World’s Greatest Palaces: Secrets of Royal Power and Luxury

Welcome to Pilot Globe Guides. In this episode, we'll be taking a look at some of the world's most spectacular palaces, from European grandeur to the enchantment of the Far East. Originally built to protect and defend, later to impress and house royalty, palaces today can be fairytale visions, magnificent museums, or even fabulous hotels. So join travelers Ian Wright, Adela Yukar, Megan McCormick, Justine Shapiro, Christina Chang and Estelle Bingham as they guide you around some of the most regal dwellings in the world. Many of Europe's palaces were constructed between the mid-15th and 19th centuries, but Justine begins by visiting the breathtaking city of Venice and a palace dating back to the early 14th century. If you want an idea of just how wealthy and powerful Venice was in its heyday, then visit the Doge's Palace. This was the heart of the Venetian government and home to the Doge, who was the leader of the Venetian Republic. It's a kind of parliament, the White House, and Alcatraz all rolled into one. This staircase is where the Doge would enter the palace between the god of the sea and the god of war, both symbolically protecting his palace. But lesser mortals like me have to use the commoner's entrance. The Doge's Palace was built during the golden age of the Venetian Republic and everything about it is meant to impress. Venice acquired its wealth through trading and as a result its influence spread far and wide. The government rooms boast some of the most important works of art of the time. Paintings by Veronese and Tintoretto cover the ceilings and walls depicting scenes of Venetian glory and conquest. But not everything in the palace is so lavish. I'm inside the Bridge of Sighs, the Ponte dei Suspiri. Basically it's a tunnel overpass that runs from the Doge's Palace to the prison and it's called the Bridge of Sighs because as the prisoners were led to the prison, they'd stop here at these slats, take their last look at Venice and sigh their final sigh of freedom. This is the Grand Council Chambers. This is where the Venetian electorate would assemble. And that painting over there is the longest painting in the world. It was painted by Tintoretto in the late 1500s and he didn't finish it before he died so he had his son finish it for him. The painting's called Paradise, but it's so crowded it looks more like Calcutta to me. Francesco D'Amosto comes from a long line of Venetian aristocracy and has an insider's knowledge of the Doge's. So what is a Doge? The Doge was not a king. Venice was not a monarchy but a republic, an aristocratic republic, and he was elected by the Great Council. And for how long did he serve his term? For his life. Life term. And just in here on the top of the walls there are all the Doge's that ruled Venice in the long history of the republic. One after the other. One is missing. The bad apple, yes. The bad apple Doge. Yeah. They put a black cloth on him. Where is that? Yeah, it's that one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was Marin Faliero, his name. Marin Faliero. Yeah. And he tried to... He tried to become king. Uh-huh. But the plot was foiled. The plot was foiled. Yeah. And what did they do to him? Perfect machine. Yeah. On the giant staircase, they chop off his head. Uh-huh. The Doge after him, when he was elected, he gave money to everyone. Just to be sure that, you know, it's a little scary. Yeah. And don't you have some Doge in your background? No. You don't have any Doge blood? No, no, thanks. No, blood, no. No. No Doge blood. Well, then I don't need to speak with you any further. Only wives of Doge. Sorry. You have... Why isn't Doge blood? Two wives of Doge, yes. Oh, that's good. But I think that not having a Doge may be a blessing in disguise. Yes. Another city renowned for its exquisite art and architecture is Paris. And just a short day trip out of the city is one of the world's most visited palaces. Adela Yukar takes a trip to the Palace of Versailles. The palace was originally a hunting lodge. The extravagant King Louis XIV had it extended and made into his principal home in 1682, where it housed thousands of members of the royal court. The gardens were designed by landscape artist André Le Nôtre, who flattened hills, drained marshes and relocated forests. Today, visitors can still enjoy a leisurely row on the Grand Canal. I'm about to meet a very prominent French historian who specializes in 18th century history, Madame Evelyne Le Verre. Hello! How are you? Very pleased to meet you, Adela. Pleased to meet you, too, as well. Here we are in a magical place in the world. It is magical. Yes. It's a hall of the mirrors. Amazing. You