Original subtitles

♪♪

These Are Pieces Of The Original True Cross?

Look At The Size Of This Place.

Maybe The Tunnel To The True Cross.

Nobody's Been Back There For A Thousand Years, Probably.

Hershkovitz: You Wield One Of The Most Important Artifacts

Ever Found In The World.

Ah, Interesting! What Is It?

It Feels Like There's A Cavity Under It.

Whoa!

Ah, Look At That!

♪♪

The Cross Of Jesus Christ.

It Is The Most Recognized Religious Icon On Earth.

A Relic With Mystical Healing Powers

And A Symbol Of Christianity

For Over A Billion Believers Worldwide.

The True Cross Is An Archaeological Treasure

Without Equal,

But Its Journey Through History

Has Been So Clouded With Intrigue And Legend

That Today, Its Fate Is Unknown.

So Does The Cross -- Or Pieces Of It -- Still Exist?

And If So, Can They Be Found?

There Are Many Who Claim To Possess Fragments

From This Holiest Of Relics,

But It's Unclear If Any Are Authentic.

But Now Startling Evidence Is Emerging From The Holy Land

That Could Bring The Cross

From The Realm Of Faith To The World Of Science.

And Recently, A Turkish Archaeologist

Announced A Stunning Find,

Potentially Pinpointing The Location

Of A Lost Piece Of The Crucifix.

For 2,000 Years, Scholars, Theologians,

And Armies Have Sought The True Cross Of Jesus.

It Is A Quest Of Biblical Proportions.

And Now, For The First Time, We May Have A Prayer Of Succeeding.

My Name Is Josh Gates.

With A Degree In Archaeology And A Passion For Exploration...

I Have A Tendency To End Up In Some Very Strange Situations.

Good Lord!

[ Laughs ]

My Travels Have Taken Me To The Ends Of The Earth

As I Investigate The Greatest Legends In History.

We're Good To Fly. Let's Go.

This Is...

--Captions By Vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions Paid For By Discovery Communications

♪♪

Welcome To Israel.

Aka The Promised Land.

Temperature Today, 195,000 Degrees.

Roughly.

Searching For The True Cross Of Jesus

May Seem On The Surface Like A Really Daunting Challenge,

But It Is Also A Missing Object.

And Like Any Missing Object,

The Best Place To Look For It Is The Last Place It Was Seen.

♪♪

My Quest Is Taking Me Into The Ancient City Of Jerusalem,

The Site Of The Crucifixion Of Jesus.

[ Speaking Native Language ]

What He Said.

The City Walls Stand 40 Feet Tall.

They Guard A Precious Parcel Of Land Steeped In Religion

And Coveted By Empires For Thousands Of Years.

The Old City Of Jerusalem.

There Is Nowhere In The World Like It.

It's One Of Those Exotic Destinations

That Looks Exactly The Way You Think It Should.

It Is A Crush Of Humanity.

It Is A Cacophony Of Sound,

And A Nexus For The World's Great Religions.

So There's Nothing Unusual About Seeing An Orthodox Jew

Passing A Devout Muslim,

Or Shops Selling Crucifixes Mixed With Yarmulkes.

Jerusalem Packs A Historic Punch In Very Close Quarters.

Three Of The Holiest Sites

Of The Three Major Western Religions

Are All Sitting In A Space Smaller Than Central Park.

And It Isn't An Easy Coexistence.

♪♪

To Followers Of Judaism, No Shrine Carries More Weight

Than The 2,000-Year-Old Western, Or Wailing, Wall.

♪♪

It Is The Only Remaining Foundation Of A Temple Platform

That Was Once Home To The Ark Of The Covenant.

Looming Just Overhead Is The Dome Of The Rock,

One Of The Most Revered Locations In The Islamic World.

That's Where Doctrine Says

Mohammed Made His Ascent To Heaven.

And Just A Few Steps Away Is My Destination.

♪♪

This Is The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre,

Though It Feels Less Like A Church

And More Like A Small City In Here.

It Is Absolutely Massive.

It Has A Long And Mysterious History,

And It Is Also The Single Holiest Site In The World

For Christians.

The Church Is Home To The Former Tomb Of Jesus,

As Well As The Slab His Body Was Laid On After He Died.

But There's Something Else Here, Too.

According To The New Testament, The Romans Crucified Jesus

And Two Thieves On A Hill Named Golgotha.

History Then Loses Sight Of The Cross.

