Original subtitles

[narrator] In New Mexico,

an outpost built on a bed of lies.

[Jim] It's a classic kind of scam

that happened again and again in the American West.

[narrator] An institution where many entered, but few escaped.

This is an abandoned health facility of some kind,

but they weren't doing heart surgery here.

[narrator] And a lost city, the former home of two tyrants.

[narrator] And a lost city, the former home of two tyrants.

[Dougal] It's clearly the site of a famous ruler,

but it's not the person you really think it's gonna be.

[narrator] Decaying relics...

ruins of lost worlds...

sites haunted by the past...

their secrets waiting to be revealed.

[narrator] In central Scotland, between Edinburgh and Glasgow,

imposing ruins cast a long shadow.

[somber music playing]

This epic building rising out of the woodland, which is totally ruthless.

[Jim] Very imposing, made of stone, designed almost like a giant church

with two clock or bell towers.

But they're totally dilapidated,

everything has just collapsed into chaos inside.

[Lynette] There is so much feeling of disaster here

that you can't help

but think that this is a dangerous place.

[narrator] There are clues here of a terrifying past.

[Lorraine speaking]

[Lynette] Here in Lanarkshire, people viewed this place as frightening,

as an object of suspicion,

and it was a threat.

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] Lorraine Duncan grew up under the shadow of this spooky place.

It would eventually help her forge a career in mental health.

It would eventually help her forge a career in mental health.

[Lorraine speaking]

[Lynette] People could get locked up here against their will

and be in that grim, forbidding place for the rest of their lives.

[narrator] This complex was Hartwood Hospital,

a psychiatric asylum that served the Scottish county, Lanarkshire,

a psychiatric asylum that served the Scottish county, Lanarkshire,

for a century.

[Lorraine speaking]

[Jaega] In the 1950s, it was one of the largest mental institutions in Europe,

with over 2,500 patients.

[narrator] By this time, it had developed a fearsome reputation,

forged since its inception in the late 19th century.

When building started in 1890,

When building started in 1890,

it was designed to accommodate 420 patients,

and it had big ambitions to impress.

[Jim] The main building had this elegant look,

like almost like a large cathedral with two beautiful clock towers.

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] Overlooking the newly completed asylum

[narrator] Overlooking the newly completed asylum

was the home of its first superintendent,

Dr. Archibald Campbell Clark,

an experimental physician who pushed boundaries.

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] Campbell Clark brought groundbreaking ideas

in mental healthcare to Hartwood.

These buildings represent a real turning point in the history of medicine.

These buildings represent a real turning point in the history of medicine.

[Lorraine speaking]

[Lynette] Dr. Campbell Clark's view

is that mental institutions

ought to be a... a place where people would not be restrained,

they wouldn't be held in straitjackets.

they wouldn't be held in straitjackets.

[Jim] Clark thought it was vitally important for patients to live

something like a normal life.

[narrator] The hospital organized recreational activities,

like dances, cinema showings and fancy dress for the patients.

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] One of Clark Campbell's revolutionary ideas

was to get the patients to work on the site.

was to get the patients to work on the site.

Male patients were put to work as tailors, shoemakers,

bakers, gardeners,

whereas the women were put to work in the kitchen

and generally doing the housework around the ward.

[Jim] Today we call this occupational therapy,

and working, folding sheets or in the kitchen

or tending vegetables might not sound that exciting,

but for a patient who might otherwise be sitting in a room,

staring at the walls, this was something that was very healthy.

[narrator] Eventually, Hartwood became less reliant on the outside world.

[narrator] Eventually, Hartwood became less reliant on the outside world.

In time, Hartwood Hospital was almost entirely self-sustaining.

[Jim] The compound, it had gardens for growing food,

it had a small cemetery, various workshops.

[narrator] It even had its own railway line

that would bring supplies right to the door.

This was a... a tiny little boomtown

built around ideas of mental health.

[narrator] Part of his radical reform and mental health,

Campbell Clark engineered an overhaul in the training of nurses.

[Lynette] The specialty of psychiatric nursing,

to this day, owes some of its origins

to this institution and to its visionary director.

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] Hartwood discharged more patients

than any other hospital in the country,

yet some of its treatments are outlawed today.

[Lorraine speaking]

[Jaega] It's safe to say that people in the local community

don't believe that the conditions at Hartwood, even under Campbell Clark,

were as humane as they appeared on paper.

