"In this program, art critic Waldemar 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 and II -- including one uninhabited cityscape that seems to depict heavenly paradise." -- Container.

DVD.

Narrator, Waldemar Januszczak.

Music, Simon Russell; camera, Simon Niblett; editor, Oscar Chan.