View allAll Photos Tagged irreplaceable
April 5, 2011.
The more people I meet the more I like my dog. - Author Unknown
Congratulations print giveaway winners :) Message me with the print you want, and your address, as soon as possible, so I can order everyone's prints and mail them.
Meet one of my best friends in the world. The only friend who wants to play with me all the time, shakes my hand willingly, consoles me when I'm upset even when I haven't spoken, and I will die if he isn't with me someday. This makes me happy because he's in it. I've always grown up with at least one pet my whole life, and it lessened the dependence I needed to have on people. I am unable to recall any single minute, the whole time I have been living, that I have not been able to come home and have a dog run over to greet me. It makes life so much more beautiful just to have dogs to protect and be friends with. Though I think I really have to stop comparing people I meet to my dog. Because almost nobody can measure up to him. :)
My Fascinators are unique and one of a kind. This fanciful hat style has been a hat staple since the 17th century and has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in recent years.
“In order to be irreplaceable, one must be different.” ~Coco Chanel
Oi gente! Segundo o flickr, já tem duas semanas que eu não posto por aqui. Mas eu tenho um motivo, que não é bom, mas vamos lá.
Fui pro hospital com baixa oxigenação, não conseguia respirar. Pra minha surpresa, minha pressão estava 20/16. Depois de muito remédio, injeção, e duas tentativas de internação mal sucedidas... estou aqui. Tô viva, hauaha mas to bem gripada, toda roxa das picadas, desanimei. Agora ainda tenho mtos exames, cardiologista, otorrino, etc. Fora semana de provas na faculdade e minhas unhas que quebraram tanto que sagraram e estão doendo PÁCARACA (pra não dizer outra coisa).
UFA. Tô cheia de coisa linda pra usar e sem tempo/vontade. Mas sorte que tenho umas fotos atrasadinhas...
Esse é o Irreplaceable, da minha coleção (Upgrade U), que é todo coloridinho <3 Fiz uns 20 indies *-* inspirados em Diva Beyoncé e na Disney <3 ps. não tô vendendo gente, não tenho material pra fazer em quantidade :((((
Usei:
1x Sally Hansen - Hard as Nails
2x OPI - Skull & Glossbones
1x Irreplaceable
1x TC Lorena
1x TC Vefic
É isso :) Quem me segue no instagram já viu trocentas combinações que usei depois dessa, e acompanha meus correios do dia! Me acha lá: @thardc!
Beijokas!
WISHING YOU ALL A MAGICAL 2016!
“You have always mattered. You will always matter. No matter what. Always.” (S.C.Lourie)
I hope you wake up in the New Year feeling as exceptional as you are! You are important, talented and needed! You are worthy, special and wonderful! You are an original masterpiece created with a unique mix of special gifts, abilities, personality, and experiences - crafted precisely so you could offer the world something distinct from everyone else! You are more important than you realize! You are irreplaceable! Each one of us matters, has a role to play, and makes a difference! Always remember that! :-)
“May the new year bring you an abundance of amazing opportunities, beautiful moments, and joyful experiences. May your positive actions & attitude inspire others.
May you be brave enough to take on and overcome rewarding challenges. May you find yourself in high spirits & excellent health. May you love with all your heart and find peace in even the most turbulent of times.
May the love you give find its way back to you. And may you forever be filled with the hope & strength necessary to make your dreams a reality.” (~ Zero Dean)
Many thanks to everyone for sticking around this year! Thank you so much for all the support and feedback, both on this page and in real life! Thanks for not leaving my page even if I did not get to post as many photos as previous years. I hope 2016 will be filled with inspiration, energy and more photography :-)
Good luck with all your new years resolutions if you have any! ;-)
…..and remember;
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” (~ C.S. Lewis)
and
“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” (~ James R. Sherman)
~ Heidi
Click here to follow me on Facebook :-)
© Copyright Heidi Hansen Photography. All rights reserved.
These small dunes were formed by north winds pushing sands off the Cadiz Dry Lake. The pristine nature of the dunes and the beautiful spring display of unique dune plants have made the area a favorite for photographers.
On February 12, 2016, President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the Mojave Trails National Monument east of Los Angeles in Southern California.
Mojave Trails National Monument: Spanning 1.6 million acres, more than 350,000 acres of previously congressionally-designated Wilderness, the Mojave Trails National Monument is comprised of a stunning mosaic of rugged mountain ranges, ancient lava flows, and spectacular sand dunes. The monument will protect irreplaceable historic resources including ancient Native American trading routes, World War II-era training camps, and the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of Route 66. Additionally, the area has been a focus of study and research for decades, including geological research and ecological studies on the effects of climate change and land management practices on ecological communities and wildlife.
Photo by Bob Wick, BLM.
Morelia Cathedral, Morelia Downtown.
For those who don't know this building, it is the Morelia's Cathedral. One of the tallest churches in Mexico and it possesses the biggest organ in the country from the 20th Century.
Its beauty is irreplaceable from day to night. Hundreds of tourist come to visit this place every year and as far as i know, the interiors are twice as beautiful.
--
Regards.
Thanks for watching.
Mrs. Pig chooses the wrong babysitter.
Alas, the library is sure to throw out this badly worn, irreplaceable book.
It was “Swim Class,” later repackaged as Beach Beasties, Lagoona who broke me. I’m not saying if it wasn’t for Lagoona I never would have embarked on the journey of collecting Monster High. On the contrary, the idea had been weighing on my mind for many months before I made my first purchase. It was March 2013 when I finally cracked. Colleen and I had actually been on the hunt for Scaris Deuce, but to no avail. At a small Benny’s location in our neighboring state, I couldn’t ignore “Swim Class” Lagoona another time. I’d seen her at a few other stores we’d ventured to that weekend, including Barnes and Noble (where I believe I’d first laid eyes on her). Since the “Swim Class” line was slightly discounted by a few dollars, this seemed the opportune time to just do it. I ended up with Lagoona, Draculaura, AND Venus at the register. But it was Lagoona who prompted the purchase of the entire set, and she was for a time my most special Monster High doll. There was something ridiculous yet endearing about her blank fish like stare, somewhat sickly looking blue skin, and yellow blonde hair. To top it off, she was donning a patterned swimsuit…my weakness. My very first store bought doll was a 1993 Sun Jewel Kira (who was actually picked out by my sister on her birthday, when Dad let her get Barbie for herself). Ever since, beach themed dolls have had a special place in my heart. They were always affordable, which was important to a young girl who got just $2 a week for allowance (if I behaved…a dime was taken away for each infraction), and who had an impulsive shopping habit (which meant saving up for things was very difficult for me). It seemed fitting that the first Monster High dolls in my collection fell in line with this same unspoken tradition.
Lagoona and her fellow “Swim Class” comrades marked a significant change in my life. March was always a month of unexpected, most often bad, changes. In 2008 my grandmother passed away in March, in 2009 Dad lost his job, in 2012 he went to the hospital the last time and never came home, and in 2016 my beloved first Jeep died outside the post office at 7 in the morning. It’s weird how the timing worked out…that it was March when Monster High became part of my doll hobby. They were the first thing I collected that I hadn’t dabbled in as a kid, given the obvious fact that they weren’t invented back then. I was apprehensive in those days about purchasing newfangled things, although I did find myself falling for the modern Bratz quite quickly. I am grateful that I finally caved and threw out the imaginary rule book I’d written for myself. The discovery of Monster High was a needed distraction (albeit an expensive one). It was approaching the anniversary of Dad’s last days at home. Somehow Colleen and I survived a year without him, all on our own. Most of the time, it felt like we were imposters playing some dysfunctional game of house. It’s odd that we felt that way given that it was just the two of us most of the time, since Dad had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in November of 2009 (he was constantly in and out of the hospital and needed help most days with basic things). But we had yet to claim our adulthood and make our own life in the wake of Dad’s passing. Strangely, beginning my Monster High collection was the start of a new chapter. Lagoona would have been the first sentence of this new chapter in my life, I suppose.
