CH4 - Paradise Found: Discovering Islamic Art (2005)

This documentary tells the fascinating and largely unknown story of Islamic art, decoration, and architecture. The film's discoveries and will surprise many Muslims as well as Westerners.
Paradise. We imagine many things when we think of this word. However, we do not think about Islamic Architecture, which influenced the art of Europe so profoundly. This documentary tours through the Muslim world, in search of that "atmosphere of Paradise," hidden away in mosques and palaces. Along the way art scholar Waldemar Januszczak meets local historians and experts - as well as an array of weavers, calligraphers, potters, and jewelers - who contribute their knowledge of this fascinating art-historical field.
In this program, Januszczak travels through the heart of the Middle East and beyond to study a wide range of Islamic architecture, decoration, and art objects. Providing helpful historical background on the faith - with an eye on the explosive spread of early Islamic culture-the program examines the pristine beauty of India's Taj Mahal as well as one of the world's oldest surviving mosques, and what may be its most spectacular: the Great Mosque in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Dispelling the myth that Islam forbids all pictorial images, Januszczak analyzes mosaics commissioned by Umayyad caliphs Al-Walid I & II - including one uninhabited cityscape that seems to depict heavenly paradise.