But Then, In The 4Th Century, The Roman Emperor Constantine --

Who Had Converted To Christianity --

Sends His Mother, Helena, To The Holy Land.

Her Mission Is To Find Artifacts Related To Jesus.

♪♪

Armed With Nearly Unlimited Funds And Power,

She Leads An Excavation

Under The Rubble Of The Hill Of Golgotha.

Legend Has It That She Finds A Buried Cross

And Tests It By Asking A Sick Woman To Touch The Wooden Relic.

When It Miraculously Cures Her,

Helena Declares The True Cross Found.

But Today, You Won't Find The Hill Of Golgotha On Any Map.

That's Because The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre

Was Built Right On Top Of It.

When We Think Of The Crucifixion, We Think Of A Hill.

And Believe It Or Not, Though It Doesn't Look Like It,

I'm Actually Standing On That Hill.

And This Is The Place Where,

Reportedly, Jesus And Two Thieves Where Crucified.

And 300 Years After That Crucifixion,

Helena Shows Up

And Begins Constructing A Church On Top Of The Hill.

The Church Completely Encases The Site Of The Crucifixion

And The Place Where Helena Unearthed The True Cross.

To Find Out More About The Fate Of The Cross

And Whether Helena's Story Is A Myth,

I've Been Granted An Audience

With An Archbishop Of The Greek Orthodox Church,

Who Maintains The Site.

♪♪

It's Very Nice To Meet You.

This Is One Of The Most Spectacular Rooms

I Think I've Ever Been In.

I Think When Many People Who've Never Been Here

Think About The Crucifixion

Or The The Tomb Of Jesus, They Picture An Outdoor Space.

They Picture A Hill, They Picture A Cave.

For A First-Time Person Seeing It, It's Very Surprising.

Do We Know How Long It Took Helena To Find The Cross?

A Year Of Searching?

And Once She Finds The Holy Cross, What Does She Do With It?

But Did Helena Really Find The Hill Where Jesus Was Buried?

I Ask If There Are Any Off-Limit Sections Of The Church.

Is It Possible To See Those Places?

To Help Me Understand The History

Behind The Helena Story, The Archbishop

Leads Me To Where She Claimed To Find The Cross In 326 A.D.

♪♪

Underneath The Holy Sepulchre,

We Wind Through Seldom Seen Ancient Passages

And Secret Tunnels Dug Into The Hillside Of Golgotha.

It Just Goes On And On.

Making Our Way To The Execution Site Of Jesus.

♪♪

Are We Underneath The Crucifixion Site, Here?

You Know, When You're Up Inside The Church

And You See The Crucifixion Site,

It's Very Hard To See It As A Hill.

You Don't Realize The Church Has Just Been Planted On Top Of It.

Where Did She Find The Cross?

So A Little Bit Further Down The Hill?

The Geology Here Corroborates The Helena Legend.

But What About The Small Piece Of The Cross

That She Supposedly Left Behind In Jerusalem?

Well, The Archbishop Has An Answer For That, Too.

It's Right Here In The Church.

♪♪

Gates: In Jerusalem,

On The Search For The True Cross Of Jesus Christ,

I've Been Granted Special Access

To The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre.

The Archbishop Here Is About To Show Me A Few Staggering Relics.

♪♪

These Crosses Are Made Out Of Brass And Wood,

But The Real Treasure Is Behind A Layer Of Embedded Glass.

Inside Are Small Shards Of What The Church Claims

To Be The Crucifixion Cross Of Jesus Christ.

Gates: These Are Extraordinary.

These Are Pieces Of The Original True Cross?

Wow.

Have You Ever Tested The Wood Inside The Cross

To Find Out Age Or Carbon Dating Of Any Kind?

Or Has It Always Been Inside The Cross?

And Would You Ever Have It Tested?

Like The Other Relics Here, This Is An Article Of Faith.

So For The Church,

To Even Test It Would Be To Undermine Its Power.

Are There Any Samples That Are Not Behind Glass?

You Do?

And Is It Possible To See That?

Yeah?

Just To Be Able To These Two Crosses Is Incredible,

But To Know That There's A Loose Piece, As Well,

Is Really...Astounding.

♪♪

The Archbishop Produces A Small Container

And Reveals A Fragment Of Holy Wood.

I'm Stunned When He Offers To Bless Me With It.

♪♪

Bishop, Thank You Very Much.

I Do Feel Blessed. Thank You Very Much.

