RMC Production

Examines how the Vatican spawned around Saint Peter’s tomb and the process behind the construction of some of its architectural marvels and monuments.

Every day, Paris’ six railway stations welcome over 3,000 trains and more than a million travelers coming from France and all over Europe. The stations’ sizes are impressive: Gare du Nord is bigger than the Louvre or Notre-Dame de Paris. These railway stations are architectural landmarks and a model of urban planning despite the radical changes they’ve undergone since their construction in the middle of the 19th century. How did the railway stations manage to absorb the boom of travelers in just a few decades? What colossal works were necessary to erect and then modify these now essential buildings? From the monumental glass walls of Gare du Nord to the iconic tower of Gare de Lyon, to the first-ever all-electric train station, each has its own story, technical characteristics, and well-defined urban image.

All over Europe, the ground is rumbling. The eruption of Cumbre Vieja on the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands in 2021 and that of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland in 2010 are here to remind us that the Old Continent isn’t safe from major volcanic events. Their consequences, whether human, economic, or environmental, can turn out to be disastrous for the populations. In total, Europe comprises around one hundred active volcanoes, of which about thirty are located within the territory of the European Union. All have experienced at least one eruptive phase in the last 10,000 years and are hence considered by the scientific community to be potentially dangerous to this day. Should these sleeping monsters ever awake, they would cause huge disasters, as most of them are in highly populated areas such as the Eifel volcanic zone in Germany or Mount Vesuvius right next to the city of Naples in Italy.

Two men show extraordinary courage by secretly mapping Paris' underground during the 1940 German occupation.