[Jim] The standards of the care

of the mentally ill in that era

were really quite dark.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Campbell Clark was trialing experimental new procedures,

[narrator] Campbell Clark was trialing experimental new procedures,

and despite his vision,

Hartwood would turn into something else entirely.

In Scotland is an abandoned 19th century psychiatric asylum,

its chief physician, Dr. Archibald Campbell Clark,

was considered a pioneer in mental health,

and it's believed, in these early days of psychosurgery,

was trialing a gruesome new procedure.

It would later become known as a lobotomy.

It would later become known as a lobotomy.

[Jaega] It is said that Campbell Clark

was one of the early doctors to perform lobotomies on his patients.

[narrator] Viewed as a kind of miracle cure,

surgeons would drill two holes into the skull,

then insert a sharp,

spiked instrument into the brain to cut off the frontal lobe.

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] In 1901, Dr. Campbell Clark died of influenza.

Some say he was a pioneer in patient care,

others say he exploited his position to experiment on the vulnerable.

But after his death,

the horrors at Hartwood only escalated.

[Lynette] The problem is that Dr. Campbell Clark

dies a very young man,

dies a very young man,

but people who come after him

are not as dedicated

to rehabilitation and to occupational therapy.

Over time, the hospital population grew dramatically

and the conditions deteriorated.

[narrator] It's no wonder Hartwood was seen as a horror house,

anyone could find themselves here.

[Lorraine speaking]

[Lynette] You could be committed for getting pregnant

'cause you couldn't hold down a job,

or you could be sent to an institution

because your relatives didn't like you.

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] By the end of the 20th century,

reforms and legislation sparked the beginning of the end for Hartwood.

[Jim] By the late 20th century,

the standards of care for the mentally ill had changed a lot.

Community Care Act was an effort to shut down the old asylums

and distribute patients

in smaller facilities or... or in their own communities

in smaller facilities or... or in their own communities

with some kind of support system.

That was the end of the line for Hartwood

and other large asylums of that type.

[narrator] The hospital closed in 1998.

Today, dedicated locals like Lorraine

are on a mission to remember the forgotten patients

and outcasts of Hartwood.

[Lorraine speaking]

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] The hospital's medical and cemetery records

were either destroyed or are missing,

leaving only numbers for those who died.

[Lorraine speaking]

[narrator] In Iraq, south of Baghdad,

on an endless desert plain,

lie the ruins of a lost city.

[Dominic] This harsh landscape,

broken only by the Euphrates, was once home

to the greatest city the world had yet seen.

[Sascha] A city that was not just

central to the culture and politics of the region

but significant in the entire history of the civilized world.

but significant in the entire history of the civilized world.

When you first see this site from above,

it looks like a labyrinth,

not just a hodgepodge of different structures

but an actual maze.

This place is just massive and it's surrounded by huge fortified walls.

[narrator] But not everything in this ruin is ancient.

[Dougal] You can see the kind of classic sort of ruins

that you might expect from an old archaeological site

with... with walls sort of crumbling away,

with... with walls sort of crumbling away,

but then you turn a corner

and there is a wall that looks like it was made a couple of days ago.

So you've got this kind of juxtaposition of old and new.

[narrator] Stories of this place have endured through time

in the pages of the Bible.

In its time, this was one of the largest cities on the planet.

[Jaega] Tales of its construction

and the powerful ruler who built it

still echo around the world to this day.

Allegedly, this place was home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,

Allegedly, this place was home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,

but it's never been found,

prompting the question, did it even exist?

[instrumental music playing]

[narrator] This is the ancient city of Babylon,

the supposed home to a lost wonder.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

are described as this extraordinary feat of engineering.

These layers of lush vegetation,

These layers of lush vegetation,

uh, fed through a complex system of waterways

that by some accounts, kind of defy gravity

as they rise up, um, out of the desert plain.

[narrator] But the ancient gardens have disappeared.

[Dominic] The many Greek and Roman accounts of the Hanging Gardens

are all second hand,

though archaeologists have searched in vain

for the exact location of the Hanging Gardens.

[narrator] For two millennia,

[narrator] For two millennia,

people have only guessed

at the location of the gardens of Babylon,

but in 1902, one man believed he'd found it.

[Mohammed speaking]

[narrator] Mohammed Tahir is a scholar of ancient Babylon.

[Mohammed speaking]

[narrator] This site dates back over 2,000 years.

Part of its history is written on the walls.

[Mohammed speaking]

[narrator] Nebuchadnezzar II was king of Babylonia.

[narrator] Nebuchadnezzar II was king of Babylonia.

