0:00:05 > 0:00:08The desert is beautiful.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13But it is a harsh and relentless place.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18And the people that live here, above all, dream of an oasis.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Green and with abundant water.
0:00:23 > 0:00:29And that water is not just to make the crops grow
0:00:29 > 0:00:35with fruits and grains, but it is life itself.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39We speak of our gardens being a little piece of paradise.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43But for desert people, a garden,
0:00:43 > 0:00:50green and filled with water, is heaven on Earth.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53It is paradise.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59I'm setting out to explore these Islamic paradise gardens
0:00:59 > 0:01:01that are born from the desert.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04I shall visit gardens as symbols of power,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08gardens that are set around magnificent tombs,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11as well as those made purely for delight.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19I will discover the influence of the Mughal dynasty in India.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23Arriving by elephant is the most appropriate way
0:01:23 > 0:01:24to visit the Amer Fort.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28And enjoy the tulips in Turkey.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31I've never seen anything like it.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34And I'm really not sure how to react.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40And back in the UK, we shall be seeing how Islamic gardens
0:01:40 > 0:01:44have influenced both royal gardens and public spaces.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55I've long been fascinated by paradise gardens.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59The Koran paints a vivid description of paradise as a garden,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03and this has dictated their designs all over the world.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08So they tend to be enclosed and divided into four quarters,
0:02:08 > 0:02:13with abundant shade and always dominated by water.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17For the desert Arabs, they were an idealised oasis.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20And for all Muslims, they are an earthly reflection
0:02:20 > 0:02:23of the paradise that awaits.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27My journey has now brought me to Istanbul
0:02:27 > 0:02:31to see how one of the greatest Islamic empires
0:02:31 > 0:02:35made gardens that combined the elements of East and West.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48The broad stretch of the Bosphorus runs through the middle of Istanbul.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50For over 2,000 years,
0:02:50 > 0:02:56this great city has been the meeting point of two cultures.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Over there, to the West, is Europe.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05And on the other side of the river is the landmass of Asia.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08And here is where they meet.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14For nearly 1,000 years, this city was known as Byzantium.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Then it became Constantinople,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19the capital of the Roman Empire
0:03:19 > 0:03:22and for centuries the greatest city in Europe.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25When the Muslims took over in 1453,
0:03:25 > 0:03:31they renamed the city Istanbul, literally City of Islam,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35and it was the centre of the Ottoman Empire for five centuries.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Where Eastern and Western cultures meet,
0:04:10 > 0:04:14there are occasional clashes, but much in common.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19And nothing exemplifies that more here than a love of the tulip.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Istanbul celebrates this with uninhibited panache
0:04:23 > 0:04:25in the city's famous Emirgan Park.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29And as the millions of flowers hit their garish heights,
0:04:29 > 0:04:34scores of wedding couples pose with elaborate delight.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40I grow a lot of tulips at home,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43plant thousands of bulbs every autumn, and I love them.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46I love them for their voluptuous flowers,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48for their elegance,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52and for the way that they blow a fanfare into spring.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59But what I do at home is a drop in a very large ocean compared to here.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01I've never seen anything like it.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Three million bulbs planted every year
0:05:06 > 0:05:12in drifts and swirls and patterns and in borders amongst the trees.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15And I'm really not sure how to react.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20The Dutch are famous for their love of tulips,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23and in the 1630s at the height of the Dutch tulip-mania,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27a single bulb would trade for more than the price
0:05:27 > 0:05:29of the grandest house in Amsterdam.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33The Dutch caught the tulip bug from the Ottomans.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36300 years before Europeans had even seen a tulip,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40poets here were writing of its beauty.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44I talk to Professor Sitare Bakir, a tulip expert,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48about this long relationship between Ottomans and tulips.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Firstly, I have to say that Ottomans loved flowers.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58In the 16th century we have lots of types of tulips,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03and also in the 17th and 18th century it's become more and more.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07They have about 2,000 types of tulips.
0:06:07 > 0:06:08Really?
0:06:08 > 0:06:14These have been deliberately bred and hybridised by the Ottoman Turks?
0:06:14 > 0:06:16That's right. We have many documents about that.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Do we know what the Ottoman tulips look like?
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Of course. The tulip was used in artworks a lot.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29Like in manuscripts, miniatures, illustrations and tiles.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34It was thin and longer and very modest, I should say.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Tulips also had religious symbolism.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44Because tulip has a long stalk and long flower on top,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48it is only one, like God.
0:06:48 > 0:06:54And when we go further, every letter in the alphabet had a number.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59When you calculate the numbers, it had meanings.
0:06:59 > 0:07:05And tulip had the same letters like Allah, God had.