Initially, I had no idea what I wanted my Monster High collection to look like. I don’t really plan these things out…stuff always has a way of taking the reins without my control. It seemed sensible to start slow…only purchasing one example of a character to get a feel for the franchise. But that didn’t last long…Lagoona was one of the first characters to find herself duplicated. “School’s Out” and Scaris Lagoona quickly joined the collection. Both Colleen and I were delighted to find “School’s Out” still in stock at Barnes and Noble. She seemed like an exotic older release, given that most stores carried the newly released dolls. To this day, we still find ourselves marveling over the luck we had finding her in store. As for Scaris, she was just a consequence of me wanting Cleo from her pack. But unlike many collectors at the time, who resold Lagoona on eBay since they just wanted the cool Cleo, I was offended by such an idea. No, this Lagoona doll was delightfully adorable and would surely have her forever home with us. In fact, I grew to like her as much if not MORE than Cleo! Before long, I found myself on an emotional shopping binge, which mainly featured Monster High. Okay, I admit that I bought too many dolls, too fast, and for the wrong reasons. I was still coming to terms with this new life I did not choose (one without Dad and all on my own with just Colleen). We picked the same sort of escapism Dad elected after Mom died a decade earlier: shopping. We used EVERY excuse to get out of the house…and that often meant we were on the hunt for some random Monster High doll. Lagoona was not an unusual doll to be on our radar. In fact, she was one of the dolls whose presence made a particular line that much more exciting. Some of my early shopping binges included Roller Maze and Dot Dead Gorgeous Lagoona (I just couldn’t help myself, even if she wasn’t my favorite from either of those lines).
It was hard for me to resist Lagoona even after I pledged to be more conservative about buying dolls. By the time the summer of 2013 rolled around, I had realized how out of control I’d become. I was buying dolls when I was happy, sad, bored, angry, anxious…for any and every reason imaginable. Whenever I’d come home and see my newly purchased friends, I’d feel a sense of guilt, remorse, and even a bit of resentment. The void I was trying to fill by stuffing dolls into was never filled…a lesson I should have learned years before when Dad used retail therapy to soothe us after Mom died (and when things at home were rather dysfunctional). Despite coming to terms with this realization, I still loved ALL my dollies. And it was hard to stick to that resolve to abstain from shopping when it came to Miss Blue. Right after I stated I would curb my shopping, I found the freshly released Picture Day Lagoona at Target. Well, I just HAD to get her, right? She was too beautiful and well dressed to leave behind. And of course let’s not forget Mad Science Lagoona who popped up with Home Ick Frankie one day, after our annual eye exams. These dolls were both “out of date” so I couldn’t pass them up since it was unlikely I’d find them again. Plus, I’m a sucker for anything school themed (and Lagoona was the cutest thing ever with her little frog). By the end of the year, I had the best streak of luck ever. One of the last days of flea market season, I spotted a container labeled “Jessica’s Room” on the pine needle coated ground. Inside were a cluster of moldy, bug ridden dolls…including the bedazzling FIRST EDITION Lagoona. Oh, and there was also “1st Edition” Frankie and Gloom Beach Clawdeen (who were in better condition), but Lagoona was the prized find. Thus why the bin will always be named after her…the infamous “Lagoona Bin” (which is also remembered by 2007 Holiday Barbie, who Colleen chucked across the living room carpet after a live bug crawled out of her hair). Early the next spring, another Lagoona turned up at the same flea market….Skull Shores!!! I couldn’t believe that I was able to find such amazing Monster High dolls so soon (and for so cheap). It was especially exciting given that I was having luck getting my hands on Lagoona in particular.
As the years went on, my Lagoona collection continued to grow. It was especially easy when the dolls were abundant in stores, but dwindling in popularity. It meant that places like Barnes and Noble were slashing their prices by 50%. That’s how Ghouls Night Out and 13 Wishes Lagoona materialized in 2014. I was originally ONLY going to get 13 Wishes…she did after all have that coveted Neptuna. Colleen and I were majorly bummed when we discovered our mangy “Lagoona Bin” first edition doll was missing her beloved pet (she also had super loose legs, chipped lips, and the worst case of glue seepage I’ve ever seen). As soon as we realized that Neptuna was available with 13 Wishes Lagoona, it made her a “must have” doll in our collection. But somehow, we ended up with a pile of 50% off Monster High dolls at the register, including Ghouls Night Out. Even as Monster High dolls finally finished trickling out from stores, my Lagoona collection expanded whenever I found her secondhand. There was the decrepit Dance Class gal I rescued from the local Salvation Army, the mint Dance Class doll I bought at the local flea market not long after (I needed one with her outfit obviously), “Emoji” Lagoona also from the Salvation Army, and the arm-less Student Exchange Lagoona from the flea market. I was grateful that one of Student Exchange Lagoona’s arms was missing, because the person who had been contemplating buying her decided not to because of the amputation. Lucky for me, and Lagoona, I had arms for her already at home! Not only did I chase the dolls, but I also made a point to hoard any Lagoona fashion packs I came across in stores too. Sadly, she didn’t have as many options as say Frankie (I would have loved a “Deluxe” fashion set for Lagoona).
In 2022, as I’m typing this, I have close to 200 Monster High dolls, featuring a wide variety of characters. But Lagoona still holds her own, and is still one of my favorites to stumble upon in the wild. I always make sure to keep a stash of extra limbs for her, in the event another doll in need, like Monster Exchange, turns up. Whether they are in perfect condition or battered like my “1st Edition” lady, it doesn’t matter. In fact, when I first saw images of 2022 “1st Edition” re-releases pop up online, I was most excited about Lagoona. I knew I HAD to get her. Although I “needed” a Cleo upgrade more (my doll has cut hair and no accessories), it was still the Lagoona I coveted most of all. “1st Edition” Lagoona was and always will be one of my personal faves…which explains why my shabby friend has been given several pairs of handmade earrings over the years (I always think of a cooler pair to design for her with better charms). I have a fondness for all my Lagoona dolls, but some admittedly have more memories associated with them. There were the outdoor photo shoots we used to take of “Swim Class” Lagoona not long after I bought her. There were the skits we used to shoot (in comic book form) for my old Flickr, that showcased Triton as Lagoona’s much older boyfriend. Then there was the time Colleen and I actually played dolls like we used to as kids, and it was Picture Day Lagoona who was cast as Triton and Ursula’s daughter. I can’t tell you how many times Mad Science Lagoona has been used for various photo shoots for Flickr and Youtube thumbnails because of her lab outfit and awesome accessories. I’ll always owe it to Lagoona for being the doll that opened the door to my Monster High collection. She made that first year after Dad passed away a little brighter, and she helped me and Colleen recapture the childlike innocence that once captivated us years before. While I love other characters just as much, if not more, Lagoona will always have an irreplaceable spot in my heart and collection.
In order to be irreplaceable
one
must always be different
Roxxy Dress
By
Posh Pixels Only @ My 60L Secret
Mesh Dress in 5 Sizes
These small dunes were formed by north winds pushing sands off the Cadiz Dry Lake. The pristine nature of the dunes and the beautiful spring display of unique dune plants have made the area a favorite for photographers.
On February 12, 2016, President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the Mojave Trails National Monument east of Los Angeles in Southern California.
Mojave Trails National Monument: Spanning 1.6 million acres, more than 350,000 acres of previously congressionally-designated Wilderness, the Mojave Trails National Monument is comprised of a stunning mosaic of rugged mountain ranges, ancient lava flows, and spectacular sand dunes. The monument will protect irreplaceable historic resources including ancient Native American trading routes, World War II-era training camps, and the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of Route 66. Additionally, the area has been a focus of study and research for decades, including geological research and ecological studies on the effects of climate change and land management practices on ecological communities and wildlife.
Photo by Bob Wick, BLM.
Expressionismus.
(Linoleum Cut).
Idiosyncrasies hominibus esse must be þearf,
επιστήμη της μοναδικότητας irreplaceable tormenta torquent,
existentialism fripoandel published contemporaneous entwicklungen,
abstractions conceptuelles beneath διχοτόμηση problemi di analisi,
finiteness døds syntactical metaphoris soeaftloba relations powerful,
desideri arbitrariamente overwhelming visualizzazione reciprocamente art,
colors funkce nepřirozené jakostiaspects descriptions vota lyric,
решительные ошибки bibendum somnia divina,
inhärenten einheiten changing apreensões mover,
gravitational áweosung bilewit compositions revealed,
proyecciones radiales methods enrich megalomaniac geallig,
amalgamations consapevole di celeste dramas,
idealismus stiftungen wahnvorstellungen forming thematic overtuigingen,
svět iluzorních důsledky throbbing music ýðgian,
groteske konjunksjoner outcast's tragedy résisté,
atavistic αντιστίξεις σκευάσματα on linguistic doelen,
humanitarianism l'inspiration culminant ethica intellectualium feel,
реакционарне вредности symbolic frwiræde stem,
guerres patriotiques soldaten sterben eschatological paths áblinnan,
expressionismus experientias simboleggia ekstrem природе to 学ぶ .
