Beneath the Mysterious Canals Of Venice | Ancient Mysteries (S3, E20) | Full Episode | History

it's a city that was born out of fear  and desperation to escape invading hordes   it would rise from the water to  dazzle the world with its splendor   and to shock it with debauchery and executions   how and why did man conquer nature to build venice  and is it doomed to one day sink beneath the waves for fifteen hundred years it's been the impossible  city standing bravely alone defying time and tide   built on the flimsy foundation  of tiny muddy islands   is surrounded by waters that  might easily overwhelm it   venice is a monument to mankind's will to survive  in a struggle against the raw forces of nature   and although man has so far won the struggle  might nature still have the final decisive word in converting a swampy lagoon into a jewel of  western civilization the venetians had to invent   a whole new way of life one that was so well  planned that has hardly changed from ancient   times till today unlike most ancient capitals  the city would still be recognizable to former   citizens like marco polo who sailed from here in  the 1200s on his legendary expedition to china the early venetians overcame monumental hurdles  they were forced to find new ways to build new ways to move about their city new ways to survive without enough land to grow  food but the venetians did more than just survive   they built a city that would dominate europe  commanding an empire of enormous wealth and   they built one of the world's first democracies  which they jealously defended with an iron fist   anyone suspected of undermining the  state faced torture and execution but none of this was in the minds of the  first venetians when they came to the lagoon   they were simply trying to avoid a  violent and bloody death on the mainland during the 400s a.d italy was a dangerous place to  live it was a target for murderers raiding parties   barbarian warriors from the north including the  infamous scourge of god attila the hun swept   through italy in an orgy of killing and looting  that would bring the roman empire to its knees no one suffered more than the  residents of northeastern italy   to escape a brutal fate at the hands  of the barbarians thousands fled to   the only refuge they could find a big swamp  near the adriatic sea the venetian lagoon six thousand years ago the lagoon was dry  land part of the italian mainland but with   the end of the ice age water and sediment poured  down from the alps turning this section of the   plane into a series of small muddy islands  surrounded by 200 square miles of water it was never a popular place to live it was the  occasional home to a few fishermen hunters and   salt producers it had no fresh water and no land  for crops but that's what made it a good shelter   from the barbarians the invaders could not be  bothered chasing the refugees out into the lagoon at first the refugees would only stay until each  raid was over and then returned to the mainland first people came out here would never have had  the idea that they're going to form a city because   there's no building material out here there's  nothing to build with you have to bring the wood   you have to create a surface that you can stand  on or walk on the sort of sediment that forms   in the gloom is very sticky if you walk in it you  sink in it you can't really easily live out here but the barbarian raids on the mainland became  more frequent and one germanic tribe the lombards   even decided to stay and colonize northern italy  and so many italian mainlanders became venetians   building permanent homes in the lagoon they  were not the roman style stone structures   they were used to but wooden huts that were  light enough not to sink into the muddy marsh against the odds they began to create a  community among the reeds and the tides   a visitors letter from the  year 523 describes the scene you live like seabirds with your homes  dispersed across the surface of the water   your boats are tied like horses to the doors of  your dwellings opposed to the wildness of the sea venice was created out of a sense of   of fear of uh desperation but also i see a  lot of self-determination when people that once they arrived here they decided okay   this is better than submitting  to the lombards and we stay here how could venetians survive in a legume that  provided no fresh water and no land for growing   crops necessity decreed that they would have to  become traitors it's the only way they could get   what they needed to live and here the surrounding  waters themselves provided the key to riches well there was one positive thing that you could  actually do out here you couldn't drink this water   but the salt in it if you make open   salt pans and let it evaporate  you can then actually produce salt in the ancient world with no refrigeration  the power of salt to preserve food made it   one of the most valuable substances on earth  edible gold it was called the nations could   now trade for the wealth they needed to turn  a swampy settlement of huts into a great city   but money was not enough how could they  build a city on soft mud coming up we'll   see how venetian builders attempted the  impossible and managed to pull it off by the 600s a.d things were only getting  worse for the residents of northeastern italy   they were under the punishing heel of the invading  german barbarians the lombards more and more   italians joined the exodus to the venetian lagoon  even bishops wanted to move their churches there but that posed a huge challenge how could stone  churches possibly be built on the soft mud of the   islands through trial and error the venetians  searched for a solution and finally hit on an   idea if they drove long wooden logs deep into the  settlement until they hit firmer earth then just   maybe they could create a foundation to  build a church as fine as those on dry land the big problem they have is the uh out in  the lagoon there's very soft spongy sediments   it's very hard you can't just come out and build  a house you have to create a foundation using some   wooden poles and you have to do something like  this i'm going to push this in and we're going   to go down into