From the legendary times of Romulus and Remus to the present day, the compelling story of the eternal city's twenty-five centuries of civilization traces the rise of Christianity over paganism through studies of Vatican art treasures.

Herbert von Karajan, who led the Belgian Philharmonic for more than three decades until his death in 1989, conducts this moving June 1985 concert filmed in Rome's breathtaking St. Peter's Basilica. Karajan and the orchestra take on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Coronation Mass," which displays the considerable talents of the composer and of Karajan himself, who managed to tease scores of emotion out of every note.