The Experience Of Seeing And Being Touched

By A Small Sliver Of What Could Be The True Cross

Is An Overwhelming Experience.

But These Tiny Pieces Will Never Leave The Church

And Can Therefore Never Be Tested.

Writings From Helena's Time

Describe How She Discovered The Cross

And Broke It Up Into Pieces.

In The Ensuing Centuries, Bits Of The Supposed True Cross

Started Turning Up In Churches From Europe To Africa To Asia,

Including The Pieces Inside The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre.

If They Were All Put Together,

There Would Be Enough Wood To Fill A Ship,

Which Means That Many Of These Pieces Can't Be Authentic.

Instead, I Need To Look For Some Part Of The Cross

That Can Be Tested And Dated.

To Do That, I Leave Jerusalem And Drive To Tel Aviv.

[ Tropical Music Playing ]

If Jerusalem Is Serious, Religious, And Political,

Tel Aviv Feels Playful, Cosmopolitan, And Carefree.

Citizens Here Are Less About Temples And Rituals

And More About Sun And Sand.

Welcome To Israel's Other City.

Tel Aviv Is Home To About 3 1/2 Million People.

In Fact, Nearly 40% Of All Israelis Call Tel Aviv Home,

It Would -- Hey, Hey!

Hello?

Come On.

No Respect.

Maybe I Should Have Worn My Speedo.

♪♪

One Of The Really Strange Things About The Cross Of Jesus,

When You Think About It, Is That This Is Probably

The Most Recognizable Symbol In The World, You Know?

Each Of Us Probably See

Some Representation Of This Cross Every Single Day.

On Tv, On A Sign, On A Church.

And Yet, What Do We Really Know About This Cross?

Do We Know How Big It Was?

Do We Know What It Was Made Of? Do We Know Where It Went?

I'm Headed Now To Meet With An Expert

Who Might Know More Than Anyone About The True Cross Of Jesus.

♪♪

I'm In Town To Meet With Israel Hershkovitz,

A Professor Of Anatomy And Anthropology.

He's An Expert On Crucifixions

And Believes The Reality Behind The True Cross

Is Very Different Than The Story We've Been Told.

In Thinking About The Crucifixion, The Thing

That Just In Researching It That Really Surprised Me Is

How Little Evidence There Is For Roman Crucifixions In General.

The Romans Were Crucifying A Lot Of People.

Much Of What We Know About Crucifixions

Comes From Artists' Interpretations,

Many Of Which Were Painted

Centuries After The Death Of Jesus.

Right.

I Mean, Almost Every Painting Of Jesus Shows That.

Yeah.

There's Just One Problem -- It Doesn't Work.

Nails In Wrists, Hands, Or Feet Can Barely Support A Body,

And Victims Quickly Pass Out.

Right, The Whole Point Is That It's Supposed To Last A Long Time.

Also, Huge Vertical Crosses

Would Have Been Difficult To Hoist Up,

Especially When You Consider That Romans Were Crucifying

As Many As 500 People A Day.

This Is A Dramatic Revelation.

If The Romans Nailed Or Tied People

To Simpler X-Shaped Crosses, As Many Historians Now Contend,

That Means The Traditional T-Shape

Displayed In Every Christian Church Could Be Wrong.

It Also Means That I May Be Looking

For Remnants Of An Artifact

With A Totally Different Shape Than I Anticipated.

Is There Any Evidence Of A Crucifixion?

One?

One?

Okay, And What Is That?

♪♪

That Is Amazing.

Mm-Hmm.

This Heel Bone Is A Big Deal.

It Is The Only Physical Remnant Of A Roman Crucifixion,

And The Nail's Location In The Heel Suggests

The Foot Was Perched In An Open Position

And Likely On An X-Shaped Cross.

That's Wood?

What Type Of Wood?

It's Olive Wood.

I've Just Come Face-To-Face With A Legit

2,000-Year-Old Piece Of Crucifixion Wood.

That Gives Me Hope That Historical Fragments

Of The True Cross Of Jesus

Could Also Have Survived To The Present Day.

Well, Thank You So Much For Showing It To Me.

I Really Appreciate It.

♪♪

Armed With New Knowledge,

I Set Out To Find A Piece Of The Wood

That Both Fits The Helena Legend

And Can Be Scientifically Tested.

And I Just Caught Wind Of A Promising Discovery

Made By A Restoration Team At A Church In Bethlehem.

If That Name Sounds Familiar,

That's Because It's Also The Birthplace Of Jesus.