the sediment you see how quick  soft that is this is just a piece of plastic   not a piece of wood and it's going right down down  down you can even see the board i'm standing on is   going down and you see that that's almost four  feet now the problem is gonna be to pull it up so this gives you an idea of just how  soft and mucky this sort of sediment is undaunted the venetians kept refining their  new technology they drove thousands of   wooden poles deep into the damp sediment  until they hit more solid ground below   they couldn't use metal poles because they'd  rust but wood underwater can last indefinitely   these trunks of wood while they're under the water  and not in contact with air become increasingly   like stone they petrify and they remain there and   they're they're stronger and stronger and  stronger all the time so they don't rot on top of the poles the venetians laid wooden  crossbeams to spread the weight of the building   on top of that they laid a foundation  made of water-resistant marble   and finally on top of that they  could start laying the bricks in the year 639 a.d the builders  put their theory into practice   and the result was magnificent against  all probability they had managed to build   a cathedral on mud on the island of torchella  with this building the venetians had done more   than build the church they had announced to the  world that the lagoon was their permanent home all this meant that they were determined to  stay tricello is in a way the the beginning of   of settling down in the lagoon and this  will be a very long and gradual process   which will transform barren map flats into   one the wonderful city that we can experience  today it was you know like the first step the torcello cathedral showed that the  venetians were brilliant improvisers   in more ways than one having no  building materials of their own   they literally carried their bishop's old  church from the mainland out into the lagoon the big problem is where do you get  enough bricks to make this thing   the materials again and what they will probably  do initially when they built that first church   they will bring the bricks over from the old  church they will disassemble put on boats   and bring four miles out here  into the lagoon the old church the daring project was not an immediate success   archaeologists have found that the church  was rebuilt several times in its early   life those first builders may have discovered  the problem that still threatens venice today   subsidence the tendency for the muddy land to  sink lower in the water dramatic evidence of   the problem can be seen with bell towers  all over the lagoon they lean because the   mud beneath them varies in firmness so the two  sides of a building can sink at different rates with the venetians now erecting buildings that  reflected their wealth from the salt trade   the lagoon's fame began to grow now  ironically it became a place worth invading   the first to try was pepin the king of the  franks in 810 but although they had the stronger   army the franks did not have the sailing skills  necessary to fight in this strange environment the franks had also come up  against a danger in the lagoon   that would plague venetians  themselves for centuries   malaria many franks were struck down and their  king pepin was dead within weeks of their retreat but even though the venetians  had survived the invasion   they made radical changes to defend  themselves against future attacks   in the early 800s they created a new capital  on a group of largely deserted islands in the   middle of the lagoon which were protected  by more than two miles of water on all   sides the new settlement was called the rialto  and would become the heart of modern venice one huge advantage of the new capital  was the natural water channels that   ran right through it including the grand  canal perfect for venetian trading boats   natural canals and others made by hand  would become the streets of their city   of them are the very old ones like the grand  canal where we are right now we can see on   maps going back but we know in many other places  where there's very straight canals that go online   they artificially straightened them out and  made long ones which were good for commercial   things so that supplies could be brought in they  probably just would dam it up with wood on the end   and then you know just dig it out with shovels and  stuff with probably very simple basic technology   one of the first things venetians wanted for  their new capital was respect and they soon   found a way to get the world's attention around  the year 829 according to legend two venetian   merchants were sent to alexandria in egypt where  the evangelist saint mark was buried they bribed   the guardians of the shrine to give them the  body the merchants then carried it to their   ship and covered it with pork to avoid the muslim  officials and sailed it triumphantly to venice the venetians had barely  settled on their new capital   the rialto islands when they had to build a  resting place worthy of their patron saint   mark the evangelist recently stolen from egypt  what they built was saint mark's basilica   one of the world's great churches it was begun in  the 830s and rebuilt over the next two centuries   recent scientific work has shown exactly  what the venetians were up against   when they attempted such a huge project  core samples of the soil around the basilica   showed that the ancient builders had to drive  their foundation poles down more than 15 feet   until they found the level where the  soft mud changes into firm compacted sand now the important thing is if you're going to  build a big building like the basilica of saint   mark's here if you can get your wooden poles  to go all the way through these sediments down   to the top of the sands which you see here this is  much more resistant it holds the poles much better   where if your poles are still in this kind of soft  sediment it has less ability to carry a big weight   what we can now see in retrospect is  the venetians were very lucky to build   their big buildings on this sort of island of sand the basilica ushered in an age of wondrous  building in venice that would