Steve.D.Hammond.
National parks preserve irreplaceable landscapes that represent the enduring natural heritage of Indigenous lands and waters. From the peaks of Glacier to the canyons of Zion, our national parks preserve wonders that must be protected. Help ensure future generations can experience these sacred places and contact your elected officials to have your voices heard.
Photographers all over Flickr visit and document these stunning locations every day. If we want to maintain their beauty as well as protect the biodiversity that these spaces sustain, make sure to let your elected officials know that you want them to prioritize funding and protection for our national park system and preserve these spaces for generations to come.
For a reminder of the spaces we want to preserve, check out these gorgeous landscapes captured and shared in the Flickr for the Planet group.
Check out our National Park inspired gallery today!
photo credit: jokin.lacalle
CAPPADOCIA WORLD HERITAGE LIST :
In a spectacular landscape, entirely sculpted by erosion, the Göreme valley and its surroundings contain rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns – the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century – can also be seen there.
Brief synthesis
Located on the central Anatolia plateau within a volcanic landscape sculpted by erosion to form a succession of mountain ridges, valleys and pinnacles known as “fairy chimneys” or hoodoos, Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia cover the region between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos, the sites of Karain, Karlık, Yeşilöz, Soğanlı and the subterranean cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu. The area is bounded on the south and east by ranges of extinct volcanoes with Erciyes Dağ (3916 m) at one end and Hasan Dağ (3253 m) at the other. The density of its rock-hewn cells, churches, troglodyte villages and subterranean cities within the rock formations make it one of the world's most striking and largest cave-dwelling complexes. Though interesting from a geological and ethnological point of view, the incomparable beauty of the decor of the Christian sanctuaries makes Cappadocia one of the leading examples of the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
It is believed that the first signs of monastic activity in Cappadocia date back to the 4th century at which time small anchorite communities, acting on the teachings of Basileios the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, began inhabiting cells hewn in the rock. In later periods, in order to resist Arab invasions, they began banding together into troglodyte villages or subterranean towns such as Kaymakli or Derinkuyu which served as places of refuge.
Cappadocian monasticism was already well established in the iconoclastic period (725-842) as illustrated by the decoration of many sanctuaries which kept a strict minimum of symbols (most often sculpted or tempera painted crosses). However, after 842 many rupestral churches were dug in Cappadocia and richly decorated with brightly coloured figurative painting. Those in the Göreme Valley include Tokalı Kilise and El Nazar Kilise (10th century), St. Barbara Kilise and Saklı Kilise (11th century) and Elmalı Kilise and Karanlık Kilise (end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century).
Criterion (i): Owing to their quality and density, the rupestral sanctuaries of Cappadocia constitute a unique artistic achievement offering irreplaceable testimony to the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
Criterion (iii): The rupestral dwellings, villages, convents and churches retain the fossilized image of a province of the Byzantine Empire between the 4th century and the arrival of the Seljuk Turks (1071). Thus, they are the essential vestiges of a civilization which has disappeared.
Criterion (v): Cappadocia is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement which has become vulnerable under the combined effects of natural erosion and, more recently, tourism.
Criterion (vii): In a spectacular landscape dramatically demonstrating erosional forces, the Göreme Valley and its surroundings provide a globally renowned and accessible display of hoodoo landforms and other erosional features, which are of great beauty, and which interact with the cultural elements of the landscape.
Integrity
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, having been extensively used and modified by man for centuries, is a landscape of harmony combining human interaction and settlement with dramatic natural landforms. There has been some earthquake damage to some of the cones and the pillars, but this is seen as a naturally occurring phenomenon. Overuse by tourists and some vandalism have been reported and some incompatible structures have been introduced.
The erosional processes that formed the distinctive conical rock structures will continue to create new fairy chimneys and rock pillars, however due to the rate of this process, the natural values of the property may still be threatened by unsustainable use. The cultural features, including rock-hewn churches and related cultural structures, mainly at risk of being undermined by erosion and other negative natural processes coupled with mass tourism and development pressures, can never be replaced. threats Some of the churches mentioned by early scholars such as C. Texier, H.G. Rott and Guillaume de Jerphanion are no longer extant.
Authenticity
The property meets the conditions of authenticity as its values and their attributes, including its historical setting, form, design, material and workmanship adequately reflect the cultural and natural values recognized in the inscription criteria.
Given the technical difficulties of building in this region, where it is a matter of hewing out structures within the natural rock, creating architecture by the removal of material rather than by putting it together to form the elements of a building, the underlying morphological structure and the difficulties inherent in the handling of the material inhibited the creative impulses of the builders. This conditioning of human effort by natural conditions persisted almost unchanged through successive periods and civilizations, influencing the cultural attitudes and technical skills of each succeeding generation.
Protection and management requirements
The World Heritage property Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia is subject to legal protection in accordance with both the Protection of Cultural and Natural Resources Act No. 2863 and the National Parks Act No. 2873. The entire territory between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos is designated as a National Park under the Act No. 2873. In addition, natural, archaeological, urban, and mixed archaeological and natural conservation areas, two underground towns, five troglodyte villages, and more than 200 individual rock-hewn churches, some of which contain numerous frescoes, have been entered into the register of immovable monuments and sites according to the Act No. 2863.
Legal protection, management and monitoring of the Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia fall within the scope of national and regional governmental administrations. The Nevşehir and Kayseri Regional Conservation Councils are responsible for keeping the register of monuments and sites, including carrying out all tasks related to the legal protection of monuments and listed buildings and the approval to carry out any restoration-related works. They also evaluate regional and conservation area plans prepared by the responsible national and/or local (i.e. municipal) authorities.
Studies for revision and updating of the existing land use and conservation plan (Göreme National Park Long-term Development Plan) of 1981 were completed in 2003. The major planning decisions proposed were that natural conservation areas are to be protected as they were declared in 1976. Minor adjustments in the peripheral areas of settlements and spatial developments of towns located in the natural conservation sites including Göreme, Ortahisar, Çavuşin, Ürgüp and Mustafapaşa will be strictly controlled. In other words, the Plan proposes to confine the physical growth of these towns to recently established zones. Hotel developments will take into account the set limits for room capacities. Furthermore, the plan also suggested that local authorities should be advised to review land use decisions for areas that have been reserved for tourism developments in the town plans.
Preparation of conservation area plans for the urban and/or mixed urban-archaeological conservation sites within the historic sections of Göreme are in place and provide zoning criteria and the rules and guidelines to be used in the maintenance and restoration of listed buildings and other buildings which are not registered, but which are located within the historic zones. Similar planning studies for the towns of Ortahisar and Uçhisar are in place. Once finalised, a conservation area plan for the urban conservation area in Ürgüp will be in place. All relevant plans are kept up to date on a continuing basis.
Appropriate facilities aimed at improving the understanding of the World Heritage property have been completed for the subterranean towns of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, and are required for Göreme and Paşabağı.
Monuments in danger due to erosion, including the El Nazar, Elmalı, and Meryemana (Virgin Mary) churches, have been listed as monuments requiring priority action. Specific measures for their protection, restoration and maintenance are required at the site level.
While conservation plans and protection measures are in place for individual sites, it is recognised by the principal parties responsible for site management that an integrated Regional Plan for the Cappadocia Cultural and Tourism Conservation and Development Area is required to protect the World Heritage values of the property. Adequate financial, political and technical support is also required to secure the management of the property.
www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/cappadocia/
For people from ethnic groups, a visit to the local market is an irreplaceable activity in daily life. The market in Pa Co is identical. Little has changed over the years. The mountain people talk and drink wine together. Not that they have much time, because life is hard in the mountains, but by making wine they spend some time together.