To Check It Out, I'm Headed For Israel's West Bank Territory.

♪♪

After A Few Military Checkpoints...

♪ Keep Driving, Just Keep Driving ♪

...I Arrive In The Ancient City Of Bethlehem.

♪♪

♪ Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem ♪

♪ Da-Da-Dada-Da-Da ♪

♪ Da-Da-Dada-Da-Da ♪

♪ Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem ♪

Why Can't I Think Of Any Of The Other Words To That Song?

Not A Lot Of Ox, Or Sheep,

Or Wise Men, Or Heavenly Angels Floating Around,

But It Does Have A Manger.

In The Middle Of Town Is The Church Of The Nativity.

♪♪

Like The Holy Sepulchre In Jerusalem,

Helena Commissioned This Church

During Her Trip To The Holy Land.

Duck Through A Low Arch,

And You'll Find Yourself In The Manger

That Most Of Us Know From Christmas Carols.

And A Recent Discovery In This Building

Has Me Wondering If There's A Hidden Link

To The True Cross Here, As Well.

I'm Josh. Nice To Meet You.

I'm Paolo.Nice To Meet You, As Well.

Thanks For Seeing Me. I Really Appreciate It.

Paolo Guazzini Is Part Of A Team Restoring The Nativity's Roof

And Interior Frescos.

Is This For Me?It Is.

It's Dangerous In Here?

A Little Bit. All Right.

-I Like A Little Bit Dangerous. -Okay.

Let's Go.

♪♪

Parts Of This Building Are Nearly 2,000 Years Old.

It's A Layer Cake Of History,

And Paolo's Team Discovered Something Incredible

Beneath Years Of Dirt And Dust.

This Was Covered?

Really?

And So, What Is The Angel Doing In The Mosaic?

The True Cross?

All Right, Here We Go.

It's Hard Not To Take The Symbolism Personally.

I Want To Be Moving Toward The Cross, Too.

But Paolo Found One More Thing

That Makes Me Think We're Not Too Far Off.

This Is Very, Very Interesting.

This Is What We Found Below The Plaster.

Three Crosses.

Gates: Incredible.

♪♪

♪♪

Gates: I'm Inside The Church Of The Nativity In Bethlehem,

Staring At A Mysterious Cross Symbol

A Restoration Team Has Just Discovered.

Gates: How Old Do We Think These Bricks Are?

They're Really Cool.

These Symbols Were Underneath The Plaster Layer?

That's Right.

So Whoever Took The Time To Carve These...

Yeah.

...They Knew That They Were Going To Be Hidden.

Right. Right.

Could It Be That The Three Crosses Represent Jesus

And The Two Thieves Who Were Crucified With Him?

We Are Waiting For An Answer From The Specialist.

We Are Studying The Relation Between This Cross

And The Entire Story Of The Church.

I Mean, It Is Possible That This Was Meant To Be

A Marker For Something. Yes.

In A Church As Venerated As This,

One Can't Just Smash Through A Crusader-Era Wall.

But In Time, Archeologists May Scan The Wall To See What,

If Anything, Is Hidden Behind It.

So Watch This Space.

Keep Me Posted.

Let Me Know If You Find Anything.

Of Course. I Will Tell You. I'll Tell You.

Especially Anything Cross-Shaped.

Yeah. [ Laughs ]

The Church Of The Nativity

Remains One Of Helena's Lasting Legacies.

But Her Story -- And The Journey Of The True Cross --

Doesn't End Here.

After Her Tour Of The Holy Land,

Helena Spends A Large Piece Of The True Cross

To The City Named For Her Son --

The Christian Emperor Of Rome, Constantine.

So I'm Flying 750 Miles North To Constantinople,

Or As We Know It Today, Istanbul.

♪♪

Home To 14 Million, It Is The Largest City In Turkey.

An Urban Jewel.

The Ancient And Modern Here Don't Blend So Much As Collide.

Traffic Spills Down Antiquated Streets.

Shoppers Clog Historic Bazaars.

And Regal Mosques Loom Quietly Above The Hustle And Bustle.

This Is The Bosphorus, This Channel Of Water

That Cleaves Istanbul Into Two Pieces.

On One Side Europe, On The Other Side, Asia.

And It Is This Division, This Piece Of Real Estate,

That Has Made Istanbul

One Of The Most Valuable And Strategic Pieces

Of Real Estate In History.

♪♪

And In My Experience,

The Mixture Of Unique Geography, Rich Cultures,

And Tumultuous History Can Only Mean One Thing.