He claimed to be descended from fabled rulers,

but his reign would see him build a legend of his own.

[Sascha] Nebuchadnezzar II is known as the greatest king

of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

He ruled over much of, what is said, the Middle East,

from 604 to 562 BCE.

Nebuchadnezzar had an interesting strategy

to ensure that his name would live on into posterity.

to ensure that his name would live on into posterity.

He had it carved into many of the bricks.

[narrator] His most lasting monument

is the surviving structures of the ancient city of Babylon,

the place where he built his capital.

Well, he rebuilt Babylon trying to top the previous version.

Ancient sources say the city had between 300 and 400 temples.

[narrator] And to defend his capital city,

he built the Ishtar Gate.

[Mohammed speaking]

[Dougal] So you can imagine you... you sort of you...

you're allowed through the Ishtar Gate

and you're presented with this amazing processional way,

this... this... this artery that runs north-south through the whole of the city,

and this would have been used for religious festivals

but also to parade the armies up and down

as they... they went off to fight their adversary.

as they... they went off to fight their adversary.

[narrator] But the processional way is not like it once was,

the Ishtar Gate in Babylon today is a fake.

[Mohammed speaking]

[narrator] Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon has stood for nearly 3,000 years,

but its history was damaged forever

but its history was damaged forever

when it was reclaimed by another despot.

[narrator] The ancient city of Babylon resides in modern-day Iraq.

In 1983, Nebuchadnezzar's former capital

was under the rule of Saddam Hussein.

Part of his vision was to lead a pan-Arabist empire

that would stretch over pretty much the same territory

as Nebuchadnezzar's had done centuries earlier.

[Dougal] He kind of models himself on these kings of the past,

[Dougal] He kind of models himself on these kings of the past,

and what he does with Babylon, instead of preserving it or excavating it even further,

he starts to actually build on it.

[narrator] It's said that Nebuchadnezzar decreed,

when his grandsons return to the city of Babylon,

they should rebuild it to its former glory.

[Mohammed speaking]

[narrator] Saddam built his new monuments on top of ancient Babylon,

but when he was deposed, the city was abandoned,

with its history destroyed.

[Dominic] In my view,

the structures that Saddam Hussein built on the site should be removed.

Yes, they're of historic relevance,

but they are not of global historical significance

the way Babylon is for the entire world.

the way Babylon is for the entire world.

[narrator] Parts of Babylon had been lost forever,

but one relic might have been hidden in a place

where Saddam couldn't get his hands on it.

In 1899,

famous archaeologist, Robert Koldewey,

started a large-scale excavation of the site,

using comparatively modern techniques.

[Dougal] During the excavations,

it was in the northeast corner that they found, um, these chambers

and a kind of well,

and a kind of well,

and it was thought that this might be a place

where they drew up water to feed, um, the gardens of Babylon.

[narrator] Robert Koldewey discovered a basement with 14 rooms

and stone arches.

They appeared to match the descriptions

of the infamous Hanging Gardens from ancient texts.

[Dougal] But it turns out

that this... this sort of theory of the, of the northeast corner

being the... the gardens of Babylon was probably not quite the case

'cause actually from, uh, the... the architecture

'cause actually from, uh, the... the architecture

and the fact that this area was much lower

than the surrounding buildings,

it meant that it was probably used as a kind of natural fridge.

So the hot air of the desert rising,

this area would... would maintain

a kind of low temperature so you could keep wine in there,

in effect, almost like the local wine store.

[narrator] Robert Koldewey left Babylon

without finding its hanging gardens.

Now, after Saddam's interventions,

they may never be found at all.

[Jaega] Currently, a large-scale conservation project

hopes to train local technicians to help preserve this city

and ultimately get it qualified as a World Heritage Site.

[Mohammed speaking]

[narrator] Deep within New Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert,

among the rattlesnakes and tumbleweeds,

sits a time capsule of America's past.

[instrumental music playing]

There's nothing around for miles on end,

just mountains and desert.

You're in these dry, barren rolling hills.

And then here is this little cluster

of very plain, simple old buildings.

There's this dusty main street that runs through the center of the town.

There's this dusty main street that runs through the center of the town.

You can imagine that there were probably lots of people here before,

but now everything is empty, everyone is gone.

[narrator] Strewn with trinkets from a bygone era,

it feels like only a matter of time

before the rest of this place is swallowed up by the desert.

[Alicia] There are broken windows and rotting timbers

and even rusty wagons.

and even rusty wagons.

The paint is peeled off the walls.

There's not much left in the way of furniture.