August 21, 2005
The Breaking Point
By PETER MAASS
The largest oil terminal in the world, Ras Tanura, is located on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, along the Persian Gulf. From Ras Tanura's control tower, you can see the classic totems of oil's dominion -- supertankers coming and going, row upon row of storage tanks and miles and miles of pipes. Ras Tanura, which I visited in June, is the funnel through which nearly 10 percent of the world's daily supply of petroleum flows. Standing in the control tower, you are surrounded by more than 50 million barrels of oil, yet not a drop can be seen.
The oil is there, of course. In a technological sleight of hand, oil can be extracted from the deserts of Arabia, processed to get rid of water and gas, sent through pipelines to a terminal on the gulf, loaded onto a supertanker and shipped to a port thousands of miles away, then run through a refinery and poured into a tanker truck that delivers it to a suburban gas station, where it is pumped into an S.U.V. -- all without anyone's actually glimpsing the stuff. So long as there is enough oil to fuel the global economy, it is not only out of sight but also out of mind, at least for consumers.
I visited Ras Tanura because oil is no longer out of mind, thanks to record prices caused by refinery shortages and surging demand -- most notably in the United States and China -- which has strained the capacity of oil producers and especially Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter of all. Unlike the 1973 crisis, when the embargo by the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries created an artificial shortfall, today's shortage, or near-shortage, is real. If demand surges even more, or if a producer goes offline because of unrest or terrorism, there may suddenly not be enough oil to go around.
As Aref al-Ali, my escort from Saudi Aramco, the giant state-owned oil company, pointed out, ''One mistake at Ras Tanura today, and the price of oil will go up.'' This has turned the port into a fortress; its entrances have an array of gates and bomb barriers to prevent terrorists from cutting off the black oxygen that the modern world depends on. Yet the problem is far greater than the brief havoc that could be wrought by a speeding zealot with 50 pounds of TNT in the trunk of his car. Concerns are being voiced by some oil experts that Saudi Arabia and other producers may, in the near future, be unable to meet rising world demand. The producers are not running out of oil, not yet, but their decades-old reservoirs are not as full and geologically spry as they used to be, and they may be incapable of producing, on a daily basis, the increasing volumes of oil that the world requires. ''One thing is clear,'' warns Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, in a series of new advertisements, ''the era of easy oil is over.''
In the past several years, the gap between demand and supply, once considerable, has steadily narrowed, and today is almost negligible. The consequences of an actual shortfall of supply would be immense. If consumption begins to exceed production by even a small amount, the price of a barrel of oil could soar to triple-digit levels. This, in turn, could bring on a global recession, a result of exorbitant prices for transport fuels and for products that rely on petrochemicals -- which is to say, almost every product on the market. The impact on the American way of life would be profound: cars cannot be propelled by roof-borne windmills. The suburban and exurban lifestyles, hinged to two-car families and constant trips to work, school and Wal-Mart, might become unaffordable or, if gas rationing is imposed, impossible. Carpools would be the least imposing of many inconveniences; the cost of home heating would soar -- assuming, of course, that climate-controlled habitats do not become just a fond memory.
But will such a situation really come to pass? That depends on Saudi Arabia. To know the answer, you need to know whether the Saudis, who possess 22 percent of the world's oil reserves, can increase their country's output beyond its current limit of 10.5 million barrels a day, and even beyond the 12.5-million-barrel target it has set for 2009. (World consumption is about 84 million barrels a day.) Saudi Arabia is the sole oil superpower. No other producer possesses reserves close to its 263 billion barrels, which is almost twice as much as the runner-up, Iran, with 133 billion barrels. New fields in other countries are discovered now and then, but they tend to offer only small increments. For example, the much-contested and as-yet-unexploited reserves in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge are believed to amount to about 10 billion barrels, or just a fraction of what the Saudis possess.
But the truth about Saudi oil is hard to figure out. Oil reservoirs cannot be inventoried like wood in a wilderness: the oil is underground, unseen by geologists and engineers, who can, at best, make highly educated guesses about how much is underfoot and how much can be extracted in the future. And there is a further obstacle: the Saudis will not let outsiders audit their confidential data on reserves and production. Oil is an industry in which not only is the product hidden from sight but so is reliable information about it. And because we do not know when a supply-demand shortfall might arrive, we do not know when to begin preparing for it, so as to soften its impact; the economic blow may come as a sledgehammer from the darkness.
Of course the Saudis do have something to say about this prospect. Before journeying to the kingdom, I went to Washington to hear the Saudi oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, speak at an energy conference in the mammoth Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, not far from the White House. Naimi was the star attraction at a gathering of the American petro-political nexus. Samuel Bodman, the U.S. energy secretary, was on the dais next to him. David O'Reilly, chairman and C.E.O. of Chevron, was waiting in the wings. The moderator was an éminence grise of the oil world, James Schlesinger, a former energy secretary, defense secretary and C.I.A. director.
''I want to assure you here today that Saudi Arabia's reserves are plentiful, and we stand ready to increase output as the market dictates,'' said Naimi, dressed in a gray business suit and speaking with only a slight Arabic accent. He addressed skeptics who contend that Saudi reservoirs cannot be tapped for larger amounts of oil. ''I am quite bullish on technology as the key to our energy future,'' he said. ''Technological innovation will allow us to find and extract more oil around the world.'' He described the task of increasing output as just ''a question of investment'' in new wells and pipelines, and he noted that consuming nations urgently need to build new refineries to process increased supplies of crude. ''There is absolutely no lack of resources worldwide,'' he repeated.
His assurances did not assure. A barrel of oil cost $55 at the time of his speech; less than three months later, the price had jumped by 20 percent. The truth of the matter -- whether the world will really have enough petroleum in the years ahead -- was as well concealed as the millions of barrels of oil I couldn't see at Ras Tanura.
For 31 years, Matthew Simmons has prospered as the head of his own firm, Simmons & Company International, which advises energy companies on mergers and acquisitions. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a graduate of the Harvard Business School and an unpaid adviser on energy policy to the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush, he would be a card-carrying member of the global oil nomenclatura, if cards were issued for such things. Yet he is one of the principal reasons the oil world is beginning to ask hard questions of itself.
Two years ago, Simmons went to Saudi Arabia on a government tour for business executives. The group was presented with the usual dog-and-pony show, but instead of being impressed, as most visitors tend to be, with the size and expertise of the Saudi oil industry, Simmons became perplexed. As he recalls in his somewhat heretical new book, ''Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy,'' a senior manager at Aramco told the visitors that ''fuzzy logic'' would be used to estimate the amount of oil that could be recovered. Simmons had never heard of fuzzy logic. What could be fuzzy about an oil reservoir? He suspected that Aramco, despite its promises of endless supplies, might in fact not know how much oil remained to be recovered.
Simmons returned home with an itch to scratch. Saudi Arabia was one of the charter members of OPEC, founded in 1960 in Baghdad to coordinate the policies of oil producers. Like every OPEC country, Saudi Arabia provides only general numbers about its output and reserves; it does not release details about how much oil is extracted from each reservoir and what methods are used to extract that oil, and it does not permit audits by outsiders. The condition of Saudi fields, and those of other OPEC nations, is a closely guarded secret. That's largely because OPEC quotas, which were first imposed in 1983 to limit the output of member countries, were based on overall reserves; the higher an OPEC member's reserves, the higher its quota. It is widely believed that most, if not all, OPEC members exaggerated the sizes of their reserves in order to have the largest possible quota -- and thus the largest possible revenue stream.
In the days of excess supply, bankers like Simmons did not know, or care, about the fudging; whether or not reserves were hyped, there was plenty of oil coming out of the ground. Through the 1970's, 80's and 90's, the capacity of OPEC and non-OPEC countries exceeded demand, and that's why OPEC imposed a quota system -- to keep some product off the market (although many OPEC members, seeking as much revenue as possible, quietly sold more oil than they were supposed to). Until quite recently, the only reason to fear a shortage was if a boycott, war or strike were to halt supplies. Few people imagined a time when supply would dry up because of demand alone. But a steady surge in demand in recent years -- led by China's emergence as a voracious importer of oil -- has changed that.