Seriously Good Food.

I Start Things Off With A Regional Specialty

Described Perfectly By Its Name.

Turkish Delight.

♪♪

This Is Effectively Sugar Covered In Sugar.

Oh.

If You Stand Here, They Just Feed You.

I Can't Resist.

Gates: I May Have Eaten My Dessert First,

But That Doesn't Mean I'm Full.

Muscles.

This Is Pickles In Pickle Juice.

Oh, That's Good.

Boiling Hot Mini-Donut?

Yep, That's Happening.

Of Course, I'll Need Some Coffee To Top Off Those Donuts,

And For My Money, No One Does That Better Than The Turks.

Turkish Coffee, One Of The Last Great Inefficient Beverages

Of The World.

Miniature Copper Pots, Burning Hot Cinders.

In An Age When You Can Get A Cup Of Coffee Made By A Machine...

It's Completely Illogical And Unbelievably Delicious.

♪♪

So Good.

Hot, Thick...Strong.

With Caffeine And Sugar

Pulsing Through My Veins, I've Got More Than Enough Energy

To Get Back To Chasing The True Cross' Path Through Istanbul.

At First Blush, It May Not Make Much Sense

To Be Looking For The Most Deeply Revered Christian Relic

In A Thoroughly Muslim Country.

But This City Wasn't Always Brimming With Mosques.

It Was Once A Second Capital For A Christian Rome.

♪♪

Around The Year 330 A.D.,

The Roman Emperor Constantine Makes A Historic Decision

To Establish A New Capital In The East,

And He Chooses This City.

People Just Started Calling The City After The Emperor,

And Constantinople Was Born.

A Lot Of Old Constantinople Is Still Here.

It's Just Hiding Underground.

♪♪

This Is The Basilica Cistern,

A Magnificent Forest Of Stone Columns In Perpetual Darkness.

A Place Where Medusa Heads Were Used As Decorations.

1,500 Years Ago, These Caverns

Supplied Constantinople With Drinking Water.

And Throughout The City, There Are Stairways And Passages

That Lead Down To Other Ruins Of This Christian Capital.

But The Biggest Relic From Constantinople

Is Sitting In Plain Sight.

♪♪

The Ayasofya.

Built In The 6Th Century, It Stood For 1,000 Years

As The Largest Cathedral In The World.

In 1204, A Historian Wrote

That He Saw Two Pieces Of The True Cross Here,

As Thick As A Man's Leg.

Then, In 1453,

The Ottomans Took Over And Brought Islamic Rule.

Rather Than Level The Place,

They Covered Up The Christian Imagery

With Stunning Arabic Shields And Converted It Into A Mosque.

Some Believe Priests May Have Hidden The Most Important

Christian Relic Of The Ayasofya Somewhere Nearby.

And One Historian Thinks He Knows Where.

♪♪

Gates: Hello. Hello.

How Are You?Good.

Nice To Meet You.Nice To Meet You.

Goksel Gulensoy

Has Been Exploring Istanbul's Underworld For Years.

In Terms Of Things Like The True Cross,

In Terms Of Holy Relics, Do You Think It's Possible

That The Cross, Or Pieces Of It,

Survive Today Here In The City Still?

Interpreter: I Will Share A Secret With You.

There Could Be Biblical Relics

Hidden In Passageways Right Beneath Us.

Underneath Us?Yes, Underneath.

Gates: Goksel Explains That We Are Walking On A Crossroad

Between The Three Most Important Structures

In Old Constantinople.

Behind Us Is The Ayasofya, The Center Of Religious Power.

Right Next Door Stood The Byzantine Emperor's Palace.

Sadly, There's Nothing Left Of It Today.

And Just Beneath Us Lie The Remains Of The Hippodrome,

A Horse-Racing Stadium

Big Enough To Hold 100,000 Spectators.

When The Emperor Visited The Horse Races

Or The Cathedral, No One Ever Spotted Him Arriving.

Goksel Believes The Emperor

Must Have Traveled Between These Three Important Buildings

By Way Of Secret Underground Passages.

So There Must Be Tunnels. Yes.

Do You Think That It Can Be Reached?

Yeah. [ Speaks Native Language ]

Do I Want To See It?

Yeah, I Want To See It. Okay.

Please. Yeah.

Goksel Believes That Remnants Of The Holy Cross Are Hidden Here,

And He Introduces Us To His Team Conducting The Investigation.

