the dance of death.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33And here you see the image above me.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Life is represented by this beautiful young woman,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39and she's writhing in the grip of death,
0:40:39 > 0:40:43his skeleton, his bony hand around her wrist.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47She's turning away, but she's tiring of the struggle.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51It's futile. Inevitable - death will come, death will claim her.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56In this tomb, there is no promise of eternal life.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Death is triumphant.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19'The less well-off also have their place in the cemetery.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23'All Genoese citizens have a right to be buried in Staglieno...'
0:41:24 > 0:41:27'..but if you can't afford an elaborate tomb,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30'then you can't expect to remain in the ground for too long.'
0:41:32 > 0:41:36'The people here are buried on a ten-year lease.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41'When the lease runs out, their bones will be removed from the ground,
0:41:41 > 0:41:44'and their tombstones destroyed!'
0:41:53 > 0:41:55Well, I see you're digging a grave,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58and I can see in the grave bits of coffin there.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02And here's a bit of a headstone, so someone's been buried here before.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05HE SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:42:05 > 0:42:09TRANSLATION:
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Will you be dug up after ten years?
0:42:20 > 0:42:23TRANSLATION:
0:42:32 > 0:42:35'In Staglieno, the mysteries of death remain.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38'But in these picturesque surroundings,
0:42:38 > 0:42:41'the beauty of the art makes death seem more noble,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44'more familiar.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47'An almost blissful experience.'
0:43:45 > 0:43:48This is the most sacred site in India -
0:43:48 > 0:43:51Varanasi on the river Ganges.
0:43:51 > 0:43:56Hindus believe that India is the spiritual centre,
0:43:56 > 0:43:58the navel of the world,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02and that Varanasi is the centre of the centre, the holy of holies.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04This is a very, very ancient city.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07They say it's where creation started
0:44:07 > 0:44:10and where the world and time will end.
0:44:18 > 0:44:25'More than a million pilgrims come to Varanasi every year to bathe at dawn and to pray.'
0:44:28 > 0:44:34They congregate on the ghats, the stone terraces that lead down to the sacred water,
0:44:34 > 0:44:39'and believe this ritual bathing will purify them and wash away their sins.'
0:44:47 > 0:44:51'Bodies of the dead are brought here for cremation,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54'for this is the city of the Hindu god Shiva,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56'known as the "Conqueror of Death". '
0:44:59 > 0:45:04'And the Ganges is the watery body of the great goddess Ganga,
0:45:04 > 0:45:07'the river of Heaven that carries souls to eternity.'
0:45:15 > 0:45:21'Varanasi has been a place of pilgrimage for thousands of years,
0:45:21 > 0:45:26'and the narrow alleyways are full of wonderful sights.'
0:45:28 > 0:45:30'A journey through this city
0:45:30 > 0:45:34'is a journey to the sacred heart of Hindu India.'
0:45:34 > 0:45:36DRUMMING AND CLANGING
0:45:41 > 0:45:43HOOTING
0:46:18 > 0:46:22All these people are progressing to and from the great Shiva Temple over there.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25One of the most important Shiva temples in India.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27This is a sacred terrain.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29Here's a sacred cow.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Get a blessing from her.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36And little temples each side, and more cows here.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41You really do get the sense this is a great holy city.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53Despite their pain and suffering,
0:46:53 > 0:46:56many very ill people make their way to Varanasi
0:46:56 > 0:46:58or are brought here by their families
0:46:58 > 0:47:02because Hindus believe if you die here,
0:47:02 > 0:47:06you are granted the great gift of Moksha by Shiva.
0:47:06 > 0:47:12Moksha is the release from eternal and often painful
0:47:12 > 0:47:16birth, death and rebirth on the earth.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19And while the families wait for the end,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22many of them stay in dying houses such as this one.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34'The Muktibhavan is one of the two major dying houses in Varanasi
0:47:34 > 0:47:38'that accommodate families while they await the death of a relative.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42'Thousands have come here to die.'
0:47:49 > 0:47:52'This is not a place for the sick.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57'It's only for families to bring relatives who are very close to death.'
0:48:03 > 0:48:07'As a non-family member, I'm incredibly privileged
0:48:07 > 0:48:10'to have been allowed inside this dying house.'
0:48:13 > 0:48:18I'm going to meet a gentlemen who very kindly has invited me to his mother's dying room.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Thank you.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34Thank you.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39- Hello.- Please.- Thank you. Thank you.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49Thank you very much for inviting me here on this...
0:48:49 > 0:48:54I suppose in the West one would say, on this sombre occasion,
0:48:54 > 0:48:56but maybe not the case.
0:48:56 > 0:49:02Can you tell me, how is your mother now, is she comfortable?
0:49:02 > 0:49:04TRANSLATION:
0:49:12 > 0:49:17Can you tell me why you have brought her to the dying house?
0:49:17 > 0:49:20What is the purpose of being here
0:49:20 > 0:49:23and what do you think... Well, what is going to happen?
0:50:02 > 0:50:06'During my visit the family conduct the most important ritual
0:50:06 > 0:50:08'to prepare for the death of their relative.'
0:50:11 > 0:50:14'This calf, sacred in India, has been brought in
0:50:14 > 0:50:18'to help the dying woman on her journey to Heaven.'
0:50:18 > 0:50:20THEY CONVERSE
0:50:34 > 0:50:37'The calf and the woman are anointed,
0:50:37 > 0:50:39'and this ritual is to ensure
0:50:39 > 0:50:43'that the calf will guide and safeguard her soul on its way to God.'