0:07:05 > 0:07:12This tulip calculated 66 in numbering, and Allah also is 66.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Thank you very much. Thank you.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Most tulips are native to Central Asia and the Caucasus,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22and throughout the Ottoman Empire hundreds of thousands of bulbs
0:07:22 > 0:07:25were gathered for the Sultan's gardens.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27But these tulips looked a little different
0:07:27 > 0:07:30from the ones that most of us grow or buy today.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37The European taste is, by and large, for tulips like this,
0:07:37 > 0:07:42which are full and rich and they have various textures and forms,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44but fundamentally goblet-shaped.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50The Ottomans preferred a tulip like this.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55Tall, pointed petals, almost spidery in their elongation
0:07:55 > 0:07:58and, above all, very elegant.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03As soon as people started to grow tulips
0:08:03 > 0:08:06they noticed a certain element of their behaviour.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Which was that occasional flowers
0:08:10 > 0:08:15would develop these streaks and flares and patches of colour.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17It's known as breaking.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23And that was esteemed as the perfect example
0:08:23 > 0:08:25of what the flower could achieve.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30People tried endlessly to breed these colour streaks,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32but they never succeeded.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35And then at the beginning of the 20th century,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38it was discovered that the cause of this breaking
0:08:38 > 0:08:41was actually a virus which was spread by an aphid.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45And the conditions that are ideal for that to occur
0:08:45 > 0:08:52are when tulips are grown in a warm, humid place such as under trees.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57And the Ottomans thought that tulips looked at their best,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00as they do here, grown under trees.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Tulips were revered and grown in every kind of Islamic garden
0:09:08 > 0:09:10right across the Muslim world,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13but they were especially treasured by the Ottomans.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25And the centre of the Ottoman Empire was here,
0:09:25 > 0:09:30right in the middle of Istanbul, at the Topkapi Palace.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33As well as being a royal home,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38it was also government offices and even a small city.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43And it's built around a series of spaces, or courts,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45each of them centred on a garden.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49The first one is here and it was accessible to anybody
0:09:49 > 0:09:52who wanted to come and petition the Sultan
0:09:52 > 0:09:56and, significantly, they could arrive and be in here on horseback.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58But the gate behind me
0:09:58 > 0:10:03was the point at which everybody bar two people had to dismount.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07And those two people were the Sultan and his mother.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14The Sultan, as head of the empire, was also the protector of Islam.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18But the Ottomans were not Arabs, they didn't come from the desert,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22and readily took and incorporated ideas from other cultures.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26The Topkapi Palace was built on the site
0:10:26 > 0:10:29of the Greek Byzantium Acropolis,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33and the Ottoman gardens also reflect this meeting of East and West.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39The garden designer, Gursan Ergil, explains how this is manifested.
0:10:42 > 0:10:49In Ottoman gardens they were bringing nature into architecture
0:10:49 > 0:10:55in the form of carpets, wall tiles, floral motif wall tiles.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57The tiles here...
0:10:58 > 0:10:59..are stupendous.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02I mean, they are extraordinary.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Ottoman Iznik tiles were originally made in western Anatolia,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09modern-day Turkey, at the end of the 15th century.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13The tiles gradually evolved from being predominantly blue
0:11:13 > 0:11:18to becoming more vivid, with added shades of green, purple and red.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Because Islam forbade the use of human or animal images,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27flowers and plants were always a favourite theme.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30As you see here,
0:11:30 > 0:11:36they are symbolic representations of flowers around them.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Mostly you see tulips, pomegranates.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43There are some carnations, as you can see here.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51Another Ottoman invention came in the form of stone kiosks.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55Now, you might think of a kiosk as somewhere you'd buy a newspaper
0:11:55 > 0:12:00or sweets, but to the Ottomans they had a very different meaning.
0:12:00 > 0:12:06Kiosks are semi-open structures for contemplation.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11- Kiosk originally coming from Persian...- Yes.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16..but Westerners saw kiosk first in Ottoman Empire
0:12:16 > 0:12:19and they liked the idea.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23The stone kiosks of the Ottoman gardens
0:12:23 > 0:12:26are the forebears of our park bandstands and pavilions.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31Actually, Topkapi Palace is like a series of kiosks.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33It's not one building.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38It is just different kiosks, like a marble tent.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41I had thought of the Ottoman tradition
0:12:41 > 0:12:44as being a long way from the desert,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47but when you say marble tent, that links it.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49That's right.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54I think it is deep in their culture because of this nomadic background.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57And the other thing which I've really noticed
0:12:57 > 0:13:01is that the kiosks are open, so you look out.
0:13:01 > 0:13:02Yeah.
0:13:02 > 0:13:08Whereas the closed walled gardens of Persia and Marrakech, you look in.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Exactly. This is our difference.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15- So you have this fantastic view over the water...- Mmm-hmm.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17..which is part of the garden.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20That's true. Bringing panorama inside the garden.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25This is the unique feature of Ottoman paradise gardens.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27They weren't enclosed and private,
0:13:27 > 0:13:31but deliberately positioned by lakes and rivers
0:13:31 > 0:13:34to look out on and include the natural world.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Ottomans hardly touched nature,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40because they think it is God's reflection.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44- Right.- So they respect it.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48These gardens embrace the beauty of the natural world around them,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50whilst the gardens of the desert
0:13:50 > 0:13:53deliberately hid from their surroundings.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55This acceptance and inclusion of nature
0:13:55 > 0:13:58is what most directly connects Ottoman gardens
0:13:58 > 0:14:00with those of modern Europe
0:14:00 > 0:14:02and gives them their distinctive character
0:14:02 > 0:14:06within the range of paradise gardens around the Islamic world.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19And like everything in Istanbul,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22what I find most extraordinary about that garden
0:14:22 > 0:14:26is this dynamic meeting of East and West.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33The gardens of the Topkapi Palace
0:14:33 > 0:14:38do seem to me to shed completely new light on the idea of paradise.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41And I love that idea
0:14:41 > 0:14:44of making a garden to seduce your soul.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Looking out.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Looking out to the world and looking up to heaven.
0:14:50 > 0:14:51But, from here...
0:14:53 > 0:14:55..I need to not just look out but go on,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00because the gardens are not just where East and West meet,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04but where East goes yet further east...
0:15:05 > 0:15:07..to India.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Modern India is an exhilarating and, at times,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22chaotic mixture of languages, people and religions.
0:15:22 > 0:15:23Hello!
