Museum Secrets: Inside the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul
COMPLETE COLLECTION (22 Episodes)
•
44m
Once the palace of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Topkapi is a vast treasury of Islamic culture, science and weaponry, visited by over 2 million people every year.
In this episode, at the foot of Istanbul’s ancient walls we discover how a Muslim invader bested Christian defenders by using their superstitions against them. In the city’s famed spice market we seek a poison to assassinate a Sultan, then in the Sultan’s private residence we investigate how a Harem slave rose to rule an empire. In the sea at the museum’s doorstep we discover how a Turkish admiral got his hands on the lost map of Christopher Columbus, then unearth a forgotten civilization that fought the mighty Pharaohs of Egypt to a draw. And finally, we test Islamic scientific theories to create a working model of the world’s first robot.
Up Next in COMPLETE COLLECTION (22 Episodes)
-
Museum Secrets: Inside the Uffizi Gal...
Visited by one and half million people every year, the Uffizi is one of the oldest art museums in the western world, boasting paintings and sculpture by the greatest masters of the Renaissance.
In this episode, we re-examine the famous conspiracy against Lorenzo de Medici – godfather of the Re...
-
Museum Secrets: Inside the State Hist...
Moscow’s State Historical Museum tells the story of Russia and her people from the stone age to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In this episode we find out how to win a duel (and how to lose one). We examine the bones of stone age children to reveal what killed them, then ride with Polish soldi...
-
Museum Secrets: Inside the Smithsonia...
Established in 1846 by a scientist named James Smithson, The Smithsonian is the largest museum and research complex in the world, with over 10 million visitors every year, and nearly 137 million specimens and artifacts.
In this episode we take off in a World War Two era Zero to find out why Ja...