How Are You? Nice To Meet You Guys.

So This Is It.Yes. Are You Ready?

Yeah, What Is This Door?

The Door Is A...

[ Speaks Native Language ]

This Part Of The Building Was Used For Keeping The Horses.

As Stables, You Know?

Right. Is It Safe?

♪♪

Gates: The Silence Is Telling.

Uh...

Everybody Got Very Quiet There When I Asked If It Was Safe.

What Are The Conditions Like?

[ Speaks Native Language ]

Uh-Huh. I Got It. Not Safe.

"Not Safe" Is What That's Called.

♪♪

We Waste No Time And Suit Up In Caving Gear.

We Also Have Paramedics On Standby.

And They Give Us Emergency Oxygen,

Since The Air Beneath The Hippodrome Is Potentially Toxic.

♪♪

Whoa. Okay.

Okay. Here We Go.

♪♪

Gates: I've Joined Explorers In The City Of Istanbul

Searching For Evidence Of The True Cross Of Jesus.

Here We Go.

We're About To Descend Beneath The Ancient Chariot-Racing Arena

Known As The Hippodrome, Where Researcher Goksel Gulensoy

Believes Precious Relics Are Hidden.

Whoa! Okay.

-Under The Hippodrome. -Yes.

Look At The Size Of This Place.

Yeah. Wet.

A Little Wet.

The Question Is, How Deep Is That Water?

May Be Knee-Deep. Okay.

Let's Give It A Whirl.

Goksel And His Team

Have Already Mapped Part Of The Underside Of The Hippodrome.

We're Heading Along The Curved Outer Wall Toward The Stables

And Tunnels They've Never Explored.

♪♪

This Water Is...

Maybe The Dirtiest Water I've Ever Been In.

It's Literally Parts Of Dead Birds.

All Sorts Of Nastiness Everywhere You Step.

♪♪

So We Have These Little Rooms That Offshoot Here.

And They Would Have Been Stables, I Guess, Originally,

For Horses Underneath The Hippodrome.

As We Check Out Each Stable, It Appears They're All Dead Ends.

So We Have To Look To See If Any Of These

Connect Out To Any Passages.

♪♪

Just As I'm Getting The Hang Of Walking In Liquid Bird Flu,

We Hit A Wall -- Literally.

♪♪

Thankfully, Goksel And His Team Are Undeterred.

So, I Think I Got This.

Oh. Okay.

They Rig Up A Makeshift Ladder,

Attach It To Something Unsafe-Looking,

And I Head Up And Over.

♪♪

Right Under.

Okay, Coming Down.

World's Sketchiest Ladder, Check.

Whew!

Okay.

Okay, I'm Down.

As I Step Back Into The Muck On The Other Side,

Something Isn't Quite Right.

[ Speaking Native Language ]

Bad, Yeah.

You Can Taste It Almost.

It's Like...

I Don't Know If It's Gas Or A Chemical Or Something,

But It's Bad.

[ Speaks Native Language ]

We Should Use Masks.

Masks. Yes. Okay.

♪♪

Okay.

Okay, Here We Go.

This Seems Like The Least Fitting Place

In The World For The True Cross,

But These Passages Were Once Frequented By Christians

And Perhaps Even Emperors Hiding From The Ottomans.

Ohh. Gets A Little Deeper Here.

Yes.

Eventually, We Reach The End Of The Curved Wall

But Haven't Found Any New Passages.

So We Head Back To Explore The Other Direction.

This Area Is Promising Because It's Closer To The Ayasofya

And The Emperor's Palace.

Some Old Piping Here.

Yep.

Whoa! What's This?

Passageway Of Some Kind.

What Was This Originally, Do You Think?

[ Gulensoy Speaking Native Language ]

Might Be An Escape Tunnel For The Important Person

Like The Emperor Or His Family.

If We're Looking For Holy Artifacts,

Tunnels Like This That Would Have Been Obscured

From The General Population Are A Great Place To Look.

Do You Want To Go First Or Second?

♪♪

Gates: With Every Step, I'm Feeling A Little Wary

That We're Getting Farther From The Only Known Exit

And Deeper Into A Very Narrow, Very Dark,

1,000-Year-Old Passage.

It Never Ends. It Just Goes And Goes And Goes.

Follow Me. Okay.

After You.

♪♪

We're Looking For Some Kind Of Opening

In The Ceiling, In The Walls, Or In The Floor,

And Then, We Get A Break.