0:15:25 > 0:15:28I'm beginning my visit in the capital, Delhi.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34For 300 years, India was governed by a Muslim dynasty,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38founded in 1526 by the warrior king, Babur.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42And at its height, this Mughal Empire
0:15:42 > 0:15:45ruled over one and a half million square miles
0:15:45 > 0:15:47of the Indian subcontinent.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58When the Mughals swept into modern Pakistan and northern India from
0:15:58 > 0:16:05Afghanistan, they built forts and gardens, wherever they conquered.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07These were significantly different
0:16:07 > 0:16:10to the other paradise gardens I've seen so far.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35The Islamic gardens of Spain, Morocco and Iran
0:16:35 > 0:16:40were designed for sensual pleasure and contemplation.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43But these Mughal gardens were made
0:16:43 > 0:16:46as a public display of reverence for the dead
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and for daily use, by the living.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53And this tradition carries on in exactly the same way today.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59This is Humayun's tomb.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04And tomb gardens were the Mughal's greatest contribution to our story.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Humayun was the son of Babur, born in Kabul in 1508.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16The second Mughal emperor was famously superstitious.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20He is said to have never entered a room left foot first.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24His name meant "Lucky", but, in fact, he was anything but.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28And he didn't share his father's warrior genes either.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Humayun was a lover, apparently,
0:17:31 > 0:17:36of sensuality, poetry and wine and opium.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41Which was not what was required to conquer new territory.
0:17:41 > 0:17:47He was exiled to Persia, where he remained until 1555.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50He returned here to Delhi, was crowned king,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53only to die six months later.
0:17:58 > 0:18:03The story is that Humayun was descending steps in his library
0:18:03 > 0:18:05when he heard the call to prayer, stopped,
0:18:05 > 0:18:10and got his foot caught in his robes and tumbled down the steps,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12dashing his head on the stone.
0:18:12 > 0:18:19And these steps are said to be extra steep in memory of that tragedy.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26His reign may have been short, but by building this tomb,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Humayun's widow, Hamida Begum, made sure it was never forgotten.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37When it was done, here was this extraordinary, magnificent monument,
0:18:37 > 0:18:42with his body in the centre, with the face turned towards Mecca.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47The architect chosen for the tomb was from Persia.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51And the high double dome and arched alcoves
0:18:51 > 0:18:55are both distinctive elements from Persian architecture.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58The Indian style appears in the smaller domes, or chooks,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00that adorn the roof.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05The Mughals revered their ancestral Persian culture.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08And the Persian language was spoken widely at court.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10It is one of the roots of modern Urdu.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14The Urdu term for a paradise garden is charbagh,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16meaning a garden divided into four,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19and is almost identical to the Persian, chahar bagh.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23The size and grandeur of Humayun's tomb
0:19:23 > 0:19:26is matched by the scale of the garden it sits in.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Divided into four quarters, with four channels of water,
0:19:30 > 0:19:32that appear to meet beneath the tomb,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35it's reminiscent of the Koranic teaching
0:19:35 > 0:19:39that the Paradise Garden is one under which rivers flow.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Akshay Kaul is a landscape architect
0:19:46 > 0:19:49and specialist in gardens of the Mughal Empire.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Let's begin with talking about the Mughals themselves.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58What were they like as a people, as a culture?
0:19:58 > 0:20:01They brought in poetry, they brought in architecture,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04they brought in different ways of ruling the country.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08They brought with them these charbagh gardens.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Were there gardens here before?
0:20:10 > 0:20:14There was no geometry, no order, no symmetry.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17And they were not really pleasure gardens.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Even the notion of an enclosed garden, as such, wasn't there.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26So, when Babur came with his gardens, with a new style of garden,
0:20:26 > 0:20:31which seems very settled and grand and ordered,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34was this very novel in this culture?
0:20:34 > 0:20:35Completely.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39To what extent has the garden changed over the years?
0:20:39 > 0:20:41How would it have looked in its heyday?
0:20:41 > 0:20:44The green area that you see would never be lawns.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47They would be much more sunken, way down.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50And there would have been Jasmines everywhere.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Or there would have been scented fruits.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56So, the idea was, as you're walking, you're smelling them,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58you're almost at that height.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00So the whiff of the air,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04which would move with the water in these dusty lands.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Today, most of the fruit trees have been replaced with larger varieties,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10planted at ground level.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13And there are other differences, too.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Would they have used hedges?
0:21:16 > 0:21:20We see these clipped hedges around, is that a Mughal feature?
0:21:20 > 0:21:22- Definitely not.- No.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26These hedges or, you know, boundaries or lawns,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29they're never part of the Mughal vocabulary.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33- So, did they bring actual gardening skills, too?- I think so.- Yeah?
0:21:33 > 0:21:38Yeah. I think they brought it with them from the gardens in Persia.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42And also, they were very familiar with what they had planted there.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45So they were constantly trying to bring those plants in here.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Right. So, it was recreating the gardens of their homeland?
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Yeah. I think that's true with every culture, you know?
0:21:52 > 0:21:55You want a part of your home, wherever you are.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59And the British were no exception.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04The great sweeps of lawn and the large trees
0:22:04 > 0:22:07were introduced by the British.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Of course, it's absolutely out of tune and sympathy
0:22:11 > 0:22:14with the paradise garden that was originally created.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17But it has now become the accepted face of the gardens.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21And while today we may be thankful
0:22:21 > 0:22:24for these large trees in the blistering heat,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27that isn't where the Mughals looked for their shade.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Where these geometric sections cross and meet,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33you find these raised platforms.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35And a lot of them have now got trees in them.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38But they were originally intended for tents.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41And they were more than just a shelter on a hot day.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44This is where they lived.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46This is where government was conducted.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50It's where you enjoyed your gardens,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53where you ate and very often where you slept.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56So, you must imagine this garden as a kind of tented city.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58There would be dozens of them.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01And beyond, unimpeded by any trees,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05you could see the tomb and all the buildings in their glory.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10This meant that,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14unlike the reverential stillness of our own cemeteries and churchyards,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17the tomb garden was filled with life.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Now, this is the oldest tomb garden...
0:23:25 > 0:23:27..and one of the best preserved.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30But it is not the most famous.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32So, that's where I'm going next.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43For long periods, Agra was the capital of the Mughal Empire
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and enjoyed unrivalled power and prosperity.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51And it is here that you will find the Taj Mahal.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57The doors open every day at the exact moment of sunrise.
