We have an early exclusive sneak peek at the first episode of the new Lost Cities with Albert Lin. The National Geographic Channel series kicks off this Sunday (October 20) with a special on the hidden gold and the secretive world of Knights Templar.
Sunday’s Fortress of the Knights Templar was filmed in Acre, Israel. This location is suspected to be where undiscovered Templar gold may still be found.
Lin takes us to the heart of Acre where the Knights Templar had built massive towers, fortresses, and connecting subterranean tunnels located at the edge of strategic ports. The sea has claimed a good portion of the external structures of some of the fortress, but Lin will retrace it.
In our preview here, we travel to the Knights Templar’s hidden tunnels in a most unlikely place. Lin is guided through a junk strewn secret door outside of an Israeli junk shop which leads to what is described by Lin as a “creepy” intricate and Byzantine tunnel system where the Knights Templar moved and protected their pure gold to fund their Crusades.
Walking with a local guide, Lin is floored at what he finds inside a door in the back yard of a salvage yard: “This is like out of a movie right now… are you kidding me? We’re going to go into a secret door… behind a junk shop? What? Wow, this is incredible!”
Revealing the dark tunnels, his guide says: “Now we are in the right time in the right place. Here we are in the 12 and 13th-century. This is [an] underground buried crypt. This is really where the Templar was 800 years ago.”
Lin says: “So creepy… I’m standing in a room that ancient medieval Knights, the Knights Templar hung out in… bet they never thought it’d be a bionic foot on their floor.”
What is Lost Cities with Albert Lin about?
National Geographic Channel’s new series features this intrepid scientist and technical specialist who uses newly designed tools and technology to explore the truth behind myths and legends in locations across the globe.
The six-part series explores what lies beneath the visible world — a whole segment of history and discovery awaiting the viewer. Its premise is the unraveling of ancient cultures’ histories, and proving, adding to, or even debunking any history presented as factual.
Lin’s not just visiting sites, he’s rewriting history as we know it for many moments and places.
Lost Cities with Albert Lin combines the adventurous feeling that you get with a personable host like Josh Gates, the science and archaeology finds you might see with a Ramy Romany, and the cutting edge engineering and science combined not seen anywhere else.
And for those who love the anticipatory hopes of reality treasure hunts like Cooper’s Treasure or Curse of Oak Island and the gravitas of PBS’ science-based stalwart NOVA, it’s an exploration genre dream mash-up presented by National Geographic Channel.
The science that Lin employs is intriguing — an ambitious approach using 3D scanning to some of the most extraordinary sites of antiquity, digitally peeling back the onion of organic debris, mortar, soil, skeletons, and new construction. This series will deliver powerful and emotional stories with hi-tech imagery to bring the mysteries of the past vividly to life.
The episodes list
Fortress of the Knights Templar — Sunday, Oct. 20 at 9/8c
During the Crusades, the warrior monks of the Knights Templar battled for souls, and the modern city of Acre, Israel is where their ancient headquarters…and possibly, their treasure lays in the ground. Lin’s LiDar scans the Knights of Templar’s secret network of tunnels as he rebuilds it digitally, for the first time ever.
El Dorado City of Gold — Monday, Oct. 21 at 10/9c
In the jungles of Colombia, the legend of El Dorado lured Spanish conquistadors who had heard tales of a native king covered in gold dust and entire cities glittering in the trees. Albert’s LiDar reveals a lost city and while on location, Albert and the team confirmed the site to be part of the Tairona civilization. To date, archaeologists have found six new sites, suggesting that the Tairona civilization reached further than archaeologists had formerly thought.
Ghost City of the Pacific — Monday, Oct. 28 at 10/9c
Just under 1,000 years ago, two curious Pacific societies appeared — and then disappeared — at the same time. Is there a connection between these legendary islands separated by 6,000 miles and their lost civilizations? Albert’s LiDar strips back 100 years of mangroves to reveal a lost city hidden from view: Nan Madol.
Petra’s Hidden Origins — Monday, Nov. 4 at 10/9c
Petra is not the beginning of the story – but the end. A new city has been found that predates the famous Treasury by hundreds of years. Albert sets out to explore this groundbreaking new find to reveal, for the first time, the full story of one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Inca Island in the Sky — Monday, Nov. 11 at 10/9c
Nestled high in the Peruvian Andes lies a forgotten Inca citadel: Waqrapukara. Built at over 13,000 feet altitude — almost 6,600 feet higher than Machu Picchu, it is now dubbed the “new Machu Picchu.” Lin’s search for clues takes him to unopened tombs, ancient caves, and mysterious cities in the clouds.
Stonehenge — Monday, Nov. 18 at 10/9c
England’s biggest mystery: Lin uncovers a lost city that predates Stonehenge by 4,000 years. Blick Mead could hold the secret to why one of the world’s most famous monuments was built.
Who is Albert Lin?
A public speaker, storyteller, father, TV show personality, Ph.D., inventor, engineer, and scientist, Lin is no stranger to Nat Geo’s long-running Explorer series fans.
Despite a devastating ATV accident three years ago that led his lower right leg being amputated, he has come back to his career in a big way with full support from his Explorers family at National Geographic, the source of his first 2010 grant to explore the Valley of the Khans in Mongolia.
Lin is not only expanding his entrepreneurial engineering talents but creating a unique exploration show that utilizes the most cutting edge technology that can see underground, thereby exposing cities of the ancient worlds all over the planet.
The series will also air on Monday, with a trip to the El Dorado City of Gold, for its normal air date. Monsters and Critics will have an exclusive preview of that episode as well.
Lost Cities with Albert Lin begins Sunday with the premiere of Knights Templar, October 20 at 9/8c. The official premiere date is October 21 at 10/9c all on National Geographic Channel. The series will air on Monday every week for six episodes.