see? Yes. This magnificent hall was a favorite of Louis XIV, who was also known as the Sun King. It was very beautiful because the sun came down here and reflected in the mirror. Over the years, the gallery has hosted official signings of historic treaties, including the European recognition of the United States and the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War. Versailles is also famous for the controversial Marie Antoinette, brought to the palace from Austria at just 14 to marry Louis XVI. It was not a happy marriage. Here is Queen Bedchamber. The queen slept here and she gave birth to her children here. Great. Not bad. Yes, in public, you know. In public? Yes, in public. Really? Because, really, everybody wanted to know if the baby was the real baby of the king and the queen. But did she sleep with other men? I don't think she had a real lover, but she loved Count Axel of Versailles. But we don't know if they were really lovers in the bed. Just across the English Channel from France is the equally historic island of Great Britain. It's full of many ancient castles and forts, most notably the famous Buckingham Palace in London. However, its oldest Tudor palace is just down the River Thames, as Megan McCormick discovers. Upton Court Palace was the royal residence of possibly the most famous king of England, Henry VIII. Off with his head! Upton Court was built for Cardinal Wolsey, the Lord Chancellor of England in 1516. It is one of England's most impressive houses and was constructed as a display of the cardinal's Unfortunately, when requested, he could not persuade the Pope to grant Henry VIII the divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and he fell out of favour. Even his gift of Hampton Court to the king could not prevent his downfall. This is the staircase leading to the king's apartments, and it was designed to impress visitors, and as you can see, it still does. And here we come to one of the most intimate rooms in the whole palace, the closed stool. The king's throne. The other throne. And the most important servant that the king had was the groom of the stole, whose job it was, officially at least, to empty this thing. He was the most privy of the king's servants, he was the king's personal and private servant. Somebody actually wanted to be the groomer of the stole, meaning take care of it. It was a great honour, yes, and it was always given to an aristocrat. Spain now, home to a variety of spectacular palaces. Adela takes a trip to the capital, Madrid. Palacio Real was completed in 1764. By that time, a Bourbon, French, King Philip V, was on the throne, and his tastes were a lot different than his predecessors, the Habsburgs. He wanted this palace to be better than Versailles. Let's see if he succeeded. During Spain's heyday, vast rivers of gold and riches flowed in from the New World colonies, and that's reflected inside. Three hundred rooms makes it the biggest royal palace in Europe, and it's still used by the present-day monarchy, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. When visiting dignitaries come to Madrid, they will be received in the throne room, and entertained in the banquet hall. But they must be careful not to sit in the king's chair, it is a few centimetres higher than the others. If you really want to see European palaces, then you should head to Austria's capital, Vienna. The only thing is, there are quite a few to choose from, as Ian Wright discovers. Vienna, right, they've got palaces here like most cities have post offices, nobility from all over Europe used to build their homes here, but I'm heading right into the nerve centre of the Habsburg Empire, and the biggest of all, the Hofburg Palace. The Habsburg motto was, it falls to Austria to command the whole universe. The imposing Hofburg Palace reflects the aspirations of twenty generations of emperors, who ruled over fifty million subjects, speaking fourteen different languages, from this enormous fortress. Oh my god, look at that thing. This crown was built in the beginning of the 1600s, and it's just encrusted with like expensive jewels and gold, and the amazing thing about it is, it's not even like the main crown, it's not the coronation crown, that's in Nuremberg, this is like your everyday crown that you wear in the household when you're hoovering up. And this is the prize of the Habsburg collection, it's 2,860 carats worth of emerald, it's the biggest one in the world, and it took two years to cut, and when they finished, they turned it into that, which is a salt cellar. As well as the expensive worldly goods, they've also got the monopoly on the spiritual ones. That there, apparently, is the tooth of John the Baptist, down