麻豆约拍

Neil MacGregor retells humanity's history through the objects it has made and this week he is exploring the sophisticated ways that people expressed religious yearning in the 14th and 15th centuries.

In this ominbus edition, Neil encounters the statues of gods and ancestors - in India, Mexico and on Easter Island - and he describes the importance of icon painting in the Orthodox Church.

But he begins with an object designed to connect with Christ himself - a stunning Christian reliquary from medieval Europe made to house a thorn from the crown of thorns

Producer: Paul Kobrak.