0:50:45 > 0:50:48THEY CHANT
0:50:52 > 0:50:54'The mood is relaxed.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56'People are even laughing,
0:50:56 > 0:50:58'because the family believe that at this moment,
0:50:58 > 0:51:04'the god Shiva has entered the room to promise Moksha to the woman,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07'that her soul will be released after she dies.'
0:51:10 > 0:51:12Thank you.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19Thank you. Thank you.
0:51:19 > 0:51:23The family have just given me some prasad, a sweet,
0:51:23 > 0:51:27so that I can get the sweetness of the whole event that I've been witnessing.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33A sacred sweet.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35Very generous.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Thank you very much. Thank you.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50I hope it all goes very well for your mother.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54Thank you very much. Thank you.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02I feel incredibly honoured to have been allowed in
0:52:02 > 0:52:07to see that ceremony, to have met the mother.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11The Hindus believe that the nearly dead and the newly dead
0:52:11 > 0:52:13are spiritually very powerful.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16They're a bridge between this world and the next,
0:52:16 > 0:52:17and I really felt that there.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20They told me that it was auspicious for me to be there.
0:52:20 > 0:52:21I was a lucky man.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25Many lives have led me here, he said, to Varanasi at this moment,
0:52:25 > 0:52:27and I sort of feel it.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35Death is big business in Varanasi -
0:52:35 > 0:52:39it's inspired and indeed funded much of the architecture,
0:52:39 > 0:52:42and of course is a way of life.
0:52:45 > 0:52:51There are lots of shops that specialise in selling articles needed for funerals, for cremations.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Here's one. I'll just see what's available.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Hello. Hello.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00Um, now I see you sell... Ooh, ah.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04- Even now the body's coming, I see. - CHANTING
0:53:11 > 0:53:14- You said that was an old holy man, an important man.- Yeah, old man.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16Very, very old man died.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19They have much decoration on his body.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21End of life. He died end of life.
0:53:21 > 0:53:26Well, tell me the sort of things that you sell which were used in that particular...
0:53:26 > 0:53:27We sell so many things for body.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31So first of all the body's wrapped in a white shroud. I guess that's this?
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Yeah. In the beginning they're wrapped in white,
0:53:35 > 0:53:39and after that we give this on the top.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42So this sparkling cloth, this beautiful...
0:53:42 > 0:53:44It's for on the top of the body.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47That's to beautify the body.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49What else do you have here?
0:53:49 > 0:53:53We have stuff to put on the fire, on the body. Sandalwood.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56I thought it was. So this is expensive wood, isn't it?
0:53:56 > 0:53:58Yeah, expensive wood.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00Fine water buffaloes.
0:54:00 > 0:54:06You put this like symbolic on top of the body to have a good smell in the body fire.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10It smells lovely - I'll close the top because I know the smell must be caught in there.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Many, many people following that particular body.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19Lot of family come with dead body.
0:54:19 > 0:54:25I love the way the bodies are so beautiful and the whole atmosphere, it's quite joyful, isn't it?
0:54:25 > 0:54:29Yeah. Most holy place. This is why families are coming very happy.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32They feel very lucky to come into this place.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35THEY SING
0:54:35 > 0:54:40'Mountains of wood are stored near the river to feed the cremation pyres.'
0:54:41 > 0:54:46'Around 40,000 people are burned here every year.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48'Most didn't die in Varanasi,
0:54:48 > 0:54:52'but just to be cremated here is a blessing.'
0:54:53 > 0:54:56'Cremations take place at two ghats on the river.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00'This is the most popular one, Manikarnika.'
0:55:04 > 0:55:09'A specific caste of funeral attendants called Doms oversee all the cremations.'
0:55:13 > 0:55:16'It's all so public and open.'
0:55:23 > 0:55:26It's an extraordinary feeling, being here.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28In the West, of course, we associate death,
0:55:28 > 0:55:31almost like something embarrassing,
0:55:31 > 0:55:34something to be denied, not to be confronted,
0:55:34 > 0:55:36but here it's the opposite, of course.
0:55:36 > 0:55:42This public ceremony where people come and gather and say their farewells in a joyous way
0:55:42 > 0:55:46is altogether extraordinary, uplifting.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50And another body's arriving.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55You hear people chanting and bells ringing,
0:55:55 > 0:55:57carried by the family members.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59The great last journey.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Holy Ganges water being poured over it...
0:56:09 > 0:56:11..and, um, in a moment now
0:56:11 > 0:56:16it'll be taken to its pile of logs and be cremated.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20The soul liberated, the soul sent on its way.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28And because it's happening here, of course, in Varanasi,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31the soul won't have to be reborn -
0:56:31 > 0:56:34it will return to God, unity with the Almighty.
0:56:34 > 0:56:40So this is a glorious moment, and you see the people, they're not sombre in particular.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42People watching, chatting, laughing.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45A terrific celebration, this.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48A public celebration of death.
0:56:59 > 0:57:04'This last stage in the journey of the dead may be shocking to Western eyes,
0:57:04 > 0:57:09'but to Hindus it is the joyful moment of the release of the soul.'
0:58:10 > 0:58:14Varanasi's an astonishing explosion of emotion
0:58:14 > 0:58:17within a thrilling architectural setting
0:58:17 > 0:58:20that's transformed my perception of death.
0:58:20 > 0:58:25Before coming here I saw death as something mysterious, terrifying,
0:58:25 > 0:58:27almost divine aberration,
0:58:27 > 0:58:32but having wandered round, it's all now very different.
0:58:32 > 0:58:36Here, death is a thing of... visual, sensuous beauty.
0:58:36 > 0:58:41It's a journey of liberation, a journey to be embraced.
0:58:51 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:54 > 0:58:57E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk