Unknown Arabia

Arabia misteriosa

Misteri d'Arabia

Kraina tysiąca i jednej nocy

Unbekanntes Arabien

Mystérieuse Arabie

<p>In recent years Oman has been opening up to western tourists. What awaits them is a land of mountains, deserts, fjords, and pristine beaches.</p>

Fairytale Oman

In recent years Oman has been opening up to western tourists. What awaits them is a land of mountains, deserts, fjords, and pristine beaches.

Saudi Arabia is reputed to be one of the richest and most conservative nations on the planet. But how do its citizens live today?

Saudi Arabia: The West

The United Arab Emirates includes the sci-fi like cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai with their breath taking towers and impressive beach resorts. It is also a land of expats with residents from over two hundred different nations.

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates includes the sci-fi like cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It is also a land of expats with residents from over two hundred different nations.

The three smalles states on the Persian Gulf could not be more different: Qatar is the richest country on Earth, conservative, and attached to its traditions whereas Bahrain is cosmopolitan and liberal. Kuwait is particularly pristine with some of the best food in Arabia.

Small Neighbours: Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait

The three smalles states o fthe Arabian peninsular, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, could not be more different.

Saudi Arabia has many surprises in store for visitors. Around the gulf city of Dammam in the east, huge oil fields have made the country's fortune. Further inland, the flea market in the capital, Riyadh, attracts businessmen, day labourers and billionaires who all come to haggle.

Saudi Arabia: The East

Saudi Arabia has many surprises in store for visitors from the coastal city of Dammam to the bustling markets of the capital, Riyadh.

With the Kalahari, Namib or Etosha, Namibia is rich in protected areas and animal reserves and big cats benefit. There are an estimated 8,000 cheetahs left in the world, of which more than a third live in Namibia. Their population used to be much larger, but drought, poachers and competition with leopards are reducing the population.

Geo Reportage

With the Kalahari, Namib or Etosha, Namibia is rich in  animal reserves from which the big cats benefit. 

Cheetahs of Namibia

Perched on Mount Ossa in Northern Greece is an orthodox monastery dating back to the 16th century. Around twenty nuns from all corners of the globe call this place home and support themselves by working the land.

Greece: Sisters of the Earth

360° Geo

Geyza Pereira, the only blind Prima Ballerina in the world, lives in the Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo. She was taught by the Ballet de Cegos dance school, an institution that teaches blind and partially sighted dancers, founded by Fernanda Bianchini.

GEO Reportage

The Blind Ballerinas of Sao Paulo

5 pilgrims come together to tackle the mythic Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela. Leaving Estella they pass through the Rioja wine region where they stop at the Bodegas Irache winery which gives out wine and water to pilgrims for free.

Estella to Burgos Via Rioja

The Way of St James (2/5)

5 pilgrims come together to tackle the mythic Way of St. James from the French Basque Country to Santiago de Compostela. After a steep climb over the Roncevaux pass, the group spend a night at a monastery.

Crossing the Pyrenees

The Way of St James (1/5)

Bonuses and Extracts

Discover more

France’s President Emmanuel Macron forced through an unpopular reform of the country’s pension system – and the French aren’t having it. We travel to Romania to find out about a possible law to ban gambling adverts, and look at how to protect Europeans from addictions.

France’s pension reform / Gambling / Photography

Protests erupt across France in response to the government’s pension reform bill, and we explore gambling across Europe.

ARTE Europe Weekly

At once seductive and dangerous, historical myth and male fantasy, the femme fatale represents both erotic promise and a death trap to the male observer. Conceived at the end of the 19th century in the works of Gustave Moreau, Franz von Stuck and Lovis Corinth, the femme fatale was completely reinvented in the 20th century by many female artists.

Seductive and dangerous, the figure of the femme fatale in art was completely reinvented in the 20th century.

The Femme Fatale in Art

Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

A portrait of the Chinese president giving an unprecedented insight into his politics and showing how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

The New World of Xi Jinping

Many governments and organisations are wary of their employers using the social media TikTok. Does the Chinese company really serve Xi Jinping’s regime?

TikTok: A Chinese Threat?

Mapping the World Essentials

Highly influential indie rockers from Boston, famous for such tracks as Debaser and Where is my mind perform in Paris as part of a European tour for their latest album Doggerel.

Legendary and highly influential indie rockers perform in Paris as part of their European tour.

