On the coins of the realm, stamped in silver forever, the Muslim world has left a clear and often beautiful record of the peoples who designed the coins - and spent them.

One of the most extraordinary women in history: Hatshepsut - daughter of a pharaoh, wife of a pharaoh, step-mother of a pharaoh and, for some 20 years, pharaoh herself.

From a team of marine biologists and ecologists, an extensive study of the Arabian Gulf: its plants, its fish, and the relationships by which they live.

In the Arab world, glass painting, a little-known folk art, captured in bright and simple strokes of color the beloved stories, myths and legends of the past.

In search of "new fuel" John Singer Sargent left his famous portraits in the studio and set out to paint, in a bold and fluid style, the beauty of the Arab East.