In 1969 the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem was attacked by a fanatic and in the blaze that followed one of the world's most precious works of art the minbar of Saladin originally installed in 1187 was destroyed. The minbar lay in ashes. Thirty years later the Royal family of Jordan as the traditional guardians of the Al-Aqsa mosque decided to reconstruct the minbar. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh Stairway to Heaven chronicles the journey to recreate the Saladin minbar and its final restoration in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem as well as how the consequences of a tragic event have come to symbolise the renaissance of Islamic art around the world.