[narrator] And signs of a violent past

recall a time when this part of America

was beyond the reach of law.

[Rob] A noose hangs eerily from one of the ceilings.

I'm not sure this is a town I would have liked to have spent much time in.

This really was the Wild West,

it was a lawless frontier.

And one wrong step and you could be shot or hanged.

And one wrong step and you could be shot or hanged.

[Rob] People came to make their fortune,

but what they found was betrayal, violence and retribution.

[narrator] In the New Mexico desert

is a town with two names.

Dave Ochsenbine knows how difficult it is to live here.

This is very hot, dry climate out here

and the ground is very hard and rocky,

so this would've been a pretty tough place to live.

People take it for granted how easy we actually have it in day-to-day life.

People take it for granted how easy we actually have it in day-to-day life.

[Alicia] It's a really harsh climate and environment.

But if there was such a thriving town here,

then there was something that made that worthwhile.

[Jim] Any time you see man-made structures

in this kind of barren environment,

you have to ask yourself, "What brought people here?

Why would they build something in this godforsaken place?"

[narrator] This town made its early name

by mining the region's rich silver deposits.

But in 1871,

But in 1871,

reports surfaced that something far more valuable

had been discovered here.

Diamonds.

[Jim] This was huge.

So miners come flooding in, and back come the... the bars,

and the brothels, and the people, and the troublemakers,

this time thinking they're gonna get rich on diamonds.

[narrator] But the diamond rush was only the latest

in a series of underground discoveries in the region,

one that started when this place was a water stop

in the middle of the New Mexico desert.

in the middle of the New Mexico desert.

[Jim] This little spot had been used by native peoples

for many centuries,

there's a small water source here,

which is always important in the desert.

[Dave] So this army mail station

was the first building on the property

because of that small spring, constructed by the army in 1856.

They could water their horses up

while delivering orders between forts.

So really, in the beginning, this was just a stopping point.

So really, in the beginning, this was just a stopping point.

There's no real reason for people to actually live here.

That is, until an incredible discovery was made.

[narrator] In 1870,

prospectors uncovered silver deposits in the area,

and with global demand for silver on the rise,

one veteran of the California gold rush

stepped in to stake his claim on this opportunity.

The big money came from a guy named William Ralston.

The big money came from a guy named William Ralston.

He was the head of the Bank of California

and one of the most influential business people in the West at that time.

[Dave] With William Ralston's financing, the town grew pretty quickly.

You know, there'd be 3,000 miners here during the first boom,

and there would've been 150 to 200 structures here at that point.

In fact, as they began to develop this town,

they named it Ralston after the banker.

He had never been there, but the town carried his name regardless.

He had never been there, but the town carried his name regardless.

It was a little bit like somebody might name a town

Morgan Stanley today or something.

[narrator] A banker's name was a stamp of quality,

but a scandal was about to hit the town of Ralston.

In 1871, a rumor got out that diamonds were found

on one of Ralston's properties, at Lee's Peak,

which was not too far outside of the town of Ralston.

Ralston was a big investor

in... in the diamond fields that's within Lee's peak out here.

in... in the diamond fields that's within Lee's peak out here.

[narrator] And with so much at stake,

Ralston needed to recruit outlaws to protect his interests.

The hired guns were to keep people away from the mines.

Guys like Curly Bill Brocius and Sandy King

would have been a couple of the cowboys

that... that Ralston had patrolling the different hills here,

keeping people away from the mines.

There was a lot of tension between the miners and Ralston's thugs.

There were many rumors of fighting,

There were many rumors of fighting,

and at one point, it almost came to all-out war.

[narrator] The discovery of diamonds

look set to put Ralston on the map,

which it did, but for the wrong reasons.

The great American geologist, Clarence King,

was asked to come in and look into this claim

that there was a huge diamond discovery in the West.

It all turned out to be a scam.

[Rob] In reality,

[Rob] In reality,

two prospectors planted diamonds and other precious gems

in a remote spot,

in a bid to con Ralston and other investors to buying the land off them.

They'd actually bought South African rough diamonds in England

and brought them back over to America.

[Alicia] Ralston's company collapsed,

and by late 1873,

the town reverted to pretty much a desolate stagecoach stop.

Ralston died about two years later.

Some people believe it was by suicide,

Some people believe it was by suicide,

but that's not actually where the story of this town stops.

[Rob] In 1879,

English mining engineer, William G. Boyle, acquired the dormant silver claims.

Boyle's investment breathed new life into the area

and sparked a second boom period.

