Founded by Vikings and long coveted by Denmark and Sweden, the fortunes of Norway’s capital have waxed and waned over many centuries. Historian and author Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough guides us through the ups and downs of the city now called Oslo.
To the Greeks, it was founded by the son of a god. The Romans saw it as the centre of the Eastern empire; and the Ottomans turned it into an architectural and cultural jewel. The city now known as Istanbul has experienced rises and falls, triumphs and invasions, destructions and rebirths. Paul Bloomfield speaks to Bettany Hughes about the rich history of this crossroads of the world.
Once the centrepiece of an empire, Warsaw suffered occupation by Russia and terrible repression under Nazi Germany before being rebuilt as a vibrant capital
The City of Light wasn’t always so dazzling: its origins were muddy, and its development was punctuated by conflict in between periods of eminence. Historian and author Colin Jones guides us on a speedy canter through two millennia of Parisian history