captivate the world   to the present day this would be a city built on a  petrified forest some buildings needed more than a   million wooden poles beneath them to prevent them  from sinking beneath the water so brilliant with   the early venetians in devising a way to define  nature with their monumental structures that some   have lasted more than a thousand years and to this  day the basic method has not changed wooden poles   are still used for foundations although now is  machines instead of men that supply the power venetian architects became so bold  in their battle with the environment   that they began building palatial houses right  in the canals themselves facing the tides and that was because the owners were merchants  and their residence was their home but it was   also the place where they conducted business so  it was very easy for the boats coming back from   the east with the merchandise to stop near the  palace and to load and unload the merchandise the floor at sea level was the warehouse  the living quarters were upstairs   these canal palaces were able to survive the dam   because the brick foundation was reinforced  with a special waterproof material   venetian merchants had discovered on the other  side of the adriatic sea history and marble so that was stoner had to be imported all the way  uh to venice to the lagoon and this is a stone   uh which is very resistant it doesn't perish  very easily the venetians understood that and   it could take the lapping of water without  much damage and in fact it's still there while the rest of europe in the middle ages  was fearfully building castles for protection   the nations were building open fronted  palaces anxious to display their wealth   the venetians had come to this lagoon for refuge  and surrounded by its waters they still felt safe   there was another reason too for their showy  confidence they had begun using their mastery   of the water to create an empire that would  dominate western civilization the time they   first fled into the lagoon the venetians were  forced to become master boatmen it was the   only way they could get around the lagoon and  they also had to trade far and wide to survive then as now every aspect of life was dominated  by the water horses were never allowed and today   cars are banned in venice everything goes by  boat from deliveries of life's necessities to emergency services to business commuters the early venetians were as inventive in designing  their boats as they were with churches and palaces   more than a thousand years ago they invented a new  type of boat for gliding over the shallow canals   the gondola is built with a slim howl and a flat  underside and is skewed to make it maneuverable in   even the narrowest places but it was ocean-going  ships that would change the destiny of venice   fate had forced them to trade for their livelihood   so they turned necessity into a virtue they  would become the greatest traitors in the world it was very logical in a way  because venice is in the water   so the people were both people you know they  were experienced in seafaring so they devoted   all their energies to uh to trading and they  became a very uh powerful and wealthy merchants dennis built the greatest ocean-going fleet in  the world their shipyard called the arsenal began   turning out ships at the rate of one a  day by the 1300s nearly 3 000 ships were   sailing under the venetian flag venice was  dominating european trade selling their salt   and importing luxury goods from the east to resell  to the west popular items sold included spices   silk and pearls the venetian coin think of it  like the american dollar today they have found   venetian coins in china all over um it it was it  was really the the leading currency for centuries venice's fortunes were so closely linked to  the sea that the two were literally married   every year the venetian ruler the doge would  throw a golden ring into the sea with the words   we wed the oc in token of  our true and lasting dominion venetian merchants were famous  for their adventurous spirit   one of them marco polo made it all the way  to china in the late 1200s and according   to legend brought home a new type of  cooking italians had not seen before   pasta marco polo set european minds racing with  his tales of the rich exotic east inspiring   another italian to find a new way of reaching  china by sea his name was christopher columbus venetian ships were not designed purely for  trade however they were also designed for war they were great fighting forces and the  merchant families were expected to raise   a crew and take out a galley  to fight in the various wars   and they had great ambitions always for  merchant activity and to defend those routes   and their commerce and to get the best trading  conditions they were ready to fight for it many of venice's sea battles were fought to defend  its trade empire but banners could also go on the   attack in 1202 europe's christian crusaders needed  ships for their mission to win jerusalem back from   the muslims venice let them rent its fleet  but seeing a chance for more earthly rewards   the venetians steered the fleet to  constantinople which today is istanbul in turkey   then it was the richest city in the known world  and the capital of the eastern roman empire the venetians helped to overrun and loot the city   hauling huge quantities of gold marble  art and holy relics back to venice itself venice had shown it would do whatever it  took to expand its wealth and as we'll   see the city could be just as ruthless at  home where opposition was met with torture   and execution building a city in the water  created a huge challenge for the venetians   it also gave them some unique advantages the  water protected venetians from mainland europe   and turned them into the world's  greatest sailors the key to their wealth but the isolation by water brought more subtle  benefits too because they were huddled together   on a few small islands the venetians developed a  fierce communal pride in their city in fact every   trading ship was commanded to bring back riches  to increase the splendor of saint mark's basilica the sense of shared destiny meant  that unlike most of medieval