Starz Entertainment has picked up the U.S. broadcast rights to Muse Entertainment’s $40 million eight-hour saga The Pillars of the Earth, a German/Canadian coproduction with former Canadian TV executive Rola Bauer’s Munich-based Tandem Communications.

The pay channel will air the Donald Sutherland-starring miniseries next July with a two-hour premiere, followed by six one-hour installments.

Pillars portrays two interwoven love stories amid the building of a 12th century English cathedral.

Also cast in the miniseries, which was directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, is Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Matthew Macfadyen, Hayley Atwell, Alison Pill and Sarah Parish.

Muse and Tandem first financed Pillars, which is based on Ken Follet’s best-selling novel of the same name, in Canada and Europe with a raft of presales before snagging the U.S. deal with Starz.

‘I’m a believer in the power of event television, so The Pillars of the Earth is precisely the kind of programming I want to showcase on Starz,’ said newly installed president and CEO Chris Albrecht said in a statement.

The CBC, which found success with The Tudors, will air Pillars after Movie Central and The Movie Network bow the miniseries this spring.

Pillars, produced in association with Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free Films, was shot in Hungary and Austria last summer.

Muse has also pacted with Asylum Entertainment to produce the $25 million eight-hour miniseries The Kennedys for The History Channel in the U.S., with Canada’s Jon Cassar (24) on board to direct.