[ Speaking Native Language ]

What's He Got?

[ Speaking Native Language ]

Do You See Something?

Yeah.

♪♪

Gates: I'm In Istanbul Several Stories Below Street Level

Following A Team Of Researchers Inside The Ancient Hippodrome.

We're Searching For A Lost Passageway

That Might Lead Us To The True Cross Of Jesus.

[ Speaking Native Language ]

What's He Got?

Do You See Something?

[ Speaking Native Language ]

Another Room?

Can You Get Down Into It?Yeah.

Well, Let's See What's There.

♪♪

Before I Can Squeeze Down To Reach Goksel...

Oh, Man, That's Tight.

...It Appears That He's Made Another Find --

A Tiny Opening In A Sidewall.

It's A Clean Breeze Coming Through The Hole.

The Air's Colder Here, Yeah?

Yeah, It's Colder.

[ Speaks Native Language ]

Like A Room?

Room, Yes.

Can We See Into It?

Unfortunately, The Hole Is Too Small To See Through,

And Widening It Could Trigger A Collapse.

So We Decide To Rig A Makeshift Probe.

This Tiny Camera Might Just Give Us A Peek Inside.

Whoa!

This Connects Through To A Bigger Space.

There's Definitely A Chamber Back There.

It's Flooded. I Can See The Waterline.

It's Hard To Tell.

It Might Go On Underneath, There.

It's Silted Up, But I Think It Continues.

You've Got An Unexplored Room Back There.

Unexplored Tunnel. Next Time?

Next Time. Yeah.

You Bring The Demolition Equipment.

Okay.Okay.

[ Chuckles ]

That's Absolutely Incredible.Okay!

Nobody's Been Back There For 1,000 Years, Probably.

We've Officially Discovered A Never-Before-Documented

Chamber Inside Istanbul's Hippodrome.

But It Will Take Months,

Or Perhaps Even Years, To Excavate Our Find.

Hey. Great Job!

Okay! Oh, Man.

[ Chuckles ] We're Alive!

♪♪

Only Time Will Tell If The Tunnels Beneath The Hippodrome

Contain Holy Relics Like The True Cross.

And Historic Sources Reveal That Smaller Fragments Of The Cross

Were Splintered Off In Istanbul To Help Establish New Churches

And Spread Christianity.

In 2013, An Archaeologist Leading A Dig

At A Church In A Small Turkish Town

Made A Monumental Discovery Connected To The True Cross.

To Find Out More,

I'm Headed To Sinop, A Town Located On The Turkish Coast,

300 Miles Northeast Of Istanbul.

♪♪

Welcome To The Town Of Sinop.

This Is Northern Turkey,

As Far North As You Can Get Along The Edge Of The Black Sea.

2,500 Years Ago, This Was A Greek Colony.

After That, It Was Conquered By The Romans,

Then Became Part Of The Byzantine Empire,

And Then The Ottomans, The Turks, And So On And So On.

On Paper, Might Seem Like Kind Of A Weird Place

To Look For The True Cross Of Jesus

And It Would Be, Except That Just Recently,

Archaeologists Here Made An Awesome Discovery.

♪♪

On The Outskirts Of Town,

I Meet With Archaeologist Gulgun Koroglu.

Her And Her Team Have Uncovered

The Remains Of The 1,400-Year-Old Balatlar Church.

♪♪

There's Not One, But Three Cemeteries Here,

Spanning More Than 1,000 Years Of History.

Wow. Really Impressive Site.

It's Huge.

So, You've Been Working Here Since When?

[ Speaking Native Language ]

They Start The Excavations In 2010.

Wow.

Gates: After Several Years Of Digging, Gulgun Unearthed This --

The Corner Of A Stone Box Bearing A Crucifix Symbol

That May Have Been Used To Hold A Significant Biblical Relic.

The Find Made News Around The World,

Since Many Believed A Piece Of The True Cross

Could Be Close At Hand.

So Let's Talk About This Box That You Discovered Here.

Yes.

Can You Show Me Where You Found It?

[ Speaking Native Language ]

Back Here? Please. I'd Love To See It.

♪♪

As We Make Our Way To The Back Of The Site,

We're Walking Further Back In Time.

Finally, We Arrive At The Oldest Structure Here.

♪♪

So This Is Where This Box Was Found?

So, Other Than The Fragment Of The Relic Box,

Did You Find Anything Else In The Pit?