europe   which was living under kings and warlords  venice developed its own brand of democracy   a grand council of 2000 members rich and poor  would elect the city's leader the doge and power   was shared among them it's a system that would be  adapted centuries later by a country then unknown   there was a tremendous attention on things that  actually americans used when they um developed   their government of things that we would call  like checks and balances there was um great   attention to never let any single person  or single family to become too powerful venetians were almost paranoid in their  desire to prevent anyone from overriding or   undermining their system a special  box called a lion's mouth was set up   so that citizens could leave anonymous letters  detailing alleged plots by their neighbors   those found guilty faced a horrible prospect  venetian prisons were infamous for their   instruments of torture including those for tearing  out teeth and tongues and for crushing skulls there were many um people sort of put to death for  infringing anything that might harm the republic   they had their spies everywhere of course um  they and anybody who might uh be suspected of   acting for some foreign power would certainly be  arrested and thrown into the prisons and tortured   and hanged on the piazza there between  the two columns there was there was no   no mercy at all they were very cruel at the time in the 1400s a frenchman was hanged in the  square outside the doge's palace simply for   having been overheard to say that he would  like to wash his hands in venetian blood no one was immune including the head of  government in 1355 a doge named marin fire   a hot-tempered man in his 70s was infuriated  when a young nobleman accused failure's wife   of cheating on him in revenge found you  applauded with others to massacre all the   young nobility and to have himself made  prince of venice the plot was uncovered   fire himself was quickly beheaded and  his body dumped in an unmarked grave but despite its merciless  treatment of conspirators   the venetian government was not a reign of terror   its republic lasted more than a thousand  years because venetians supported it there   was never a single uprising the venetian state  provided welfare measures unheard of elsewhere   from the 1300s venice provided doctors for a  state-run medical service and also gave the poor   free legal representation venice's wealth was used  to support not just the poor but great artists too the fact that these venetian merchants  became wealthy and wealthier and then   even more wealthy meant that they had money  to spend on things that were not essential   and art is one of those things venice gave  the world some of his greatest artists   including painters like teishan and bellini  and composers like vivaldi and monteverdi thousands of miles away unseen by the nations  the seeds of their empire's destruction were   being sown venice had dominated ocean trade for  centuries but in 1492 italian christopher columbus   on a mission for spain discovered the americas  opening a whole new world of trade for europe   only a few years later the  portuguese found a new way to asia   sailing around africa's cape of good  hope venice's age of dominance was over venice's ships were built to deal  with the mediterranean waters   small round ships there was just  this problem that venice the ships   were outmoded and couldn't deal with with  the rougher waters of the new trade routes closer to home venice was being  challenged by the new turkish empire   and a series of bloody battles  left venice badly weakened   by the 16th and 1700s venice had become famous  not for its power but his decadence as its role   on the world stage grew less and less important  venice became a pleasure capital with many   citizens squandering the fortunes their  families had built up over centuries gambling became an uncontrollable city-wide craze  gaming tables were found in noblemen's houses   barbershops coffee houses and were  even set up in the main square   many women were said to be such compulsive  gamblers that they would give themselves to   anyone who would give them the chance to play  venice was also full of ladies of pleasure   cortisones was the name they used one english  writer estimated there were twenty thousand   courtesans in venice the city became known as  the brothel of europe and wealthy young european   men would go there as part of their education the  city's reputation was made even more infamous by   the venetian ladies man casanova who was jailed in  the 1750s for outrages against the holy religion kazanova published a book exaggerating his  conquests and wrote that in venice the nuns   made the most exciting lovers and that there was  not one in the city who couldn't be had for money   venice's decadence would spell the demise  of the region as an independent state   finally in 1797 the french army under napoleon  bonaparte marched into the city unopposed   after a thousand years the  republic had become a colony   then has remained in foreign hands until  it became part of a unified italy in 1870 but venice's oldest foe  had still not been overcome   its struggle against nature was still being  fought coming up we'll find answers to the   questions that have haunted venice throughout  history is the city sinking and can it survive for 1500 years the city in the sea has  been winning its battle against nature   a triumph of human ingenuity  over a hostile environment   but in 1966 mother nature let venice know  that the battle is not yet over a huge tide   swept in putting venice six feet below sea  level and causing millions of dollars of damage   as the lagoon and the canals overflowed  no corner of the city was spared it meant that the ground  floors were already absolutely   water soldered and the salt water got  into the brickwork which is the core   of the walls and goes on climbing up it's  it's got in there now it'll go on working   in the walls for years and that produces salt  crystals which gradually disintegrate the bricks it was a stunning reminder of a fact that  venetians had known for centuries but had chosen   to ignore that the city is inevitably sinking from  