Ontelly

The Original

Logo for The Original

Alkarim Jivani asks why we value originality, from Roman villas to so-called original features beloved of estate agents. He visits Warsaw to discuss the beautiful fake that is the town centre, flattened by the Germans in the Second World War and painstakingly reconstructed in the 1950s. But should the reconstruction have taken the form of the 18th-century original, the 19th or even the 1939 version? Along the way, Jivani considers homage, tributes, remakes, restorations and renovations.