Civilisation: The Complete Series

Join celebrated scholar Sir Kenneth Clark as he travels from the ancient Celtic Hebrides across 80,000 miles and 16 centuries to the skyscrapers of New York City, telling the epic tale of Western art and culture. Filmed on location in eleven countries and 118 museums in Europe and America, this magnificent series highlights glorious achievements in architecture, art, philosophy, literature and music. It gives you a close look at the treasures of our past and the extraordinary people who contributed to our lives today.

In 1966 BBC Television embarked on its most ambitious documentary series to date. The eminent art historian Lord Clark was commissioned to write and present an epic examination of Western European culture, defining what he considered to be the crucial phases of its development. Civilisation: Personal View by Lord Clark would be more than two years in the making, with filming in over 100 locations across 13 countries. The lavish series was hailed as a masterpiece when it was first transmitted in 1969.

From the fall of the Roman Empire to the Industrial Revolution and beyond, Clark's compelling narrative is accompanied by breathtaking color photography of Europe's greatest landmarks. This 'history of ideas as illustrated by art and music' remains the benchmark for the numerous programs it inspired.

The Skin of our Teeth - Traveling from Byzantine Ravenna to the Celtic Hebrides, from the Norway of the Vikings to Charlemagne’s chapel at Aachen, Lord Clark illuminates the Dark Ages, the six centuries following the collapse of the Roman Empire (AD400 to AD1000).

The Great Thaw - The sudden reawakening of European civilisation in the 12th Century is traced, from the first manifestations at the Abbey of Cluny to its high point – the building of the cathedral at Chartres.

Romance and Reality - Lord Clark journeys from a château on the Loire, through the hills of Tuscany and Umbria, to the cathedral baptistry at Pisa, as he explores the aspirations and achievements of the Gothic world of the later Middle Ages in France and Italy.

Man-The Measure of All Things - Lord Clark visits Florence, where European thought enjoyed new impetus by rediscovery of its classical past. He also journeys to the palaces at Urbino and Mantua, centres of Renaissance civilisation.

The Hero as an Artist - Papal Rome in the 16th Century, where Christianity and antiquity begin to converge, provides the focus for this look at Michelangelo, Raphael, and da Vinci. Join Lord Clark as he explores the courtyards of the Vatican, the rooms decorated for the Pope by Raphael, and the Sistine Chapel.

Protest and Communication - Lord Clark explores the Reformation, travelling through the Germany of Albrecht Dürer and Martin Luther, the world of Erasmus, the France of Montaigne, and visiting Shakespeare’s England in the reign of Tudor Queen Elizabeth I.

Grandeur and Obedience - Lord Clark visits the Rome of the Counter-Reformation, when Michelangelo, Bernini and Giacomo della Porta produced their masterpieces. The Catholic Church, in its fight against the Protestant North, developed a new splendour symbolised by the glory of St Peter’s.

The Light of Experience - The telescope and microscope revealed new worlds in space and in a drop of water. The realism found in Dutch painting took the observation of human character to a new stage of development.

The Pursuit of Happiness - The harmonious flow and complex symmetry of 18th-century music — the compositions of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart — are reflected in the best rococo architecture of that period, as seen in the churches and palaces of Bavaria.

The Smile of Reason - Polite talk in the elegant salons of 18th-century Paris became the precursor of revolutionary politics. This theme takes Lord Clark from the great European palaces , such as Blenheim and Versailles, to Jefferson’s Monticello.

The Worship of Nature - The belief in the divinity of nature usurped Christianity’s position as the chief creative force in Western civilisation, ushering in the Romantic movement. Examining this force, Lord Clark takes us to Tintern Abbey, the Swiss Alps, and the landscapes of Turner and Constable.

The Fallacies of Hope - The French Revolution led to the dicatorship of Napoleon and the dreary bureaucracies of the 19th Century. The disillusionment of the Romantic artists is traced through the music of Beethoven, the poetry of Byron, the paintings of Delacroix, and the sculptures of Rodin.

Heroic Materialism - Lord Clark’s thoughts on the materialism and humanitarianism of the past 100 years take him from the English industrial landscape of the 19th century to the towering skyscrapers of New York City in the 20th.

When Sir Kenneth Clark was awarded a life peerage in 1969, he also earned the popular nickname, "Lord Clark of Civilisation."