Season 38

Embark on a dazzling architectural odyssey through the majestic Gothic cathedrals of Chartres, Beauvais, and other European cities. Carved from 100 million pounds of stone, these great cathedrals now teeter on the brink of catastrophic collapse. To save them, a multidisciplinary team—engineers, architects, art historians, and computer scientists—scours the naves, bays, and bell-towers for clues. NOVA investigates the architectural secrets that the cathedral builders used to erect their towering, glass-filled walls, and reveals the hidden formulas drawn from the Bible that drove medieval builders ever upward.