141 Minutes

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Join us as we take a look into "The Knights Templar" (showing the virtual reconstruction of the city of Tortosa), "Jesus' Jerusalem" (focusing on Herod's temple Mount, the Via Dolorosa, and other places where Jesus traveled), and "The First Christians," in which the cities of Tarsus and Ephesus are studied and rebuilt, along with the mysterious cave dwellings of Cappadocia, where some of the earliest Christian churches were built.

LOST WORLDS - Visit cities and towns in which Christianity developed frem a small, persecuted group into a world religion.

Knights Templar

They defended the Holy Land for 200 years before a fall from grace. Now watch as the archaeologist unearth their city of Tortosa, now in the suburbs of modern day Tartus in Syria.

The Knight’s Templar defended the Holy Land. Their tools were bloodshed and prayer. Founded in the 12th century, these Christian warrior monks were an unbeatable force for nearly 200 years, then they suffered a spectacular fall from grace. Tried for heresy, they were accused of practicing strange rituals, accusers said they spat on the cross, worshiped a severed head and engaged in perverse sexual acts. They were disbanded, their grandmaster was burned at the stake. Ever since their name has carried an air of mystery and romance. Today books like The DaVinci Code embellish the myth of the Templars, claims persist that they guarded the most sacred object in Christendom, the Holy Grail. Behind the legend, we explore the real world of the Knight’s Templar, a world built from stone, 800 years ago they constructed some of the finest fortifications ever known. Today much of what they built is crumbling into the landscape. Now a team of experts is journeying back to their world. Using state of the art computer animation they will reveal for the first time in 8 centuries the lost world of the Knight’s Templar.

Jesus's Jerusalem

From Herod's Temple Mount to the Via Dolorosa, visit the places where Jesus walked, preached, and suffered. Tour Jerusalem's network of aqueducts and tunnels that once accomondated vast numbers of pilgrims, and discover the dazzling secrets of the Holy Sanctuary.

Jerusalem, for Christians the most important events in history took place here. The Bible says this is the city where Jesus lived His last days and was crucified. What happened here changed the world. Over 2000 years the city too has changed. Destroyed and reconstructed over 20 times in as many centuries. Only fragments, traces and ruins remain of the Jerusalem that Jesus would have known. Now building on decades of research with state of the art 3D graphic modeling we can reveal what it would have looked like to Him. The streets and gateways through which He would have walked, the complex water system which kept this desert city from thirst, the pools where some say Jesus performed miracles. The Temple complex, the heart of the city and of the Jewish faith, where Jesus taught and prayed, and extraordinary piece of engineering that was razed to the ground almost as soon as it was completed. We will reveal the lost world of the Gospels, Jesus’ Jerusalem.

The First Christians

Certain cities were central to Christianity's growth from a small band of disciples to a powerful and growing religious movement. Tarsus and Ephesus, integral to the story of St. Paul,a re here rebuilt in detail, and the mysterious community of cavedwellers at Cappadocia is explored where some of the earliest Christ churches arr revealed.

In the immediate aftermath of the crucifixion the followers of Jesus numbered barely 100, they were a persecuted underground cult on the verge of being wiped out. Yet within a few decades this cult had thousands of followers throughout the Roman Empire. It spread through mighty cities like Ephesus where previously pagan worshipers had built the Temple of Artemis, one of the wonders of the ancient world. It swept away the old beliefs, it traveled as far as the deserts of Turkey to Cappadocia where a mysterious people carved underground cities and extraordinary churches from volcanic rock. And in the beginning the message of Christianity was carried on the roads that Rome had built for its soldiers by one man, a preacher named Paul. In his life he walked 20,000 miles, bringing change and upheaval wherever he went. Now, using the latest research and computer graphic imaging, a team of experts will try to reveal the world that he knew, the palaces he traveled to and transformed. This is the lost world of St. Paul and the first Christians.