This demand-driven scarcity has prompted the emergence of a cottage industry of experts who predict an impending crisis that will dwarf anything seen before. Their point is not that we are running out of oil, per se; although as much as half of the world's recoverable reserves are estimated to have been consumed, about a trillion barrels remain underground. Rather, they are concerned with what is called ''capacity'' -- the amount of oil that can be pumped to the surface on a daily basis. These experts -- still a minority in the oil world -- contend that because of the peculiarities of geology and the limits of modern technology, it will soon be impossible for the world's reservoirs to surrender enough oil to meet daily demand.
One of the starkest warnings came in a February report commissioned by the United States Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory. ''Because oil prices have been relatively high for the past decade, oil companies have conducted extensive exploration over that period, but their results have been disappointing,'' stated the report, assembled by Science Applications International, a research company that works on security and energy issues. ''If recent trends hold, there is little reason to expect that exploration success will dramatically improve in the future. . . . The image is one of a world moving from a long period in which reserves additions were much greater than consumption to an era in which annual additions are falling increasingly short of annual consumption. This is but one of a number of trends that suggest the world is fast approaching the inevitable peaking of conventional world oil production.''
The reference to ''peaking'' is not a haphazard word choice -- ''peaking'' is a term used in oil geology to define the critical point at which reservoirs can no longer produce increasing amounts of oil. (This tends to happen when reservoirs are about half-empty.) ''Peak oil'' is the point at which maximum production is reached; afterward, no matter how many wells are drilled in a country, production begins to decline. Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members may have enough oil to last for generations, but that is no longer the issue. The eventual and painful shift to different sources of energy -- the start of the post-oil age -- does not begin when the last drop of oil is sucked from under the Arabian desert. It begins when producers are unable to continue increasing their output to meet rising demand. Crunch time comes long before the last drop.
''The world has never faced a problem like this,'' the report for the Energy Department concluded. ''Without massive mitigation more than a decade before the fact, the problem will be pervasive and will not be temporary. Previous energy transitions (wood to coal and coal to oil) were gradual and evolutionary; oil peaking will be abrupt and revolutionary.''
Most experts do not share Simmons's concerns about the imminence of peak oil. One of the industry's most prominent consultants, Daniel Yergin, author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning book about petroleum, dismisses the doomsday visions. ''This is not the first time that the world has 'run out of oil,''' he wrote in a recent Washington Post opinion essay. ''It's more like the fifth. Cycles of shortage and surplus characterize the entire history of the oil industry.'' Yergin says that a number of oil projects that are under construction will increase the supply by 20 percent in five years and that technological advances will increase the amount of oil that can be recovered from existing reservoirs. (Typically, with today's technology, only about 40 percent of a reservoir's oil can be pumped to the surface.)
Yergin's bullish view has something in common with the views of the pessimists -- it rests on unknowns. Will the new projects that are under way yield as much oil as their financial backers hope? Will new technologies increase recovery rates as much as he expects? These questions are next to impossible to answer because coaxing oil out of the ground is an extraordinarily complex undertaking. The popular notion of reservoirs as underground lakes, from which wells extract oil like straws sucking a milkshake from a glass, is incorrect. Oil exists in drops between and inside porous rocks. A new reservoir may contain sufficient pressure to make these drops of oil flow to the surface in a gusher, but after a while -- usually within a few years and often sooner than that -- natural pressure lets up and is no longer sufficient to push oil to the surface. At that point, ''secondary'' recovery efforts are begun, like pumping water or gas into the reservoirs to increase the pressure.
This process is unpredictable; reservoirs are extremely temperamental. If too much oil is extracted too quickly or if the wrong types or amounts of secondary efforts are employed, the amount of oil that can be recovered from a field can be greatly reduced; this is known in the oil world as ''damaging a reservoir.'' A widely cited example is Oman: in 2001, its daily production reached more than 960,000 barrels, but then suddenly declined, despite the use of advanced technologies. Today, Oman produces 785,000 barrels of oil a day. Herman Franssen, a consultant who worked in Oman for a decade, sees that country's experience as a possible lesson in the limits of technology for other producers that try to increase or maintain high levels of output. ''They reached a million barrels a day, and then a few years later production collapsed,'' Franssen said in a phone interview. ''They used all these new technologies, but they haven't been able to stop the decline yet.''
The vague production and reserve data that gets published does not begin to tell the whole story of an oil field's health, production potential or even its size. For a clear-as-possible picture of a country's oil situation, you need to know what is happening in each field -- how many wells it has, how much oil each well is producing, what recovery methods are being used and how long they've been used and the trend line since the field went into production. Data of that sort are typically not released by state-owned companies like Saudi Aramco.
As Matthew Simmons searched for clues to the truth of the Saudi situation, he immersed himself in the minutiae of oil geology. He realized that data about Saudi fields might be found in the files of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Oil engineers, like most professional groups, have regular conferences at which they discuss papers that delve into the work they do. The papers, which focus on particular wells that highlight a problem or a solution to a problem, are presented and debated at the conferences and published by the S.P.E. -- and then forgotten.
Before Simmons poked around, no one had taken the time to pull together the S.P.E. papers that involved Saudi oil fields and review them en masse. Simmons found more than 200 such papers and studied them carefully. Although the papers cover only a portion of the kingdom's wells and date back, in some cases, several decades, they constitute perhaps the best public data about the condition and prospects of Saudi reservoirs.
Ghawar is the treasure of the Saudi treasure chest. It is the largest oil field in the world and has produced, in the past 50 years, about 55 billion barrels of oil, which amounts to more than half of Saudi production in that period. The field currently produces more than five million barrels a day, which is about half of the kingdom's output. If Ghawar is facing problems, then so is Saudi Arabia and, indeed, the entire world.
Simmons found that the Saudis are using increasingly large amounts of water to force oil out of Ghawar. Most of the wells are concentrated in the northern portion of the 174-mile-long field. That might seem like good news -- when the north runs low, the Saudis need only to drill wells in the south. But in fact it is bad news, Simmons concluded, because the southern portions of Ghawar are geologically more difficult to draw oil from. ''Someday (and perhaps that day will be soon), the remarkably high well flow rates at Ghawar's northern end will fade, as reservoir pressures finally plummet,'' Simmons writes in his book. ''Then, Saudi Arabian oil output will clearly have peaked. The death of this great king'' -- meaning Ghawar -- ''leaves no field of vaguely comparable stature in the line of succession. Twilight at Ghawar is fast approaching.'' He goes on: ''The geological phenomena and natural driving forces that created the Saudi oil miracle are conspiring now in normal and predictable ways to bring it to its conclusion, in a time frame potentially far shorter than officialdom would have us believe.'' Simmons concludes, ''Saudi Arabia clearly seems to be nearing or at its peak output and cannot materially grow its oil production.''
Saudi officials belittle Simmons's work. Nansen Saleri, a senior Aramco official, has described Simmons as a banker ''trying to come across as a scientist.'' In a speech last year, Saleri wryly said, ''I can read 200 papers on neurology, but you wouldn't want me to operate on your relatives.'' I caught up with Simmons in June, during a trip he made to Manhattan to talk with a group of oil-shipping executives. The impression he gives is of an enthusiastic inventor sharing a discovery that took him by surprise. He has a certain wide-eyed wonder in his regard, as if a bit of mystery can be found in everything that catches his eye. And he has a rumpled aspect -- thinning hair slightly askew, shirt sleeves a fraction too long. Though he delivers a bracing message, his discourse can wander. He is a successful businessman, and it is clear that he did not achieve his position by being a man of impeccable convention. He certainly has not lost sight of the rule that people who shout ''the end is nigh'' do not tend to be favorably reviewed by historians, let alone by their peers. He notes in his book that way back in 1979, The New York Times published an investigative story by Seymour Hersh under the headline ''Saudi Oil Capacity Questioned.'' He knows that in past decades the Cassandras failed to foresee new technologies, like deep-water and horizontal drilling, that provided new sources of oil and raised the amount of oil that can be recovered from reservoirs.
But Simmons says that there are only so many rabbits technology can pull out of its petro-hat. He impishly notes that if the Saudis really wanted to, they could easily prove him wrong. ''If they want to satisfy people, they should issue field-by-field production reports and reserve data and have it audited,'' he told me. ''It would then take anybody less than a week to say, 'Gosh, Matt is totally wrong,' or 'Matt actually might be too optimistic.'''
