The Dark Ages: An Age of Light Trailer

Waldemar Januszczak's landmark BBC4 series on the misunderstood Dark Ages is now available on DVD from the ZCZ Films shop:

The Dark Ages have been misunderstood. History has identified the period following the fall of the Roman Empire with a descent into barbarism -- a terrible time when civilisation stopped. Waldemar Januszczak disagrees. In this landmark 4-part series Waldemar argues that the Dark Ages were a time of great artistic achievement, with new ideas and religions provoking new artistic adventures. He embarks on a fascinating trip across Europe, Africa and Asia, visits the world's most famous collections and discovers hidden artistic gems, all to prove that the Dark Ages were actually an 'Age of Light'.

[markr]

Wow - Waldemar is going to do for the Dark Ages what he did for the Baroque! Hang on, its going to be a crazy ride! Love it! Got to buy it!

[hamel]

Has anyone else noticed the striking similarity between Waldemar Januszczak and Boris the Animal in Men in Black 3?

[deemg]

Hello. May I ask, what song/ songs were used in the trailer??   Thank you very much.  I have watched the series, and I absolutely love it!!

[daveharris]

This would be a better series if it didn't include the fkn awful pizzicato violin soundtrack that seems to be on EVERY documentary program on British TV. Maybe the TV companies could hire a musician with more than one sample CD.

[TKMINES]

Love your art doc. and every thing with Waldemar hosting . went to zcz web page to order but find them unaffordable .  so will have to wait for someone to up lode to you tube

[uiberogeoHistoria]

I´m History teacher. how can I get this complete video with spanish subtitles?

[SuperGreatSphinx]

Áve María, grátia pléna, Dóminus técum.
Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus frúctus véntris túi, Iésus.
Sáncta María, Máter Déi, óra pro nóbis peccatóribus, nunc et in hóra mórtis nóstrae.
Ámen.

[RicardoLOPEZ-vkch]

DEMENTIA GALAXY: yo también deseo saber qué tema musical (what song is) el que se escucha en este trailer, es hermoso, is wonderful, si lo averiguas por favor compartelo, te lo agradeceré!!! gracias- tank you!

[RamonRCorao]

First of all I want to congratulate Waldemar Januszczak for the series. However, in this last chapter I miss that he did not comment on the politics and art of the Kingdom of Asturias (718-924). A unique art that only developed in this territory and that has architecture, painting and goldsmithing. All the best.

[garymingy]

It's not a bad tune, and they seem to be trying to murder it, rightiously, well that's art ! It moved me, a plus ! ..anger is btw acceptable, so get over it, or turn down the sound, it's an art series anyway ...b swell!

[firstutubewatcher]

There is nothing more annoying than a documentarian who deliberately misrepresents by omission. Nowhere in this documentary about what inspired the art of islam is it mentioned that all mosques were inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Also courtyards already existed centuries before Islam, how absurd to say that Spanish courtyards come from Muslims. Moreover, Spain never existed when Arabs occupied Cordoba, only the Iberian peninsula, after all there were other kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula while the muslims were there.

There is also something very unsettlingly bigoted about this documentary where Mr. Januszczak states that rock crystal art by Muslims was fine art filled with light but that rock crystal art by Christians was shadowy and spooky art. Ironically, his example to prove this bigoted point showed the opposite, as the Christian rock crystal art looks more like a modern day work of fine art that reflects light beautifully.

Another bigoted observation by Mr. Januszczak is that, for him, it's acceptable and beautiful for Muslims to have pilfered churches and Roman temples and then reuse their columns for Mosques, while it's ungainly for Christians to have turned a mosque into a Christian church. As for the half a million inhabitants of Cordoba, that many historians allege existed there, well, there existed no census at the time so that number is a wild guess, and there could very well just have been 100, 000. Historians are very irresponsible when they play such political games with history.

Finally, religion and science are not the same, there is no such thing as Christian science or Islamic science. The Bible and the Koran do not contain scientific astronomical information; the fact is scientists have a religion but religion is not scientific. So shame on you, Mr januszczak, for trying to conflate science with religion.

[conoroneill]

i wasnt sure if i should take this guy seriously or not. all the scenes are so obviously staged and cliche, i get the feeling he is unstable on his feet? drinker? are we all sure he didnt just make this film just to upset those modern goths? ALSO and more importantly please check his facts as i am sure he hasn't even got the migration patterns right and i felt he brought heavy bias to the subject in this film.

[vondrexler]

i agree, enough with this fuckin load music. can't hear what's been said.