Neil MacGregor concludes his series about shared beliefs. He began with the Lion Man, an object created 40,000 years ago, and now reflects on the present, on the future and on hopeProducer Paul Kobrak The series is produced in partnership with

The Search for a State

Nov 30th, 2017 14m 10s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on shared beliefs with a look at the attempts of some faiths to establish a state of their own.An over-printed coin from 2nd century Jerusalem tells of the failed attempt of Shimon bar Kokhba to lay claim to

Turning the Screw

Nov 29th, 2017 14m 33s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on shared beliefs with a focus on those faiths seen as a threat to the state.A plain board, to be found on a 17th-century Japanese roadside, offers generous rewards to anyone who informs on Christians. At alm

Living with No Gods

Nov 28th, 2017 14m 24s

Neil MacGregor focuses on societies which aimed to live without religious beliefs. Neil examines a revolutionary clock, from around 1795, created in the wake of the French Revolution, and designed to mark a new way of living: in an age of reaso

Ruling with the Gods

Nov 27th, 2017 14m 16s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on shared beliefs with a focus on earthly rulers and the gods. Queens and kings may be priests of the gods, or their representatives. They may be incarnations - or even gods themselves. Or the relationship ma

Gods Living Together

Nov 24th, 2017 14m 33s

Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on how faiths co-exist in India.Producer Paul KobrakProduced in partnership with the British MuseumPhotograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.

Global Gods, Local Needs

Nov 23rd, 2017 14m 22s

Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on gods can reach new communities, and how those communities can then adapt and change the faiths. Producer Paul KobrakProduced in partnership with the Brit

The Other Side of the Leaf

Nov 22nd, 2017 14m 16s

Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on societies who believe that they share the landscape with co-inhabitants who are not visible but are present. Such belief systems can be found in places s

Living with One God

Nov 21st, 2017 14m 22s

Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on societies and faiths with a single god. Using objects from both ancient Babylon and ancient Egypt, Neil examines how one god could become central to worship

Living with Many Gods

Nov 20th, 2017 14m 11s

Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on societies living with many gods. In the mid-1840s, a Roman earthenware jar was dug from the earth near Felmingham Hall in Norfolk. Inside, excavators found

Rejecting the Image

Nov 16th, 2017 14m 11s

Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a reflection on faiths which focus on the word rather than the image. A striking cobalt blue mosque lamp, from around 1570, shows an Islamic way of doing honour to the

Change Your Life

Nov 16th, 2017 14m 15s

Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on images which seek to change the viewer's behaviour. A small coloured wood-cut, created in the Netherlands around 1500, offers a particularly gruesome ren

The Making of Meaning

Nov 15th, 2017 14m 24s

Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on how we come to comprehend sacred images. Our understanding of the rock art created by the San people of southern Africa over many centuries is helped by

Replicating the Divine

Nov 14th, 2017 14m 18s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on the making of divine images. For the painter of a Russian religious icon, the paramount purpose is the continuation of a tradition, in which the painter see

The Protectoresses

Nov 13th, 2017 14m 22s

Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues this week with a focus on images. In Mexico, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe came not from the hand of an artist, but was directly given from heaven - according to its h

Festivals

Nov 10th, 2017 14m 27s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on festivals, and their role in shaping a communal identity.Producer Paul KobrakProduced in partnership with th

To Be a Pilgrim

Nov 9th, 2017 14m 21s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on pilgrimage, and its role in Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. Producer Paul KobrakProduced in partnership wi

Holy Killing

Nov 8th, 2017 14m 19s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on sacrifice.. Displayed in the British Museum is a finely-crafted Aztec knife, dating from around 1500, with a

Gifts to the Gods

Nov 7th, 2017 14m 16s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on offerings. High in the Andes in Colombia, the indigenous Muisca population consigned highly-wrought gold fig

The House of God

Nov 6th, 2017 14m 15s

Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on the creation of sacred spaces, built for encountering or engaging with the divine.Stone tablets in the British Museum detail how a temple was designed and f

The Power of Song

Nov 3rd, 2017 14m 5s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. He focuses on a Kirchenpelz or 'church fur' - a sheepskin coat made in the late 19th century in Transylvania, now part of R

Lines of Communication

Nov 2nd, 2017 14m 12s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. He focuses on prayer, reflecting on how this most highly individualized of activities is also a profoundly communal act, wi

Becoming an Adult

Nov 1st, 2017 14m 5s

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. He focuses on rites of passage, marking the transition from childhood to adulthood, including a lock of bound hair, from th