Simmons has a lot riding on his campaign -- not only his name but also his business, which would not be rewarded if he is proved to be a fool. What, I asked, if the data show that the Saudis will be able to sustain production of not only 12.5 million barrels a day -- their target for 2009 -- but 15 million barrels, which global demand is expected to require of them in the not-too-distant future? ''The odds of them sustaining 12 million barrels a day is very low,'' Simmons replied. ''The odds of them getting to 15 million for 50 years -- there's a better chance of me having Bill Gates's net worth, and I wouldn't bet a dime on that forecast.''
The gathering of executives took place in a restaurant at Chelsea Piers; about 35 men sat around a set of tables as the host introduced Simmons. He rambled a bit but hit his talking points, and the executives listened raptly; at one point, the man on my right broke into a soft whistle, of the sort that means ''Holy cow.''
Simmons didn't let up. ''We're going to look back at history and say $55 a barrel was cheap,'' he said, recalling a TV interview in which he predicted that a barrel might hit triple digits.
He said that the anchor scoffed, in disbelief, ''A hundred dollars?''
Simmons replied, ''I wasn't talking about low triple digits.''
The onset of triple-digit prices might seem a blessing for the Saudis -- they would receive greater amounts of money for their increasingly scarce oil. But one popular misunderstanding about the Saudis -- and about OPEC in general -- is that high prices, no matter how high, are to their benefit.
Although oil costing more than $60 a barrel hasn't caused a global recession, that could still happen: it can take a while for high prices to have their ruinous impact. And the higher above $60 that prices rise, the more likely a recession will become. High oil prices are inflationary; they raise the cost of virtually everything -- from gasoline to jet fuel to plastics and fertilizers -- and that means people buy less and travel less, which means a drop-off in economic activity. So after a brief windfall for producers, oil prices would slide as recession sets in and once-voracious economies slow down, using less oil. Prices have collapsed before, and not so long ago: in 1998, oil fell to $10 a barrel after an untimely increase in OPEC production and a reduction in demand from Asia, which was suffering through a financial crash. Saudi Arabia and the other members of OPEC entered crisis mode back then; adjusted for inflation, oil was at its lowest price since the cartel's creation, threatening to feed unrest among the ranks of jobless citizens in OPEC states.
''The Saudis are very happy with oil at $55 per barrel, but they're also nervous,'' a Western diplomat in Riyadh told me in May, referring to the price that prevailed then. (Like all the diplomats I spoke to, he insisted on speaking anonymously because of the sensitivities of relations with Saudi Arabia.) ''They don't know where this magic line has moved to. Is it now $65? Is it $75? Is it $80? They don't want to find out, because if you did have oil move that far north . . . the chain reaction can come back to a price collapse again.''
High prices can have another unfortunate effect for producers. When crude costs $10 a barrel or even $30 a barrel, alternative fuels are prohibitively expensive. For example, Canada has vast amounts of tar sands that can be rendered into heavy oil, but the cost of doing so is quite high. Yet those tar sands and other alternatives, like bioethanol, hydrogen fuel cells and liquid fuel from natural gas or coal, become economically viable as the going rate for a barrel rises past, say, $40 or more, especially if consuming governments choose to offer their own incentives or subsidies. So even if high prices don't cause a recession, the Saudis risk losing market share to rivals into whose nonfundamentalist hands Americans would much prefer to channel their energy dollars. A concerted push for greater energy conservation in the United States, which consumes one-quarter of the world's oil (mostly to fuel our cars, as gasoline), would hurt producing nations, too. Basically, any significant reduction in the demand for oil would be ruinous for OPEC members, who have little to offer the world but oil; if a substitute can be found, their future is bleak. Another Western diplomat explained the problem facing the Saudis: ''You want to have the price as high as possible without sending the consuming nations into a recession and at the same time not have the price so high that it encourages alternative technologies.''
From the American standpoint, one argument in favor of conservation and a switch to alternative fuels is that by limiting oil imports, the United States and its Western allies would reduce their dependence on a potentially unstable region. (In fact, in an effort to offset the risks of relying on the Saudis, America's top oil suppliers are Canada and Mexico.) In addition, sending less money to Saudi Arabia would mean less money in the hands of a regime that has spent the past few decades doling out huge amounts of its oil revenue to mosques, madrassas and other institutions that have fanned the fires of Islamic radicalism. The oil money has been dispensed not just by the Saudi royal family but by private individuals who benefited from the oil boom -- like Osama bin Laden, whose ample funds, probably eroded now, came from his father, a construction magnate. Without its oil windfall, Saudi Arabia would have had a hard time financing radical Islamists across the globe.
For the Saudis, the political ramifications of reduced demand for its oil would not be negligible. The royal family has amassed vast personal wealth from the country's oil revenues. If, suddenly, Saudis became aware that the royal family had also failed to protect the value of the country's treasured resource, the response could be severe. The mere admission that Saudi reserves are not as impressively inexhaustible as the royal family has claimed could lead to hard questions about why the country, and the world, had been misled. With the death earlier this month of the long-ailing King Fahd, the royal family is undergoing another period of scrutiny; the new king, Abdullah, is in his 80's, and the crown prince, his half-brother Sultan, is in his 70's, so the issue of generational change remains to be settled. As long as the country is swimming in petro-dollars -- even as it is paying off debt accrued during its lean years -- everyone is relatively happy, but that can change. One diplomat I spoke to recalled a comment from Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the larger-than-life Saudi oil minister during the 1970's: ''The Stone Age didn't end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil.''
Until now, the Saudis had an excess of production capacity that allowed them, when necessary, to flood the market to drive prices down. They did that in 1990, when the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait eliminated not only Kuwait's supply of oil but also Iraq's. The Saudis functioned, as they always had, as the central bank of oil, releasing supply to the market when it was needed and withdrawing supply to keep prices from going lower than the cartel would have liked. In other words, they controlled not only the price of oil but their own destiny as well.
''That is what the world has called on them to do before -- turn on the taps to produce more and get prices down,'' a senior Western diplomat in Riyadh told me recently. ''Decreasing prices used to keep out alternative fuels. I don't see how they're able to do that anymore. This is a huge change, and it is a big step in the move to whatever is coming next. That's what's really happening.''
Without the ability to flood the markets with oil, the Saudis are resorting to flooding the market with promises; it is a sort of petro-jawboning. That's why Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister, told his Washington audience that Saudi Arabia has embarked on a crash program to raise its capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day by 2009 and even higher in the years after that. Naimi is not unlike a factory manager who needs to promise the moon to his valuable clients, for fear of losing or alarming them. He has no choice. The moment he says anything bracing, the touchy energy markets will probably panic, pushing prices even higher and thereby hastening the onset of recession, a switch to alternative fuels or new conservation efforts -- or all three. Just a few words of honest caution could move the markets; Naimi's speeches are followed nearly as closely in the financial world as those of Alan Greenspan.
I journeyed to Saudi Arabia to interview Naimi and other senior officials, to get as far beyond their prepared remarks as might be possible. Although I was allowed to see Ras Tanura, my interview requests were denied. I was invited to visit Aramco's oil museum in Dhahran, but that is something a Saudi schoolchild can do on a field trip. It was a ''show but don't tell'' policy. I was able to speak about production issues only with Ibrahim al-Muhanna, the oil ministry spokesman, who reluctantly met me over coffee in the lobby of my hotel in Riyadh. He defended Saudi Arabia's refusal to share more data, noting that the Saudis are no different from most oil producers.
''They will not tell you,'' he said. ''Nobody will. And that is not going to change.'' Referring to the fact that Saudi Arabia is often called the central bank of oil, he added: ''If an outsider goes to the Fed and asks, 'How much money do you have?' they will tell you. If you say, 'Can I come and count it?' they will not let you. This applies to oil companies and oil countries.'' I mentioned to Muhanna that many people think his government's ''trust us'' stance is not convincing in light of the cheating that has gone on within OPEC and in the industry as a whole; even Royal Dutch/Shell, a publicly listed oil company that undergoes regular audits, has admitted that it overstated its 2002 reserves by 23 percent.