0:23:59 > 0:24:05I'm told that the gates open at 6:16, not 6:15, but precisely 6:16.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08So, I set my alarm for 4:25 to get here,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12which did seem very early and it was pitch-black.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14And I rather thought when I got here,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17I might have the place to myself and I could wander around.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20But that was shattered as soon as I realised
0:24:20 > 0:24:22I was at the end of quite a long queue.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28But I made some new friends to help me pass the time.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Finally, after much checking of papers and bags, we are allowed in.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42As you approach the Taj,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46everything is the familiar, lovely peach-coloured sandstone.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50But then, as you peer through the gate,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53there is that incredible marble building.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57And this morning, it's almost silvery.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20The Taj Mahal is not just one of the most famous tombs in the world,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23it is one of the world's most iconic buildings.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan
0:25:31 > 0:25:34for his favourite wife, Mumtaz.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37She had died the year before, aged 39,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40giving birth to their 14th child.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45Shah Jahan was distraught with grief and set about constructing her tomb
0:25:45 > 0:25:49as the greatest building the world had ever seen.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54It was to be no less than an earthly replica of the house and garden
0:25:54 > 0:25:57that Mumtaz now occupied in paradise.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02And it is the beauty of that love story
0:26:02 > 0:26:06that brings people to this tomb garden in their millions.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13The white marble mausoleum is covered with flowers
0:26:13 > 0:26:14and verses from the Koran
0:26:14 > 0:26:19and took 20,000 workers over 20 years to complete.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23But the mausoleum is not the only special feature of the Taj.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27I wonder how many people realise that it is set in a garden.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30A garden that was made as the stones were being laid
0:26:30 > 0:26:36and which is just as important, in its own way, as the tomb itself.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41In the Mughal era, this huge garden was a typical charbagh,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45with fruit trees and flowers planted in deeply sunken beds.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47So, the garden we see today looks very different
0:26:47 > 0:26:50to the one made at the same time as the building.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57That central view of the Taj, the first hit as you walk in,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00is so burned into our iconography of the place,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02that, actually, it's easy to overlook the fact
0:27:02 > 0:27:05that it was intended to be viewed from everywhere.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08So, for example, here from this platform,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10the planting would not have risen any higher than it.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13And that would mean that none of these trees would be here.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18And that, instead of being obscured by the trees, I would be able to see
0:27:18 > 0:27:21this wonderful marble vision,
0:27:21 > 0:27:26floating above the paradise garden all around it.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32Shah Jahan only had access to the Taj for a few years
0:27:32 > 0:27:36before he was imprisoned by his son, Aurangzeb, in 1658.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38In the following centuries,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41control of Agra passed between different kingdoms.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45And by the middle of the 19th century, the British had taken over.
0:27:45 > 0:27:51The gardens of the Taj had become a tangle of bushes and tall trees.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54But at the beginning of the 20th century,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57the viceroy Lord Curzon swept all this away
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and replaced it with lawns and specimen trees,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04giving it the appearance of an English country park.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12The story of the Taj does not end here.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16On the other side of the Yamuna river, a ruin was discovered.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20There had been rumours that this was the site of a black Taj,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23built as a mausoleum for Shah Jahan himself.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26But in the early 1990s,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30an archaeological dig revealed this to be another garden.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34The Mehtab Bagh, or Moonlight Garden,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37was the exclusive domain of the emperor,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40where he could enjoy views of the Taj across the river
0:28:40 > 0:28:43in the velvety warmth of night.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46When the fragrance of blossom would be at its strongest
0:28:46 > 0:28:50and white flowers glow in the moonlight.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54And what the modern excavations uncovered at the Mehtab Bagh
0:28:54 > 0:28:58have completely challenged our perception of the Taj Mahal.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Professor Priyaleen Singh's research
0:29:00 > 0:29:04is key to understanding the Taj in its entirety.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Is it fair to say that...
0:29:08 > 0:29:13..this is as much part of the whole garden as the rest of it?
0:29:13 > 0:29:15Or is this a separate piece of garden?
0:29:15 > 0:29:19No, this is very much part of the Taj Mahal complex
0:29:19 > 0:29:21because the Taj would sit in the centre
0:29:21 > 0:29:24and you would have a garden on either side.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Scholars, until very recently, have tried to rationalise
0:29:28 > 0:29:32that the tomb shifted to the edge of the garden.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35But actually, if you look at Mehtab Bagh and you look at the Taj,
0:29:35 > 0:29:38you'll find that the Taj is sitting right in the centre.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40- Right in the middle.- Yeah.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47Professor Singh's plans show how the emperor would have used the garden.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50He would have entered from the gateway
0:29:50 > 0:29:52and then as he progressed,
0:29:52 > 0:29:58suddenly then the Taj would get framed by this pavilion over here.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01And then he would walk around.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Shah Jahan would sit at the edge of the river in one of the pavilions,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08the ruins of which we can still see there,
0:30:08 > 0:30:12and then he would see the reflection of the Taj in this river.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17It would have been magical on a moonlit night, you know,
0:30:17 > 0:30:19with the song of the nightingale
0:30:19 > 0:30:21and with the fragrance of all the Jasmines and all.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28The discovery of the Mehtab Bagh
0:30:28 > 0:30:32was one of the great sort of horticultural events
0:30:32 > 0:30:35of the last 20 years or more.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39Because it's doubled the size of the garden of the Taj,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42changed the way we thought about it and also it completes
0:30:42 > 0:30:48this extraordinary story of this man who was still mourning his wife,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52gazing at this fantastic monument that he had built
0:30:52 > 0:30:56as the light of the moon played on the marble.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00Even in their much altered and unrestored condition,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03I think that the gardens of the Mehtab Bagh
0:31:03 > 0:31:05and the Taj Mahal put together
0:31:05 > 0:31:08form one of the really important gardens of the world.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14From Babur onwards,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18the Mughals would always have sat on carpets in their gardens,
0:31:18 > 0:31:23woven with a cornucopia of spring flowers and fruits.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25Winter, when they brought them indoors,
0:31:25 > 0:31:27they would bring their gardens with them.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31So carpets and gardens were, for them, inextricably linked.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34And it was Akbar, Babur's grandson,
0:31:34 > 0:31:38who brought this craft to India and set up workshops here.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41And they're still going today, so I'm going to visit one.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54The owner, Sanjay Kaura, shows me round.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Do you have an example of the type of thing
0:32:03 > 0:32:07- that Akbar would have introduced from Persia?- Oh, yes.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11Wow.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14So all the rugs that have a centre medallion to them,
0:32:14 > 0:32:16these are of the Persian origin.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18Persian rugs. So this is very, very finely done.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Very intricate floral details.
