FEATURES:

Europe's Great Canals
From ancient times until the advent of railroads, canals were major avenues for commerce, irrigation, and travel. We reveal how European canals began with the Romans and were developed into an essential system for transporting goods and agriculture throughout Europe.

Hats
How do we know what medieval folk wore on their heads? It’s simple: we have proof that is nearly photographic. Paintings, etchings, and sculptures of the day are pictorial evidence. Renaissance Magazine looks at many of the head dressings, particularly those for the women, which were so complicated in design it is almost impossible to describe them accurately in mere words.

The Harp
Perhaps your first sight of the harp was at a renfaire, with a lovely lady in an elven dress sending her voice to the sky, her fingers calling forth magical sounds from a Gothic harp. Or perhaps you first met the harp at an orchestral concert, when the harp dwarfed the harpist and magical waterfalls of sound filled your ears. You are not alone if the sound of the ancient harp mesmerizes you.

Yggdrasil
We rediscover the great Tree of Life of the Norse people. A gigantic, eternally green ash tree in the middle of Asgard that covered the entire universe, Yggdrasil bound the nine worlds, with its branches rising above the heavens and its roots buried far into the depths.

Leeches
It’s unfortunate that today the word “leech” is a byword for a slimy, bloodsucking parasite. But historically they have been more associated with health than sickness. We take you back to sixth-century England, when Anglo-Saxon doctors called themselves loeces, from the Saxon word for “to heal,” and the name was synonymous with state-of-the art medical treatment!

Walpurgis Night in the Harz Mountains
In the dense and dark woods around Mount Brocken, which is the highest peak in the north of Germany, we visit the remains of Devil’s Wall, a rock formation in one of the oldest nature reserves in Germany.