''There is no reason for any country or company to lie,'' Muhanna replied. ''There is a lot of oil around.'' I didn't need to ask about Simmons and his peak-oil theory; when I met Muhanna at the conference in Washington, he nearly broke off our conversation at the mention of Simmons's name. ''He does not know anything,'' Muhanna said. ''The only thing he has is a big mouth. We should not pay attention to him. Either you believe us or you don't.''
So whom to believe? Before leaving New York for Saudi Arabia, I was advised by several oil experts to try to interview Sadad al-Husseini, who retired last year after serving as Aramco's top executive for exploration and production. I faxed him in Dhahran and received a surprisingly quick reply; he agreed to meet me. A week later, after I arrived in Riyadh, Husseini e-mailed me, asking when I would come to Dhahran; in a follow-up phone call, he offered to pick me up at the airport. He was, it seemed, eager to talk.
It can be argued that in a nation devoted to oil, Husseini knows more about it than anyone else. Born in Syria, Husseini was raised in Saudi Arabia, where his father was a government official whose family took on Saudi citizenship. Husseini earned a Ph.D. in geological sciences from Brown University in 1973 and went to work in Aramco's exploration department, eventually rising to the highest position. Until his retirement last year -- said to have been caused by a top-level dispute, the nature of which is the source of many rumors -- Husseini was a member of the company's board and its management committee. He is one of the most respected and accomplished oilmen in the world.
After meeting me at the cavernous airport that serves Dhahran, he drove me in his luxury sedan to the villa that houses his private office. As we entered, he pointed to an armoire that displayed a dozen or so vials of black liquid. ''These are samples from oil fields I discovered,'' he explained. Upstairs, there were even more vials, and he would have possessed more than that except, as he said, laughing, ''I didn't start collecting early enough.''
We spoke for several hours. The message he delivered was clear: the world is heading for an oil shortage. His warning is quite different from the calming speeches that Naimi and other Saudis, along with senior American officials, deliver on an almost daily basis. Husseini explained that the need to produce more oil is coming from two directions. Most obviously, demand is rising; in recent years, global demand has increased by two million barrels a day. (Current daily consumption, remember, is about 84 million barrels a day.) Less obviously, oil producers deplete their reserves every time they pump out a barrel of oil. This means that merely to maintain their reserve base, they have to replace the oil they extract from declining fields. It's the geological equivalent of running to stay in place. Husseini acknowledged that new fields are coming online, like offshore West Africa and the Caspian basin, but he said that their output isn't big enough to offset this growing need.
''You look at the globe and ask, 'Where are the big increments?' and there's hardly anything but Saudi Arabia,'' he said. ''The kingdom and Ghawar field are not the problem. That misses the whole point. The problem is that you go from 79 million barrels a day in 2002 to 82.5 in 2003 to 84.5 in 2004. You're leaping by two million to three million a year, and if you have to cover declines, that's another four to five million.'' In other words, if demand and depletion patterns continue, every year the world will need to open enough fields or wells to pump an additional six to eight million barrels a day -- at least two million new barrels a day to meet the rising demand and at least four million to compensate for the declining production of existing fields. ''That's like a whole new Saudi Arabia every couple of years,'' Husseini said. ''It can't be done indefinitely. It's not sustainable.''
Husseini speaks patiently, like a teacher who hopes someone is listening. He is in the enviable position of knowing what he talks about while having the freedom to speak openly about it. He did not disclose precise information about Saudi reserves or production -- which remain the equivalent of state secrets -- but he felt free to speak in generalities that were forthright, even when they conflicted with the reassuring statements of current Aramco officials. When I asked why he was willing to be so frank, he said it was because he sees a shortage ahead and wants to do what he can to avert it. I assumed that he would not be particularly distressed if his rivals in the Saudi oil establishment were embarrassed by his frankness.
Although Matthew Simmons says it is unlikely that the Saudis will be able to produce 12.5 million barrels a day or sustain output at that level for a significant period of time, Husseini says the target is realistic; he says that Simmons is wrong to state that Saudi Arabia has reached its peak. But 12.5 million is just an interim marker, as far as consuming nations are concerned, on the way to 15 million barrels a day and beyond -- and that is the point at which Husseini says problems will arise.
At the conference in Washington in May, James Schlesinger, the moderator, conducted a question-and-answer session with Naimi at the conclusion of the minister's speech. One of the first questions involved peak oil: might it be true that Saudi Arabia, which has relied on the same reservoirs, and especially Ghawar, for more than five decades, is nearing the geological limit of its output?
Naimi wouldn't hear of it.
''I can assure you that we haven't peaked,'' he responded. ''If we peaked, we would not be going to 12.5 and we would not be visualizing a 15-million-barrel-per-day production capacity. . . . We can maintain 12.5 or 15 million for the next 30 to 50 years.''
Experts like Husseini are very concerned by the prospect of trying to produce 15 million barrels a day. Even if production can be ramped up that high, geology may not be forgiving. Fields that are overproduced can drop off, in terms of output, quite sharply and suddenly, leaving behind large amounts of oil that cannot be coaxed out with existing technology. This is called trapped oil, because the rocks or sediment around it prevent it from escaping to the surface. Unless new technologies are developed, that oil will never be extracted. In other words, the haste to recover oil can lead to less oil being recovered.
''You could go to 15, but that's when the questions of depletion rate, reservoir management and damaging the fields come into play,'' says Nawaf Obaid, a Saudi oil and security analyst who is regarded as being exceptionally well connected to key Saudi leaders. ''There is an understanding across the board within the kingdom, in the highest spheres, that if you're going to 15, you'll hit 15, but there will be considerable risks . . . of a steep decline curve that Aramco will not be able to do anything about.''
Even if the Saudis are willing to risk damaging their fields, or even if the risk is overstated, Husseini points out a practical problem. To produce and sustain 15 million barrels a day, Saudi Arabia will have to drill a lot more wells and build a lot more pipelines and processing facilities. Currently, the global oil industry suffers a deficit of qualified engineers to oversee such projects and the equipment and the raw materials -- for example, rigs and steel -- to build them. These things cannot be wished from thin air or developed quickly enough to meet the demand.
''If we had two dozen Texas A&M's producing a thousand new engineers a year and the industrial infrastructure in the kingdom, with the drilling rigs and power plants, we would have a better chance, but you cannot put that into place overnight,'' Husseini said. ''Capacity is not just a function of reserves. It is a function of reserves plus know-how plus a commercial economic system that is designed to increase the resource exploitation. For example, in the U.S. you have infrastructure -- there must be tens of thousands of miles of pipelines. If we, in Saudi Arabia, evolve to that level of commercial maturity, we could probably produce a heck of a lot more oil. But to get there is a very tedious, slow process.''
He worries that the rising global demand for oil will lead to the petroleum equivalent of running an engine at ever-increasing speeds without stopping to cool it down or change the oil. Husseini does not want to see the fragile and irreplaceable reservoirs of the Middle East become damaged through wanton overproduction.
''If you are ramping up production so fast and jump from high to higher to highest, and you're not having enough time to do what needs to be done, to understand what needs to be done, then you can damage reservoirs,'' he said. ''Systematic development is not just a matter of money. It's a matter of reservoir dynamics, understanding what's there, analyzing and understanding information. That's where people come in, experience comes in. These are not universally available resources.''
The most worrisome part of the crisis ahead revolves around a set of statistics from the Energy Information Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. The E.I.A. forecast in 2004 that by 2020 Saudi Arabia would produce 18.2 million barrels of oil a day, and that by 2025 it would produce 22.5 million barrels a day. Those estimates were unusual, though. They were not based on secret information about Saudi capacity, but on the projected needs of energy consumers. The figures simply assumed that Saudi Arabia would be able to produce whatever the United States needed it to produce. Just last month, the E.I.A. suddenly revised those figures downward -- not because of startling new information about world demand or Saudi supply but because the figures had given so much ammunition to critics. Husseini, for example, described the 2004 forecast as unrealistic.
''That's not how you would manage a national, let alone an international, economy,'' he explained. ''That's the part that is scary. You draw some assumptions and then say, 'O.K., based on these assumptions, let's go forward and consume like hell and burn like hell.''' When I asked whether the kingdom could produce 20 million barrels a day -- about twice what it is producing today from fields that may be past their prime -- Husseini paused for a second or two. It wasn't clear if he was taking a moment to figure out the answer or if he needed a moment to decide if he should utter it. He finally replied with a single word: No.