0:32:21 > 0:32:22Just in this small flower
0:32:22 > 0:32:25there would be about 12 to 14 different colours.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27What would they have been made out of?
0:32:27 > 0:32:31Fine goat wool, popularly known as pashmina.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Oh, pashmina. God, that's... But that is so fine, isn't it?
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Yeah. So because rugs of this quality, they require high-density,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41so the wool usage has to be very fine.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Are you still using pretty much the same techniques?
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Oh, yes. Exactly the same as it was done in the old days.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50As the buildings and palaces of the Mughals
0:32:50 > 0:32:52replaced their more modest tents and pavilions,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55the minutely detailed designs of Persian rugs
0:32:55 > 0:32:57began to feel too small,
0:32:57 > 0:33:01and a new bolder style came into fashion.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04So then we develop patterns which were bigger flowers.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07- Which would hold their own in a big space.- Big space.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10How long would it take for you to make a rug like that?
0:33:10 > 0:33:12Four to four and a half months.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15So that is a lot of work, isn't it?
0:33:16 > 0:33:20Later, the carpets began to take designs directly from the Taj.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24The flowers on the walls of the tomb were replicated on the rugs.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28And I love the fact that these carpets today
0:33:28 > 0:33:32are made exactly as they were for the Mughal emperors
0:33:32 > 0:33:36as they sat enjoying the delights of their paradise gardens.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48Whilst the tomb gardens made their distinct contribution,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51they were not the only type that reflect the Mughal influence.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55So on my way to Jaipur
0:33:55 > 0:33:58I'm stopping off to see a garden of a very different kind.
0:34:04 > 0:34:05It's called Samode,
0:34:05 > 0:34:10and it is a pleasure garden made at the end of the Mughal era.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13And immediately you see similarities.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16There's water flowing in a channel outside the house
0:34:16 > 0:34:18and it comes to a pool.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21But the pool is filled with lotus flowers.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26In tomb gardens, water is such a powerful symbol of life
0:34:26 > 0:34:29that it's never combined with plants.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31But here in this pleasure garden
0:34:31 > 0:34:34it's comfortably cluttered with plants.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36The 20 acres of the Samode gardens
0:34:36 > 0:34:39were originally made in the middle of the 18th century
0:34:39 > 0:34:42as the private retreat of the Samode royal family,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46and it remained so until 20 odd years ago when it became a hotel.
0:34:48 > 0:34:53What is immediately apparent to me is a kind of energy,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57and that comes from the water and the play of the fountains
0:34:57 > 0:34:59and the size of the trees.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03But this energy is very different to that of the tomb gardens,
0:35:03 > 0:35:08which have elegance and respect and decorum.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10This is playful.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15The planting in the beds is evidence of that.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19Shrubs, small trees and flowers are all muddled together.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24And this fulsome planting is more historically accurate
0:35:24 > 0:35:28than the sweeping lawns that have been inserted into the tomb gardens.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32Mind you, there is one element here that does seem more suited
0:35:32 > 0:35:35to a 1960s British back garden than the Mughal Empire.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41I know what you're thinking. You're thinking crazy paving?!
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Really?! Is that accurate?
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Well, the answer is yes.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Because apparently this style of paving, of random stones,
0:35:50 > 0:35:54is part of a long-standing Rajasthan tradition.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02The energy of this garden doesn't detract from the fact that,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05like all paradise gardens,
0:36:05 > 0:36:09it was intended above all as a place of contemplation.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15To sit here and hear the birds roosting...
0:36:16 > 0:36:19..and to let my mind be still,
0:36:19 > 0:36:25I think is tapping into the core of the paradise garden.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29And to have the playfulness and the entertainment as well
0:36:29 > 0:36:31means that this garden works on lots of levels.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35I like it a lot.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53One of the features of the Mughal conquest of India
0:36:53 > 0:36:56was their tolerance of other religions and rulers.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59However, without always forcibly imposing themselves,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02their influence spread in many different ways.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06I've left the Islamic Mughal world
0:37:06 > 0:37:10and come to the Amer Fort, just to the north of Jaipur,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12base of powerful Hindu Rajputs.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Arriving by elephant is the most appropriate way
0:37:18 > 0:37:21to visit the Amer Fort because this is how the Raja
0:37:21 > 0:37:24would have arrived and his guests,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28all sitting in the most extraordinary fashion
0:37:28 > 0:37:31on the back of these glorious beasts.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39There has been a settlement on this site since the tenth century,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43but the Amer Fort that we see today dates from the 16th century
0:37:43 > 0:37:46and was the Palace of the Rajput King, Man Singh.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51As I make my slow but stately entrance,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53women are picking blossom for garlands.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Thank you.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Inside the gate, the walls of the palace are decorated
0:38:03 > 0:38:06with exquisite details of flowers and trees.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13This is the Ganesh gate.