Boyle's first move was to get rid of the name Ralston

and replace it with someone who was more widely revered,

William Shakespeare.

[country music playing]

[country music playing]

[narrator] But while Boyle tried to erase the past,

the diamond scandal would have deadly consequences

in the town of Shakespeare.

[narrator] The town of Shakespeare

sought to clean up its tarnished reputation,

but some old habits die hard.

Shakespeare had three saloons, it had two blacksmiths,

two hotels, a meat market,

a mercantile shop, and a lawyer.

But that doesn't mean the law had come to town.

But that doesn't mean the law had come to town.

[Dave] This was the stagecoach station,

and this front room would have been the dining room

and it would have had passengers stopping here.

As you can see, this not only served as a dining room,

but also served as the hanging room as well.

The lack of tall trees in the area,

if you needed a place to stretch someone's neck, and this became the room.

[narrator] In 1881,

two Wild West outlaws met their end here.

two Wild West outlaws met their end here.

One of the men, Sandy King, was a hired gun from the Ralston era.

[Alicia] On one occasion,

Sandy King got into an altercation with a local storekeeper,

and King actually pulled out his gun

and ended up shooting the storekeeper's finger off.

So King was promptly arrested.

At about the same time,

William Tattenbaum, a friend of King's,

who was more commonly known as Russian Bill,

was also arrested for cattle rustling.

was also arrested for cattle rustling.

[Dave] Local militia here would get together,

and they'd already decided they were gonna hang Russian Bill,

and they figured they might as well just hang Sandy

at the same time. That way, they only have to dig the one hole.

[narrator] On the afternoon of November 9th, 1881,

Sandy King and Russian Bill were hanged from the neck until dead.

This would be a terrible place to be hung.

This wouldn't be a drop you and break your neck.

This would be a pull you up, you know, pull you up and tie you off.

This would be a pull you up, you know, pull you up and tie you off.

The local militia would just stand around

and wait until the two men quit kicking.

And then these guys all went back to their homes.

[narrator] Not long after the deaths of these two outlaws,

Shakespeare would become a ghost town once again.

When the Southern Pacific Railroad Company completed their line,

they actually bypassed the town by three miles.

And so once that happened,

everyone moved to Lordsburg,

which was the town that was closest to the tracks.

[soft country music playing]

[narrator] Today,

preserving Shakespeare is a battle against the elements,

one being fought by Dave and his family.

[Dave] Well, it's very important to me

because of the family connection,

'cause they've spent so many years here

trying to keep this... this town going

and trying to keep this preserved for people to come and enjoy.

[Alicia] Towns like this give us a lens

[Alicia] Towns like this give us a lens

through which to look at our history,

and they give us an insight into these little towns that made up the Wild West,

the lawless West from, which our country grew out of.

[narrator] In Germany

is the birthplace of an item found in every home.

[instrumental music playing]

[Sascha] Outside, the place has the feeling maybe of a hospital

or a sanatorium,

but inside,

you're confronted with the fragile remains of something very different.

[Alicia] This building isn't watertight.

If it rains outside, it's raining inside.

[Lynette] When you look at these machines

and all of the industrial investment in this place,

and all of the industrial investment in this place,

it's easy to imagine hardworking people coming here to earn their living,

everything here, clicking and whirring along day after day,

why did they stop?

This is a huge complex,

and there's something new to explore around every corner.

There's machines, there's old files and documents.

But you also start to feel a bit uneasy.

Why is it that every now and again, something crunches delicately underfoot?

Why is it that every now and again, something crunches delicately underfoot?

[instrumental music playing]

[narrator] When this place was built,

Germany was a world leader in a fine craft.

[Tim speaking in foreign language]

[in English] What fascinates me most about this place

is that so much design history

could be created in this quiet, remote place.

[narrator] Tim Morris preserves the heritage of this site.

[narrator] Tim Morris preserves the heritage of this site.

[in English] Since 1887, there has only been industry here,

which means that a lot of export history has been written.

[narrator] In every corner are the fragile leftovers of what was made here...

fine crafted porcelain.

[Alicia] Shelves upon shelves of porcelain line the walls,

and so you almost instinctively feel like

you need to watch your step and be careful,

but this building has already been ravaged.

but this building has already been ravaged.

[narrator] This is the Arzberg Factory.

It's one of many porcelain plants in Germany,

but this place had a secret recipe.

Porcelain is said to date back about 2,000 years,

and some of the earliest sites of production are in China.