Pixies - Live at the Paris Olympia

At first glance, it's an image of innocence. A motherly milkmaid pouring out the milk in a kitchen, preparing snacks from our childhoods. But there's actually far more to her than meets the eye.

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

A famous image that at first glance looks totally innocent, but is in actual fact full of innuendo

Look but Don't Touch

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating over the breakaway region of Transnistria, an investigation on how prepared Europe is for another summer of wildfires, and a report from the Dissident Club in Paris.

Tensions in Moldova / WildFires in Europe

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating with street protests and controversy over Russian secret documents.

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants and changed the course of European history.

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants. 

The Defenestration of Prague

Lyubov, which means love in Russian, is 80 years old and lives alone on the shores of Lake Baikal. She bears witness to this wonder of nature and possesses and unbreakable bond with the world’s deepest lake in Siberia. Her life here is hard, especially in winter, but she would not live anywhere else.

On the shores of Lake Baikal, an old woman lives alone in a beautiful place that is dear to her heart.

The Old Woman and the Lake

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 2,500 documents were leaked from Prigozhin’s servers by anti-Putin hackers, shedding light on this secretive group of mercenaries, a key element in the war in Ukraine.

Data Sources

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

The Prigozhin Papers

A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Water

 A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Good News From Our Planet

Working her way out of poverty as a sex worker all while supporting her family in Romania. That’s Andrada’s goal. She speaks confidently and openly about her work in a red-light district in Germany’s Ruhr region.  
This programme by German channel ARD is part of The European Collection, a joint initiative of European public media (ARD, ARTE, France Télévisions, SRG SSR and ZDF), coordinated by ARTE.

Portrait of a sex worker in the Ruhr region, Germany.  

Hard Life – I sell sex for money

In El Salvador, gangs have terrorised the country for decades. But when Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, becoming the youngest head of state in Latin America, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

El Salvador: The coolest dictator in the world?

When Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

ARTE Reportage

The new Windsor agreement between the EU and the UK is hoped to improve relations and solve the Northern Ireland issue.

Northern Ireland: Windsor Agreement

Eclectic American singer-songwriter Ben Harper performs from his latest album, 2022’s Bloodline Maintenance. Filmed at Ground Control in Paris.

Ground Control

Eclectic American singer-songwriter Ben Harper performs from his latest album, 2022’s Bloodline Maintenance.

Ben Harper

Music director of the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Măcelaru takes his musicians on a tour of his homeland, Romania. A tour stopping in Timişoara, his hometown. On the programme: The Piano Concerto No. 2 by Johannes Brahms with soloist Simon Trpčeski.

Concert from the European Capital of Culture 2023

Conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne perform Brahms and Klaus Lang in Romania.

Cristian Mācelaru in Timişoara

“You can let yourself go and give up, or you can keep fighting.” That is Daniel’s motto. After many years spent incarcerated and homeless, he is now a magazine salesman and is managing to get by.

This programme by German channel ARD is part of The European Collection, a joint initiative of European public media (ARD, ARTE, France Télévisions, SRG SSR and ZDF), coordinated by ARTE.

Better than prison. Portrait of a street magazine seller.

Hard Life – I spent half my life in prison

Mustafa is 28 years old and grew up in the Ratingen-West district in Düsseldorf, his “hood”. It’s an area with high unemployment rates and is home to people from many different nationalities, both a melting pot and socially deprived. Mustafa now runs a kiosk in the middle of the district, on Berliner Platz. Between high-rises, friendships and poverty, we discover his life.
This programme by German channel ARD is part of The European Collection, a joint initiative of European public media (ARD, ARTE, France Télévisions, SRG SSR and ZDF), coordinated by ARTE.

Portrait of a kiosk owner in a socially deprived area of Düsseldorf, Germany.

Hard Life – I work in the middle of the ghetto

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot show another side of Israel. One with high-levels of social deprivation and strong support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s controversial judicial reforms.

Sderot - The Other Israel

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot is a different Israel with strong support for Netanjahu and high levels of social deprivation.

Meet Olivier Latry, the organist of the famous Notre-Dame in Paris: one of the most prestigious organist gigs in the world. Join him on an exciting musical and historical journey to the heart of the organ.

Meet Olivier Latry, the organist of the famous Notre-Dame in Paris

Unknown Arabia

Unknown Arabia

Saudi Arabia: The West

Unknown Arabia

Fairytale Oman

Unknown Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Unknown Arabia

Small Neighbours: Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait

Unknown Arabia

Saudi Arabia: The East

Unknown ArabiaFairytale Oman

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