0:38:13 > 0:38:20And Ganesh is the elephant god which clears obstructions.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24So he's often placed above a gateway or an entrance
0:38:24 > 0:38:27to make sure that the passageway through is easy.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32But as you look closer,
0:38:32 > 0:38:37you can't help but notice that the palace is laced with Mughal design.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41The fort is actually a combination of local Rajput Hindi architecture
0:38:41 > 0:38:43with classic Mughal style.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46This is perhaps most evident of all in its gardens.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53And right at the heart of the palace is the private Mughal garden
0:38:53 > 0:38:56that brings together both Islamic and Hindi features.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02The Mughal garden lies in the centre of a living complex.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06It was made in the middle of the 17th century.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09It's fascinating to me for two reasons.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13The first is that it is so clearly designed
0:39:13 > 0:39:17to be looked at and not walked on.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21The paths, such as they are, are too narrow and uninviting.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24And the second thing, which is really interesting,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27is the presence and use of hexagon.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Now, these were not Mughal shapes.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32These are Hindu shapes,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36and they create triangles on the indices between them.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39Again, that's a Hindu thing, not a Mughal thing.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43So what we're seeing here by the mid-17th century,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46the same period almost exactly as the Taj Mahal,
0:39:46 > 0:39:52is a real convergence of Mughal influences and Rajput.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59The Mughals didn't just tolerate the Rajputs, but married them.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Man Singh's daughter married a son of Shah Jahan,
0:40:02 > 0:40:08whilst in 1562, Akbar himself wed a Rajput princess from Amer.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10This interweaving of family and state
0:40:10 > 0:40:16encouraged the merging of cultures and that is evident throughout.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19From right up here at the top of the fort,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23you get a perfect bird's eye view of the Saffron Garden, or Kesar Kyari,
0:40:23 > 0:40:28looking like a Persian carpet laid out above the water.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30It's called the Saffron Garden
0:40:30 > 0:40:35because apparently it was originally entirely planted with saffron,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39which is incredibly rare and also has wonderful scent,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42and the fragrance would be blown by the east wind
0:40:42 > 0:40:45and carried up to the top of the fort, where the harem was,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48so the women could enjoy that luxury.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51At least, that's the story.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54But the inconvenient horticultural truth
0:40:54 > 0:40:58is that the saffron crocus needs plenty of moisture
0:40:58 > 0:41:03and can't survive in the extreme drought and heat of Rajasthan.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06That planting never happened.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09The legend and the name stuck.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13The truth is that, however wonderful this looks from on high,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15it doesn't bear much close inspection.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18It's planted up at the moment with a euphorbia,
0:41:18 > 0:41:20there's a euphorbia from Madagascar called milii.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23And, whilst they are colourful,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27it's very spiny and thorny, and it's a real desert plant.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29And that seems to be at odds
0:41:29 > 0:41:34with the whole sensuous quality of pleasure gardens.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37How one longs for that idea of saffron.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44The gardens of Amer Fort
0:41:44 > 0:41:48are evidence of Mughal culture spreading beyond its own court.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52And, while some gardens fell into decline elsewhere,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55elements of their design lived on here.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07I've come back to Delhi, and it's nearly time to travel on.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11But, before I go, I want to see what influence, if any,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14these Mughal gardens have had on modern India.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Has the spirit of their gardens or the love of gardening survived?
0:42:24 > 0:42:26I've come to the Sunder Nursery.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31From 1912, the British used the land for raising shrubs and trees
0:42:31 > 0:42:33as part of the great rebuilding of New Delhi.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39But its earlier incarnation was as a Mughal garden known as
0:42:39 > 0:42:41the Azim Bagh, or great garden.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46It's been recently restored with a Persian-inspired carpet garden
0:42:46 > 0:42:48at its core, but the nursery still remains,
0:42:48 > 0:42:52and the whole space is now an unlikely but charming mixture
0:42:52 > 0:42:55of a grand Mughal landscape and a local garden centre.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58You are the gardener in charge?
0:42:58 > 0:43:01- Yes, yes.- How big is your nursery?
0:43:01 > 0:43:03It is...about 75 acres.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05- 75 acres?- Acres.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07That's big. How many people work here?
0:43:07 > 0:43:09Near about 300 person.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12300 people working here.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15And do you sell mainly to private gardeners,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18or big orders to firms and contracts?
0:43:18 > 0:43:20Anybody come, anybody take.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22- OK.- No reserve. First come, first served.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29When I visit nurseries in other countries,
0:43:29 > 0:43:33it's the small differences that I find so interesting.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38These rows of terracotta pots - you would never see that in the UK.
0:43:40 > 0:43:45Also, you have lots of herbs and culinary plants.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48And there is a real sense that these are loved plants.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54And it's fascinating to see what people are buying.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57Excuse me, sir. What have you bought there?
0:43:57 > 0:44:00Well, this is a curry plant, and it's used in cooking,
0:44:00 > 0:44:02- for cooking purposes. - Are you the cook in your household?
0:44:02 > 0:44:04Yeah, at times, and I need them.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06And do you enjoy the process of gardening?
0:44:06 > 0:44:07Oh, that's wonderful.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10It's not only my hobby, but I am a surgeon here in Delhi.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13It's also my de-stressing activity.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15- Wow.- I just love doing gardening.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25What do you particularly like to grow?
0:44:25 > 0:44:29Again, this season, I'd love to have pansy, petunia...
0:44:29 > 0:44:32Right. And are you good at growing flowers?
0:44:32 > 0:44:34About 60% of the plants, they survive.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36- I do not know that I am... - That's pretty good!
0:44:36 > 0:44:39That's pretty good, by my standards, I think!
0:44:41 > 0:44:44After seeing so many historical gardens,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46it's lovely to get to the nuts and bolts,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49get behind the scenes and see a real garden working.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53And there is a magic about a well-ordered nursery that,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57if you love plants and gardening, never fails to work.