there's a little chipping from Christ's manger, and up there is a piece of the tablecloth from the Last Supper. See that there? That is the actual spear, apparently, that pierced Christ while he was on the cross, and that is actually part of the cross, but I read somewhere, right, if all the pieces of wood that claim to be the cross of Christ were put together, they'd actually make 40 different crosses, so who knows? The empire finally crumbled at the end of World War I, and overnight, Vienna was reduced to being just a provincial capital city. The Habsburgs' last display of power was to build the final wing of their palace, the monumental Neuburg. But it was made famous, not because of the Habsburg family, but by the world's most notorious fascist, Adolf Hitler. He came to this balcony and announced to a crowd of over 250,000 that Austria is now part of the Third Reich. Staying in Vienna, Ian continues his tour of the Habsburgs' lavish homes. The Schönbrunn Palace is Vienna's answer to Versailles. It's nearly 1,500 rooms, and in its day was manned by over 1,000 servants. This is the grand gallery and the highlight of the whole tour, and you can just, like, imagine it, like, in its heyday. Like, massive banquet table, lots of dignitaries mumbling at glasses, wine, servants everywhere, incredible food, and the whole room was lit by 4,000 candles. And then you've got this beautiful fresco on the ceiling, which depicts the glory of the Habsburg days. Napoleon famously occupied the palace on two separate occasions, and to this day the room he slept in is known as the Napoleon Room. Between 5,000 and 8,000 people visit the palace every day, making it one of the number one tourist attractions in Vienna. For true majestic grandeur, however, Russia's Baroque palaces are the envy of the world. Ian's next stop is St. Petersburg's former home of the Tsars, the Winter Palace. Wow, this is absolutely ridiculous. Look at that. Yeah, it's a marvellous place. That's a serious staircase, isn't it? That's no half measures there. Yeah, that's right. Man, amazing. It looks the same as it used to look back in the 18th century. Really? It wasn't rebuilt. It's the same look. In the late 18th century, Catherine the Great commissioned a new palace wing to be built known as the Hermitage. This was used as a retreat from the formalities of palace life. Now, the Winter Palace, with its 1,000 rooms and 117 staircases, is home to the Hermitage Museum of Fine Art, one of the greatest in the world. And if you want to see similar Baroque architecture, then why not head to Hungary, which has almost 1,000 castles and palaces? One of the most impressive examples is the Royal Palace in Budapest. The legendary past of the Maharajas who once occupied India's palaces set them aside as some of the most lavishly appointed in the world. Perhaps the most famous is the Taj Mahal. It's been described as the most extravagant monument built for love. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was heartbroken when Mumtaz, his wife, died in childbirth with his 15th child. Her tomb lies in the basement of the structure. Construction of the Taj began in 1631 and took 22 years to complete. 20,000 people worked on the building and many of the walls are adorned with complex patterns of semi-precious stones. Equally stunning is Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, residence of the Nizams since the 1890s. It's now being converted into a hotel, but part of it will become a museum for one very special reason. This is the longest dining table in the world. It seats 101 people and it's made from the wood of one mahogany tree shipped from South Africa. It's 107 foot long and the acoustics in this tall narrow room are so good that someone sitting at one end of the table can talk normally and be heard clearly by someone at the other end. Many of these fabulous Indian palaces have now been turned into equally grand hotels. Udaipur is famous for being the land of the Maharajas and the home of the Lake Palace Hotel. It's also supposed to be one of India's most romantic cities and it's not hard to see why. To the mystical palaces of the Far East now, and Megan takes a trip to Beijing's Forbidden City. Completed in 1420, the Forbidden City was the fabled home to 24 of China's emperors. Covering an area of two square miles, it has over 9,000 rooms. The center of the empire, the Forbidden City is the architecture of power and intimidation designed to inspire awe. Closed to the public for 500 years, it has only been open since the 1920s. This is the first gate you have to pass to get into the Forbidden City. It's the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Approaching the huge