It was used to make teacups and plates,

uh, but also decorative items, like, intricate statues.

[Lynette] Some people called it white gold

because it was so valuable,

because it was so valuable,

and only the Chinese knew how to make porcelain.

[Alicia] The exact combination of materials to produce porcelain

can vary, but there is one material that is necessary

and that's kaolin or china clay.

[narrator] But at the start of the 18th century,

China's secret was uncovered.

One German engineer discovers the right temperature

One German engineer discovers the right temperature

and just the right additives,

and suddenly, anybody can make porcelain.

[narrator] With the secret out, China's monopoly was over.

Now, white gold could be made on the European continent.

So, German porcelain, coming from Bavaria,

can be sold all over Europe

as an alternative to the porcelain coming from China.

as an alternative to the porcelain coming from China.

[narrator] By the 19th century,

Germany was a world leader in fine ceramics,

but this factory would change the industry forever.

In 1887, as German porcelain thrived,

a factory was built in the town of Arzberg.

[in English] We are in the oldest part of the factory

still standing.

[narrator] It was under the management of a man called Lehmann.

Theodor Lehmann is a German son of a porcelain potter

Theodor Lehmann is a German son of a porcelain potter

who becomes a porcelain industrial baron.

He turns the business from a craft

into an industrial process.

[in English] We know that Theodor Lehmann

had a flat on the factory premises

but not exactly where it was.

but not exactly where it was.

You can almost imagine him standing here at the window, drinking a coffee.

[Alicia] At this time, German products were dominating markets,

and so Great Britain actually passed the Merchandise Mark Act,

which would require that any product that was produced in Germany

had to have a stamp or a seal that essentially said that it was made in Germany.

had to have a stamp or a seal that essentially said that it was made in Germany.

And the hope was that this would deter people from buying them,

but it ends up becoming the sort of seal of approval or a seal of quality.

[narrator] But one man believed that Lehmann was selling a bad product.

[Lynette] Hermann Gretsch comes up to Lehmann

and he says, "That shape of pot is useless.

Your soup tureen is shaped

so that you can never get the last bit of soup out of the bowl with a ladle."

so that you can never get the last bit of soup out of the bowl with a ladle."

And the answer is,

"Well, could you do any better?"

And Gretsch says, "Well, I happen to be a pottery designer

and I can do better."

[narrator] Gretsch was hired to design a new style with modern appeal

and an ergonomic shape.

He called his concept Form 1382.

And it is an entire set of tableware

that's designed to look harmonious together,

and it becomes

the classic German middle-class tableware.

[Alicia] The fact that you could buy individual pieces

to make your own set kind of democratized porcelain,

it made it something that everyday people could buy,

and it was no longer something just for the elite.

and it was no longer something just for the elite.

[narrator] Form 1382 could be found on the tables of modest European homes

or in grand estates of world leaders.

Gretsch is really German, so his designs

become the standard German pottery designs.

And everyone in Germany, maybe even Hitler,

has got Arzberg china right there on their dinner tables.

has got Arzberg china right there on their dinner tables.

[in English] Production continued during the Second World War,

however increasingly only on the back-burner.

It is known that forced laborers were also used later on.

There were difficulties in the supply of raw materials

and production stoppages.

The factory was also hit by Allied bombs.

[Sascha] But all this devastation

had an unexpected consequence for the porcelain factory.

In the years after the war,

In the years after the war,

ordinary people rushed to replace all the belongings

that have been destroyed in the course of the war.

And if not for that devastation and loss,

the '50s and '60s wouldn't have been such a booming time for business.

So people literally stood on line to buy porcelain.

It wasn't a commodity of the elite anymore.

It was something that every household needed.

[narrator] Form 1382 transformed the fortunes of German porcelain.

[narrator] Form 1382 transformed the fortunes of German porcelain.

But this golden age didn't last forever.

[Lynette] After the Second World War,

Japanese manufacturers start to take over global markets,

and Japanese makers

are able to compete globally for exactly the same buyers.

And German porcelain makers who can't compete

have to merge.

[in English] The main production went to another owner.

After that, several porcelain plates were produced here,

but it was not profitable.

So, in 2002, after 150 years of design history,

it was finally over.

[narrator] Today, the Arzberg Factory remains frozen in time.

[narrator] Today, the Arzberg Factory remains frozen in time.

[Sascha] Not much remains from the proud days of Hermann Gretsch,

except shelf after shelf bending under the weight of this porcelain.

It's still pristine after all this time,

which is a real testament

to the durability of this amazing product.