The ancient world knew seven wonders of the world, the UNESCO counts more than nine hundred treasures today. Germany's most successful documentary series, TERRA X wants to introduce this heritage of humanity to a wide audience of 4-5 million viewers in Germany alone each Sunday night prime time.
The presenter, Sir Christopher Clark, Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge, discovers magical places and cultures that belong to mankind's world heritage. This includes man-made masterpieces, intangible cultural heritage, and overwhelming monuments of nature. The enormous energies of mankind throughout history and of nature can be felt.
The journey takes you around the world. As we enter the fascinating world of the mountains, deserts, rivers and forests, caves, temples, gardens, cathedrals, and a largely unknown culture on all continents, we hear their stories. Each of those places, each culture also tells the myths and legends on which they were built. And the viewer’s awareness of UNESCO’s invaluable work is being raised.
The places we visit with Christopher Clark are oftentimes like gates to another world. With their magic – and often with colorful ceremonies – they remind us that life is more mysterious and miraculous than we can guess. With complex 3D state of the art animations, often based on scientific material provided by the UNESCO, the World Heritage Sites and their sunken cultures are brought to life again – and we also see how the great natural wonders of the planet have emerged.
“Planet of Treasures” is created in collaboration with UNESCO and is a hymn to the beauty of the earth and the wonder of different cultures. The presenter meets people who live with these miracles today and who are still deeply connected with them – the descendants of ancient civilizations, and yet arrivals to the advancing modernity. These days, in which wealth and diversity of life are so endangered as they haven’t been before in history, we must remember the creative powers of our planet. It is now about preserving all its treasures – and protecting them from destruction by environmental influences, but also from terror. Many are in acute danger. Terra X preserves in 4K quality the things which are endangered. And “Treasures of the Planet” also documents the precious and indispensible work of UNESCO in terms of conservation and restoration.
The series shows the exciting strategies that are used to preserve the World Heritage at every place it presents. And impressively we see: It is possible to preserve the heritage of the planet for future generations. In this sense, the series, with its seasons, could become a unique encyclopedia of the treasures of our world over the years. And thus, a newly-told story of the planet and humanity that populates it. There is no phase and no highlight of the world’s and nature’s history that is not included in the UNESCO World Heritage. And as we move across the planet, on all continents, amazing parallelism and opposites become visible, common patterns and essential differences. This makes “Planet of Treasures” a comprehensive and exciting history of the world.
“Planet of Treasures” is shot in German and English (for worldwide distribution) and is to be accompanied on the Terra X website.
All six episodes of the first season can be watched on the ZDF media centre.