Heaven on Earth

6 x 25 min documentary series

From the dawn of civilization, human beings have used art and architecture as tangible expressions of faith. Heaven on Earth, a six-part documentary series, looks at the many different forms used through the centuries to embody spiritual belief.

Irish broadcaster and author Christy Kenneally is the writer and presenter of the series. He leads the viewer on a journey to sacred places in 14 countries around the world, from a lonely hilltop in Wales to the ancient holy city of Varanasai in India. The series gives viewers a glimpse of many seldom-filmed sights, including the painted ceiling of New York's Temple Emanu-el and the frescoes of Ethiopia's Underground Churches of Lalibela.

"Ever since our ancestors stood upright," Kenneally says, "people have questioned: Is there some power within or beyond our world involved in the lives we lead? The answers to this question are the stories of the great religions, manifested by each culture in monuments of clay, wood and stone."

Prehistoric megaliths, humble synagogues, magnificent temples: all have their tales to tell. Heaven on Earth discovers how and why these structures were created, and what they reveal to us about the human yearning for the divine. Each episode of the series zeroes in on a different faith tradition, from ancient paganism to Buddhist and Hindu beliefs.

The series was directed and produced by Stephen Rooke for TG4 Ireland and S4C Wales with presales to YLE Finland and SRG SSR Switzerland. The series was also supported by the EU Media fund. It has been sold in 12 other countries and has been screened by History International in the USA and VisionTV Canada. It was nominated for the European Broadcasters Union “Golden Link Award” at the Sunnyside of the Doc Festival in June 2004.

Part One: Paganism

Paganism was the bedrock belief on which the great religions of the world were built. To the pagans, God was not up in heaven but down here with us – a life force inhabiting the earth, the sea, the sky and all living things. In this first episode, presenter Christy Kenneally reveals how the handiwork of the pagans expressed their reverence for this life force. His journey takes him to the huge capstone dolmen of Pentre Ifan, Wales, the megalithic cathedral of Newgrange, Ireland, the mysterious standing stones of Carnac, Brittany and the Altamira Caves of Spain. It concludes in the tribal lands of Mali's Dogon people, inheritors of the ancient pagan traditions.

Part Two: Judaism

Wherever the Jewish people have found refuge, they have expressed themselves in art and architecture. Their bequest to the civilized world is the meaning they have fashioned from suffering. This episode takes presenter Christy Kenneally first to Rome; here, in a city where Jews were once paraded as slaves, there now stands the glorious Temple Israelitico, a superb example of Italian/Jewish architecture. Kenneally travels on to visit the humble 14th century Cordoba Synagogue in Spain and the Great Synagogue on Dohany Street in Budapest, a magnificent house of worship that became a place of suffering during the Holocaust. His final destination is Temple Emanu-el on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, a monument to the hope and promise that countless thousands of Jews have found in America.

Part Three: Christianity

Presenter Christy Kenneally begins his exploration of Christian art and architecture on Inishmurray Island off the west coast of Ireland, site of an eighth century monastic settlement that is a Celtic treasure trove of early Christian artifacts. From there he travels to Rome, marveling at the Great Basilica in St. Peter's Square and the frescoes in the Catacombs of San Domitilla. Next, he explores Istanbul's Santa Sophia, a former Christian cathedral that has been transformed into a mosque, and visits an austere Calvinist church in Chene-Paquier, Switzerland. In Ethiopia, Kenneally inspects the Underground Churches of Lalibela, and in France visits Chartres Cathedral, a soaring Medieval hymn to God's glory written in stone. His journey leads finally to Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi's monumental Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, a modernist masterpiece that is perhaps the most extraordinary church anywhere in the world.

Part Four: Islam

In this episode, presenter Christy Kenneally sets out to learn how Muslims have expressed their belief in art and architecture. His exploration begins at the Djenne Mosque in Mali, the largest mud structure in the world. This is followed by a trip to the Jama Masjid Mosque in Delhi, the last great work of Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal. He also visits the Haghia Sophia in Istanbul, and the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain, a stunning synthesis of Moorish and Spanish influences. His final stop is the New York Mosque, built with funding from the governments of Libya, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The power of Islam, Kenneally concludes, lies in the simplicity of its message – a simplicity reflected in the spare and elegant design of its mosques.

Part Five: Hinduism

Presenter Christy Kenneally begins his exploration of Hindu art and architecture in Varanasai, India, the holiest city of Hinduism and the oldest inhabited city in the world. Here, he witnesses the seldom-filmed Hindu cremation rites, and discovers a powerful sense of the spiritual in the ordinary and everyday. Kenneally follows the Ganges River to Mamallapuram, home to many magnificent stone carvings, sculptures and temples, and then journeys on to the Khajuraho complex of temples, whose famed erotic exterior panels shed light on the place of sexuality in Hindu belief.

Part Six: Buddhism

In this final episode, presenter Christy Kenneally journeys in search of the art and architecture of Buddhism. He begins in Bodh Gaya, India, reputed birthplace of Buddhism and home to the magnificent Mahabodh Temple. In Sanchi, India, he explores ancient funeral mounds (or Stupas), each a splendid example of monumental architecture and narrative art. In Borobudur, Indonesia, Kenneally visits the largest Buddhist shrine in the world, a stone pyramid of carvings designed lead the pilgrim through the teachings of the Buddha. And in upstate New York he drops by the placid Chuang Yen Monastery, home to the largest Buddhist statue in the Western hemisphere. The more Kenneally learns about the great artifacts of Buddhism, the more he is led to contemplate the paradoxes of this remarkable faith.

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