the day that any building goes up it starts to   sink slowly but surely because the sediment  beneath it is settling lower in the lagoon   to make things worse the world's sea  level has been slowly rising for centuries   a potential disaster for a city built  at sea level together the two factors   mean that venice has been sinking about four to  five inches every century since it was founded   in older buildings on the canals the water has now  risen above the layer of the waterproof marble the   city has sunk a bit and then you have to take into  consideration the rising of the sea level as well   so now the water is lapping onto the bricks  which are on top of the stones and then you   get a lot of damage but this is something that  the venetians couldn't anticipate of course one venetian palace which graphically shows the  problem is the catamasto built 750 years ago   the sediment underneath is sinking unevenly  so that the palace now tilts to the right but the bigger problem is that when the high tide  comes in as it does twice every day water covers   the original loading platform and the bases of the  columns which should be well above the water line the situation has really changed  dramatically these are the original columns   and as we see they're actually in the water  this was the deck where you unloaded your   merchandise your wool your various spices  all of these things and that surface there   would have been two to three feet above the  water level so what we can see is the sinking   of this over the last 750 years has led to  it actually going down almost three feet the sinking is threatening to eat away parts  of venice's most famous building of all   inside saint mark's basilica is one of the lowest  points in venice walk down some stairs and you're   inside the original crypt where the saint was  first laid to rest nearly 1200 years ago now he   rests upstairs away from the basement crypts where  gushing waters have intruded in recent centuries the crypt room was originally  built three feet above sea level   but now it's a foot below and vulnerable  flooding of a foot or two has been common   and in 1966 water poured down the  stairs and filled the entire room the crypt was completely invaded by the flood  waters the only parts left untouched were a   few air pockets at the top it took about a  month to empty the crypt and clean it out even in normal times water seeps  in from the surrounding canals   leaving the walls caked in salt which eats the  bricks a problem that affects the whole city   after the restoration you find that the salt keeps  seeping out of the wall as you can clearly see   the salt really hurts the bricks  making them brittle and easy to break but not all of venice's  problems are caused by nature   many of them are created  by the venetians themselves in the canals the engines of modern boats are  undermining the foundations of the buildings the propeller creates the most damaging kind  of vortex underneath in the water and therefore   damaging whatever foundation it's near to  in quite a number of places they've had to   repair the foundations there  because of that continuing   uh erosion by the action of  the propellers of the boats man's interference has even accelerated  the sinking of the whole city   for much of this century the lagoon floor was  pumped to provide water and gas for industry that   alone caused the city to sink an extra couple of  inches until the pumping was stopped in the 1970s but even so the natural  sinking of venice continues   if some kind of solution is not  found venice will gradually disappear throughout their history the answer  venetians have come up with is simply   to keep one step ahead of the water by  building up the ground level with landfill   archaeologists digging beneath saint  mark's square have found that has been   built up nearly 10 feet since the first  settlement over a thousand years ago because of the sinking of venice and also certain  changes and so forth they had to build up the land   and what we see in these boxes in this core  in this several feet of sediments is actually   that sequence of getting the land surface up  to a higher height to keep above the water   here's a good example of a archaeological find  which is occurring this is about four and a half   feet and we can see this is a piece of tile  which is actually bigger than i thought it's   very big look at that this is part of probably a  rooftop which has been thrown in as probably phil but landfill can't go on forever because the  ground floors of buildings would be covered up   so now a different solution is being discussed  plans have been drawn up for huge floodgates   to be put at the mouth of the lagoon to  stop dangerously high tides from coming in the problem is that venice as a living city  depends on the tides to wash the canals each day   the tides are literally the sewage removal  system even with the tides the canals often   have to be drained and scraped out walling out the  sea would be swapping one problem for another some   experts now describe venice as being like a sick  patient constantly revived but never really cured if venice continues to sink  about six inches per century   then the city will reach the point where the  sea level is much higher than the city itself therefore we will have to create some kind  of basin where the water level in the city is   lower than the surrounding sea that's something  for future scientists it's a very tough problem but whatever they do do the venetians really  have any say in the ultimate fate of their city   scientists say that with global warming  the world's ice regions are melting so fast   that the sea level in the future  might rise more quickly than ever   maybe as much as one whole foot in the next  century over the next thousand years there   are catastrophic predictions that the seas  might rise fifty to a hundred feet that would   obliterate hundreds of world cities venice  would simply be one of the first to disappear   eventually the city that seemed impossible  to build may prove impossible to save you

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Length: 43min 17sec (2597 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 09 2020