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Meeting the Gods

Neil MacGregor continues his global history, exploring the ways that people expressed religious yearning in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Neil MacGregor retells humanity's history through the objects it has made and this week he is exploring the sophisticated ways that people expressed religious yearning in the 14th and 15th centuries.

In this ominbus edition, Neil encounters the statues of gods and ancestors - in India, Mexico and on Easter Island - and he describes the importance of icon painting in the Orthodox Church.

But he begins with an object designed to connect with Christ himself - a stunning Christian reliquary from medieval Europe made to house a thorn from the crown of thorns

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

Available now

1 hour

Broadcasts

  • Fri 3 Sep 2010 21:00
  • Sun 26 Feb 2012 17:00