0:45:15 > 0:45:21Any time spent in India is exhilarating and exhausting in equal measure.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27It's really expanded my idea of paradise gardens,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30and fascinating, the way that they have affected Indian culture
0:45:30 > 0:45:33and embraced it at the same time.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35Back at home,
0:45:35 > 0:45:39our gardens have absorbed these influences in all kinds of ways,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and all kinds of gardens, too.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58Having travelled halfway across the world, I've now come home,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01but to rather a special home, because this is Highgrove,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04the home of the Prince of Wales.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07But I'm here because, in 2000,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10he decided that he would like a garden created,
0:46:10 > 0:46:14inspired by a pair of Turkish rugs that he owned.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18The Islamic garden expert and designer Emma Clark
0:46:18 > 0:46:20was one of the team behind this project.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28Yeah, gosh.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34What I'm struck, when you come in,
0:46:34 > 0:46:36is how it does feel like walking
0:46:36 > 0:46:39into a courtyard in Marrakech, or...
0:46:39 > 0:46:43Yes, well, that's one of the ideas, is that it is a kind of sanctuary.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46The Prince of Wales's carpet garden
0:46:46 > 0:46:50is one of Britain's first charbaghs, or paradise gardens.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56The garden started life at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2001,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59and then was transferred to Highgrove.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01And whilst it retains its original layout,
0:47:01 > 0:47:03it has evolved over the years.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06I'm sure this has changed.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08In what ways?
0:47:08 > 0:47:10It's changed hugely. It's a bigger site,
0:47:10 > 0:47:12and the planting has changed a lot.
0:47:12 > 0:47:17At the time, we were trying to create something which much more spoke of...
0:47:17 > 0:47:18..the Islamic garden,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21because we knew, at Chelsea, that it's theatre and it's for a week.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26The local climate has forced some of the changes.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30There are plants found in a conventional Persian garden
0:47:30 > 0:47:32that wouldn't be at all happy in a Cotswold winter.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39There are very few plants here that you would find
0:47:39 > 0:47:42in the sort of traditional charbagh in the Middle East.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44- Yes.- You walk in and you see clematis...
0:47:44 > 0:47:48..which you're never going to see.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52But I like the hardy geranium and the pelargoniums.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55I mean, the fact that we are into South Africa,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57and South America for the fuchsia...
0:47:57 > 0:48:00- The verbena, also. - And the verbena, yes, exactly.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02I don't think that matters, do you?
0:48:02 > 0:48:05No, I don't. The Islamic world is large.
0:48:05 > 0:48:10It exists in different climates and environments, different planting,
0:48:10 > 0:48:13but there's always an underlying unity of spirit.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15So, at what point...
0:48:16 > 0:48:19..does one depart so much that it becomes something else?
0:48:19 > 0:48:24It's inspired by Islamic design principles,
0:48:24 > 0:48:26and that is the hard landscaping.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31- Right.- We have the central fountain, which is beautiful in any climate,
0:48:31 > 0:48:33and you've got four rills
0:48:33 > 0:48:35coming down from the corners,
0:48:35 > 0:48:38representing the four rivers of paradise,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41so I think we have a beautiful marriage
0:48:41 > 0:48:46between England and the Islamic world.
0:48:49 > 0:48:54I think the really interesting thing about this carpet garden
0:48:54 > 0:48:58is how it has been adapted and personalised,
0:48:58 > 0:49:03both to this particular location and to the UK in general.
0:49:03 > 0:49:04And it does show that,
0:49:04 > 0:49:09if you have the basic principles of the paradise garden,
0:49:09 > 0:49:14you can allow it to flex and bend according to different circumstances,
0:49:14 > 0:49:18and it doesn't matter whether that is in the desert or here in Britain.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23The enclosed nature of the Prince's carpet garden
0:49:23 > 0:49:27reproduces the seclusion of a courtyard in the Islamic world.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Yet the essential elements for a paradise garden
0:49:31 > 0:49:34can be expressed in many forms and, before I end this journey,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37I want to look at the ways that they've been made in this country
0:49:37 > 0:49:39in some very different settings.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53I've come north to Bradford, a city more famous
0:49:53 > 0:49:56for its industrial past than its modern gardens.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03I'm visiting what was the former home of Lord Masham,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06a local mill owner, who at the end of the 19th-century
0:50:06 > 0:50:10sold his mansion and 50 acres of land to the City Council
0:50:10 > 0:50:13for half its value on the condition that the grounds
0:50:13 > 0:50:17became a public park and that the house would be rebuilt
0:50:17 > 0:50:18as an art gallery.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22And this is the result.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26At first, this does seem a very unlikely setting
0:50:26 > 0:50:28for a paradise garden.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32But 20 years ago, money was raised from the National Lottery
0:50:32 > 0:50:35to create a Mughal garden.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39This is appropriate, because Bradford has one of the largest
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Muslim populations of any part of the UK.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54The site chosen for the garden was formerly a car park.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59But what is now present has all the recognisable
0:50:59 > 0:51:02elements of the Mughal gardens of the Indian subcontinent.
0:51:03 > 0:51:08But it also has a very distinctively British flavour, too.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15The garden is divided by a network of broad paths,
0:51:15 > 0:51:17water channels and pools.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20Whilst it's simpler and noticeably greener than the tomb gardens
0:51:20 > 0:51:24I saw in India, it still has the same harmonious atmosphere
0:51:24 > 0:51:26of peace and tranquillity.
0:51:31 > 0:51:37The local imam, Idris Watts, tells me how the community use the garden.
0:51:37 > 0:51:38You see people here, families,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41and you see the children playing in the water,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43and different communities come and mix together.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46We've got people come here just in the mornings,
0:51:46 > 0:51:47to sit and contemplate.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50We have people come for wedding photos,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52I in fact got married in Bradford,
0:51:52 > 0:51:54and I had my wedding photos taken here.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59Of course, water is the key element you'll find in any Islamic garden.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02- Yup.- Whereas, with great respect to this part of the world,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05water is not particularly in shortfall, is it?
0:52:05 > 0:52:08- No.- Are people aware of that significance?
0:52:08 > 0:52:10Or do you think that's been lost?