main meridian gate, you pass through an area once filled with imperial and military offices, still used by the military today. This gate reveals the impressive beginning to the inner city. The city is laid out according to the ancient Chinese principles of feng shui, a system balancing yin, which represents females and the earth, and yang, representing males and heaven. Numbers have significance as well. Take the number nine for example. Because it's odd, it's a yang number, but it also is symbolic of power and strength and is used only for the emperor. So on each of these doors, there are nine studs down and nine across. Colors had meaning too. Yellow, seen in the roof tiles, is the traditional imperial color and represents China itself, while red has always been associated with prosperity and good fortune. But the most important of all the buildings in the city was the Hall of Supreme Harmony. That is where the Dragon Throne is and where the emperor sat in all his splendor. 100,000 members of the imperial palace would be assembled here, and upon his arrival, an official would call out and they would drop to their knees, kowtowing nine times to him. Four, seven, eight, nine. And this is the center of it all, the Dragon Throne. It was the absolute seat of power. However, it is still forbidden like so much of the Forbidden City. I mean really, if the Chinese can't get in, I'm not getting in. That's as close as you can get to the throne room or inside any of the imperial residences. Although open to the public, much of the Forbidden City is still off limits. As the second largest religion in the world, Islam has influenced countries across the globe and Islamic palaces are amongst the most breathtaking displays of architecture and wealth on the planet. As well as intricate carvings and details, water is a fundamental feature in the design of Islamic palaces. Christina Chang travels to Granada in southern Spain to experience one of Europe's most visited monuments, the Alhambra, which has a scandalous past. This is the harem where only family members and servants were allowed. But one chief did far worse than just slip in here. He managed to fall in love with Boabdil's wife. And when the sultan found out, he not only had the chief executed, but had all 36 members of his family brought here and beheaded. Now apparently this is the stain of their blood, although I think scientists have since proved it's just rust. In the Koran, paradise is defined as being a shady, leafy garden refreshed by running water. To ensure the water reached these gardens at the Alhambra, the nearby Rio Daro was diverted five miles from its course. Legend has it that when Boabdil marched out of Granada with his troops, he stopped at a point known as Suspiro del Morro, or the Moor's Last Sigh. He looked over his shoulder one last time and wept. Well, his mother, furious that he didn't stay to defend the city, said to him, Weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man. Talk about rubbing it in. Finally, we journey to Istanbul and the largest and indeed oldest palace in Europe. Topkapi, home to the great Ottoman sultans and their concubines for over four centuries, is more than just a palace. It's a huge complex of gardens, houses, and a 400-foot harem, as Estelle discovers. This is the place of the palace where no one was allowed to come. The sultan and his family could come just once a year on the 15th day of Ramadan. In there is something very holy. Hairs from the beard of Prophet Muhammad. It wasn't until after 1962 that the public was allowed in. The hair was a trophy brought from Egypt by Sultan Selim I after he conquered the country in 1517. The sultan's concubines led a charmed existence behind closed doors. Well, this is it, the doorway to the harem of a thousand concubines. Once you got through here, no one would ever see you, but the sultan, his personal family, and some very special guards were called the eunuchs. For over 1,000 years, eunuchs, castrated men, were used throughout the ancient world to guard the harem. This is the imperial hall, the largest room in the harem. The concubines would sit here, and the sultan would be lounging here. Now, the goal of a slave girl was to catch his eye, and she could do that by singing or dancing on this carpet. If the sultan did think you were a bit of a babe, he'd send for you. You'd get bathed, perfumed, and dressed up in some very sexy royal lingerie. Now, if he made it as far as the bedchamber, your luck's in. Give him a son, and you could become the most powerful woman in the realm. Protected by the eunuchs, the concubines would wait for the sultan's call, and few were chosen. I wonder if I would have caught his eye.