Interpreter: Nothing, But We Have Recently Found

Something Pretty Incredible Nearby.

♪♪

This Is Incredible.

This Is A Burial, Obviously, From --

What Year Do We Think, Roughly?

[ Speaks Native Language ]7Th Century.

God, Look At That. That Is Something Else.

Gates: This Is A Big Lead --

A Prominent Grave Located Near The Spot

Where The Mysterious Stone Fragment Was Found.

And Best Of All, We're Going To Excavate It Right Now.

♪♪

[ Speaking Native Language ]

There's A Second Skull.

Oh, Look At That.

[ Speaks Native Language ]And A Third One.

And Another One.Uh-Huh.

And This Is Not From The Same Skull As This?

No.

Wow. Look At That.

How Many People Do You Think Are Buried In Here?

I Think Four People?Four?

Four People.

That Is Incredible.

Gates: We Continue Excavating A Family Of Four.

But Just As Things Are Getting Really Interesting...

Um, Guys, We Have To Stop.

We Have To Stop, Why?

Tea.

Tea? Tea Time.

Yeah. Tea Time.

Tea Time. Sure.

Okay.

Gates: This Isn't Just A Quick Run To Starbucks, Either.

Here In Turkey, Tea Is Serious Business.

This Is The Greatest Archaeological Excavation

Of All Time.

It Has Bundt Cake.

I've Never Been On A Dig With Bundt Cake Before.

♪♪

You Never Saw This Scene In "Indiana Jones,"

Where He Stopped For Cake.

They Cut Right Past That.

♪♪

After Our Mandatory Turkish Snack Break,

We Get Back To Work, Excavating A Tomb

Near The Location Of A Biblical Box.

And You Think There Could Be More Skeletons In Here, As Well?

Yes. More People.

[ Speaking Native Language ]

Did She Find Something?

Ah, Interesting.

What Is It?

It's Hollow?

It Feels Like There's A Cavity Under It.

♪♪

Gates: Want Even More "Expedition Unknown"?

You Can Check Out My Personal Photos,

Deleted Scenes, And More At Travelchannel.Com.

I'm Pitching In In An Archaeological Dig

In The Turkish Town Of Sinop,

And What Looked Like A Simple Headstone

Might Be Much More Than We Realized.

[ Speaks Native Language ]

Did She Find Something?Ah, Interesting.

What Is It?

It's Hollow?

It Feels Like There's A Cavity Under It.

It's Hollow, Yeah? Yeah. Yeah.

She Wants To Flip It?

Yeah. Sure. Okay, Hold On.

Ready?

♪♪

Ohh! Whoa!

Oh, Look At That.

[ Speaks Native Language ]

It's Hollowed Out.

It's Not A Stone, It's A Container.

Yes.

What Do You Think This Is?

[ Speaks Native Language ]

It Could Be A Container For A Holy Relic.

Uh-Huh.

This Is Like The Fragment You Found Earlier.

Same Idea? Yes.

This Would Have Been Used For Something Holy?

-Mm-Hmm. -And Do You Think It Could Be

For Something Like A Holy Cross?

Yes.

Interpreter: I Think This Site Still Holds Great Secrets.

Gates: This Is A Huge Find --

A Largely Intact Box

That May Have Been Used For A Sacred Burial

Or To Hold An Important Christian Relic.

So Now The Question Is, "What Was Inside Of This?"

So, More Work To Do. Yes.

More Soil To Turn. Who Knows What's Down There?

Yeah?

♪♪

My Mission To Follow The Trail Of The True Cross

Has Taken Me From The Heart Of The Holy Land

To A Former Christian Capital

And To The Very Edge Of An Empire.

Along The Way, I've Been Lucky Enough To See

Closely Guarded Holy Relics And Stunning Historic Artifacts.

I've Been On Hand To Participate In The Discovery

Of Unknown Chambers And Major Archaeological Finds.

It's All Given Me A New Perspective

On The Importance Of This Story.

The Cross Is More Than Just An Artifact.

It's More Than A Symbol.

To Billions, It Is A Living Promise Of Salvation.

And Whether You Believe In Its Power,

It's Hard Not To Be Impressed By The Explorers Who Have

Taken On The Most Unknown Expedition Of All --

The Quest To Reconcile Faith With History.

Could Biblical Relics Like The True Cross Still Be Out There?

With So Many Exciting Finds,

I Feel Confident There's More To Discover.

And I, For One,

Feel Blessed To Have Been Invited Along On The Journey.