0:52:10 > 0:52:11No, I think it's... I mean,
0:52:11 > 0:52:14water has a great significance in the Koranic scripture,
0:52:14 > 0:52:16it talks about everything's created from water.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20And there's a huge play on the flowing of water.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23So this water, which is pumped round and round, isn't it,
0:52:23 > 0:52:25- keeping the flow going?- Yeah.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29- You've got a very large Muslim community here in Bradford.- Yes.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33Do you think that this resonates with them particularly?
0:52:33 > 0:52:35What's so beautiful about this garden
0:52:35 > 0:52:37is that it's using the Yorkshire stone, as well,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40so it sort of brings together all the beauty of the local
0:52:40 > 0:52:43community, and also the contribution of the subcontinent.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45And so it's a great message, really,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49for Bradford to show that we can really harmonise these traditions,
0:52:49 > 0:52:51and they're not in conflict with one another.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Although the essential elements for a paradise garden remain constant,
0:52:57 > 0:53:01wherever I have travelled, I've seen how they are reinterpreted
0:53:01 > 0:53:03according to different situations and cultures.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08When this garden is empty,
0:53:08 > 0:53:10particularly if the light is a bit grey,
0:53:10 > 0:53:12it can look a bit flat, a bit dead, even.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14But as soon as it fills up with people,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17then you have children running around and playing,
0:53:17 > 0:53:21and people naturally drawn to the water,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24then it becomes alive, and it's that that gives it
0:53:24 > 0:53:26the richness that is missing.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30And it is as though we have taken an idea
0:53:30 > 0:53:32but, perhaps unconsciously,
0:53:32 > 0:53:38adapted it to the very specific needs of our civilisation,
0:53:38 > 0:53:42our century and even specifically this place.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51My final garden is rather different.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57For a start, this isn't really a paradise garden at all,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59but one more synonymous with the English countryside.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06Hestercombe House, just outside Taunton in Somerset,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10was the home of Lord and Lady Portman, and in 1903,
0:54:10 > 0:54:14they commissioned Edwin Lutyens to create a new formal garden.
0:54:14 > 0:54:20Lutyens was to become one of the most famous architects of the 20th century,
0:54:20 > 0:54:23and he worked in partnership with Gertrude Jekyll,
0:54:23 > 0:54:24who oversaw the planting.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30The result is recognised as one of Britain's great gardens.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34But despite its Edwardian provenance and its very English rural setting,
0:54:34 > 0:54:39I think this garden is filled with the influence of Islamic design.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45The architect Edwin Lutyens has created a garden
0:54:45 > 0:54:48which is redolent with those influences.
0:54:48 > 0:54:54These rills, narrow and straight and leading the eye forward,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58following the lines of the water, are drawn as much from
0:54:58 > 0:55:02the gardens of Andalusia as they are from the Dutch
0:55:02 > 0:55:04and the French gardens that preceded them.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08And the way that he's used stones across the rills,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11which breaks up the reflection, adds texture to it,
0:55:11 > 0:55:15and that's identical to the way that in Persian gardens,
0:55:15 > 0:55:20water was broken and moulded and shaped as it moved along.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24The bones of Lutyens' garden
0:55:24 > 0:55:27is made from paradise.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33And once you start looking,
0:55:33 > 0:55:36you see these influences everywhere,
0:55:36 > 0:55:40even in what is seemingly the most conventionally English of gardens.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45The huge, central plat is deeply sunk and looked down upon
0:55:45 > 0:55:47from the walkways around it,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50just like the sunken beds of a paradise garden.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53And another example is Lutyens' use of grass.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59If you think about it, grass here is clear,
0:55:59 > 0:56:01it's unbroken by planting.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05A strip like this, which is neither lawn nor path, really,
0:56:05 > 0:56:09actually serves in exactly the same way as a strip of water,
0:56:09 > 0:56:15clear and unbroken, does in so many of the paradise gardens.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22Lutyens was to go on and do a great deal of work in India,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25but even at this early stage, the Islamic influence is clear.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30Claire Greenslade is Hestercombe's head gardener,
0:56:30 > 0:56:33and I asked her about Lutyens' design.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37Clare, we've got a plan here, tell me what it's of. Let me have a look.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40So, this is a plan of the rill that we're looking at here,
0:56:40 > 0:56:45the east rill, which shows Lutyens' stonework going all the way along,
0:56:45 > 0:56:48all the way along here, mixed with Jekyll's planting.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53The thing that strikes me from that is how graphic it is on the ground.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55A lot of the parts of the garden that Lutyens has designed,
0:56:55 > 0:56:59when you look at his original designs, they're really true.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01You probably know this garden better than anyone.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03What makes it unique?
0:57:03 > 0:57:06I think it's the Lutyens hand.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08The structure's so important.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11It's the sharp lines, it's the grass, it's the edges,
0:57:11 > 0:57:13it's quite theatrical.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17In the winter, you really get to see the bare bones of Lutyens.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21And it means that even when there's nothing flowering, it's still...
0:57:21 > 0:57:23It still takes your breath away.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30The paradise gardens that I've visited across the world
0:57:30 > 0:57:33have all had this combination of wonder and delight.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37Whether it be the stately tomb gardens of India...
0:57:38 > 0:57:40..grandeur of the Alhambra...
0:57:42 > 0:57:45..or the lush calm of a courtyard garden in Marrakech.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51And all these gardens have not just been beautiful and dramatic,
0:57:51 > 0:57:55but also filled with symbolism and meaning.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00With their constant elements of water and shade and greenery,
0:58:00 > 0:58:04they all stay true to the one underlying idea
0:58:04 > 0:58:08of a vision of paradise on earth.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10However exotic these gardens have been,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13however rich the experience of visiting,
0:58:13 > 0:58:16the thought that remains strongest...
0:58:17 > 0:58:21..is the influence that they've had right across the world,
0:58:21 > 0:58:23including our own gardens.