The Renaissance - the Age of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci (1/2) | DW Documentary

Beginning at the end of the 14th Century, the Renaissance created a new type of man, triggering economic, scientific, technical, religious, social and cultural developments that are unique in history. Never before have culture, economics and science developed so rapidly within one century as during the Renaissance. But what was the catalyst for it, what is the “Renaissance factor“? The Renaissance is an epoch unique in human history: Never before have art, culture, economics and science developed so rapidly within a single century. We search for the “Renaissance factor“, that combination of influences that triggered a pivotal period in history. It is a journey through time from Ancient Rome to the Crusades and the Black Death in the 14th century, events that defined the developments of the Renaissance. We travel with Michelangelo to the major construction site that was to become St. Peter’s Basilica, to the banking houses of the Medicis and the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg. We ex