Lost World of the Desert Kings
Samarra – a stunning lost city in the deserts of Iraq. In the ninth century this medieval masterpiece is the capital of the mighty Abbasid Caliphate, one of the greatest empires in world history. Why is Samarra built, when the Abbasids already have a capital city, Baghdad? What are the engineering secrets of the enormous, spiral-shaped minaret that soars over the city? And why is Samarra abandoned by its rulers after just fifty-six years? Now, investigators use ground-breaking technology to answer these questions, in a region threatened by terrorism and off-limits to visitors for years.