''It's becoming unrealistic,'' he said. ''The expectations are beyond what is achievable. This is a global problem . . . that is not going to be solved by tinkering with the Saudi industry.''
It would be unfair to blame the Saudis alone for failing to warn of whatever shortages or catastrophes might lie ahead.
In the political and corporate realms of the oil world, there are few incentives to be forthright. Executives of major oil companies have been reluctant to raise alarms; the mere mention of scarce supplies could alienate the governments that hand out lucrative exploration contracts and also send a message to investors that oil companies, though wildly profitable at the moment, have a Malthusian long-term future. Fortunately, that attitude seems to be beginning to change. Chevron's ''easy oil is over'' advertising campaign is an indication that even the boosters of an oil-drenched future are not as bullish as they once were.
Politicians remain in the dark. During the 2004 presidential campaign, which occurred as gas prices were rising to record levels, the debate on energy policy was all but nonexistent. The Bush campaign produced an advertisement that concluded: ''Some people have wacky ideas. Like taxing gasoline more so people drive less. That's John Kerry.'' Although many environmentalists would have been delighted if Kerry had proposed that during the campaign, in fact the ad was referring to a 50-cents-a-gallon tax that Kerry supported 11 years ago as part of a package of measures to reduce the deficit. (The gas tax never made it to a vote in the Senate.) Kerry made no mention of taxing gasoline during the campaign; his proposal for doing something about high gas prices was to pressure OPEC to increase supplies.
Husseini, for one, doesn't buy that approach. ''Everybody is looking at the producers to pull the chestnuts out of the fire, as if it's our job to fix everybody's problems,'' he told me. ''It's not our problem to tell a democratically elected government that you have to do something about your runaway consumers. If your government can't do the job, you can't expect other governments to do it for them.'' Back in the 70's, President Carter called for the moral equivalent of war to reduce our dependence on foreign oil; he was not re-elected. Since then, few politicians have spoken of an energy crisis or suggested that major policy changes are necessary to avert one. The energy bill signed earlier this month by President Bush did not even raise fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars. When a crisis comes -- whether in a year or 2 or 10 -- it will be all the more painful because we will have done little or nothing to prepare for it.
Peter Maass is a contributing writer. He is writing a book about oil.
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Archaeological resources are fragile & irreplaceable. The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 & the Federal Land Policy & Management Act of 1976 protect them for the benefit of all Americans.
Any person who, without authorization, excavates, removes, damages, or otherwise alters or deface any historic or prehistoric site artifact or object of antiquity on the public lands of the United States is subject to arrest & penalty of law.
More than half of England’s medieval stained glass is held in York Minster’s 128 windows, making the cathedral custodian of some of the most important and irreplaceable art from this period.
In Scotland we have a series of archeological features built between 500-4,000 years before Christ. We treasure these as the irreplaceable historical artifacts they are. Nah, we leave them out in fields offering shelter to sheep and cows. Just to clear then, anywhere up to 6,000 years ago a bunch of folks, who had way better things to do, set about moving around and standing up the biggest pieces of stone they could find. It is amazing to stand in the wind and snow and put your hands on something that was erected by other hands 300 generations or so ago. And they are everywhere. Which doesn't mean they are always easy to get to. I had to bushwhack my way to the Machar stones, arriving about an hour before dark, and the Dunruchan Stones were protected by Highland Cows. I plan to return with these to try a little watercoloring.
Odd place for a photo eh! This is Sandgate Dry Cleaners in the suburb of the same name (Sandgate that is!) of Brisbane. We had a walk around in the blustery sunshine Saturday morning and passed this rather long lived shop, bringing forth its usual swathe of memories. I told you I was pensive this weekend!
When I was a kid in the '60's, my dear Aunty was the manager of this exact shop, then part of the Peerless Dry Cleaners group. It has hardly changed, maybe the computer screen on the counter and perhaps the counter has been refurbished, but otherwise, it looks no different from when my sister and I used to spend hours here, waiting for my Aunty to finish work and take us home to her place. When I think about this now, I wonder where my Mum was...maybe out shopping but not far away I am sure.
My Aunty's home, the family home was not far away in adjacent Brighton. I am much older now then they were back then. Where did all those years go? And how great to be back in their always loving embrace. I guess we all have memories of childhood like this in millions of different ways. Personal and irreplaceable.
Well, that's enough of that, but whenever we occasionally walk past, I can still see my Aunty's smiling face at that counter serving a happy customer. And she never had to ask them to wear a mask!
See the very professional sign on the counter!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRDZjj7-tOk
Endless thanks to my dear & irreplaceable (& crazy :P) friend Ebru for the model work (even if yawning... "so bad, so bad !!!... :D).
With all my affection, Bar ;)x
Hot Air Ballooning Cappadocia:
A must do in Cappadocia is take a balloon ride in order to see the sights from a vantage point like no other. On this 1-hour flight at sunrise you will experience the changing colors and the unique landscapes that scatter the region.
Enjoy a unique hot air balloon flight over the fairy chimneys and rock cut churches. This exhilarating experience in Cappadocia is one of the best places around the world to fly with hot air balloons.
www.britannica.com/place/Cappadocia/media/94094/229210
CAPPADOCIA WORLD HERITAGE LIST :
www.whc.unesco.org/en/list/357
In a spectacular landscape, entirely sculpted by erosion, the Göreme valley and its surroundings contain rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns – the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century – can also be seen there.
Brief synthesis
Located on the central Anatolia plateau within a volcanic landscape sculpted by erosion to form a succession of mountain ridges, valleys and pinnacles known as “fairy chimneys” or hoodoos, Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia cover the region between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos, the sites of Karain, Karlık, Yeşilöz, Soğanlı and the subterranean cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu. The area is bounded on the south and east by ranges of extinct volcanoes with Erciyes Dağ (3916 m) at one end and Hasan Dağ (3253 m) at the other. The density of its rock-hewn cells, churches, troglodyte villages and subterranean cities within the rock formations make it one of the world's most striking and largest cave-dwelling complexes. Though interesting from a geological and ethnological point of view, the incomparable beauty of the decor of the Christian sanctuaries makes Cappadocia one of the leading examples of the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
It is believed that the first signs of monastic activity in Cappadocia date back to the 4th century at which time small anchorite communities, acting on the teachings of Basileios the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, began inhabiting cells hewn in the rock. In later periods, in order to resist Arab invasions, they began banding together into troglodyte villages or subterranean towns such as Kaymakli or Derinkuyu which served as places of refuge.
Cappadocian monasticism was already well established in the iconoclastic period (725-842) as illustrated by the decoration of many sanctuaries which kept a strict minimum of symbols (most often sculpted or tempera painted crosses). However, after 842 many rupestral churches were dug in Cappadocia and richly decorated with brightly coloured figurative painting. Those in the Göreme Valley include Tokalı Kilise and El Nazar Kilise (10th century), St. Barbara Kilise and Saklı Kilise (11th century) and Elmalı Kilise and Karanlık Kilise (end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century).
Criterion (i): Owing to their quality and density, the rupestral sanctuaries of Cappadocia constitute a unique artistic achievement offering irreplaceable testimony to the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
Criterion (iii): The rupestral dwellings, villages, convents and churches retain the fossilized image of a province of the Byzantine Empire between the 4th century and the arrival of the Seljuk Turks (1071). Thus, they are the essential vestiges of a civilization which has disappeared.
Criterion (v): Cappadocia is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement which has become vulnerable under the combined effects of natural erosion and, more recently, tourism.
Criterion (vii): In a spectacular landscape dramatically demonstrating erosional forces, the Göreme Valley and its surroundings provide a globally renowned and accessible display of hoodoo landforms and other erosional features, which are of great beauty, and which interact with the cultural elements of the landscape.
Integrity
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, having been extensively used and modified by man for centuries, is a landscape of harmony combining human interaction and settlement with dramatic natural landforms. There has been some earthquake damage to some of the cones and the pillars, but this is seen as a naturally occurring phenomenon. Overuse by tourists and some vandalism have been reported and some incompatible structures have been introduced.
The erosional processes that formed the distinctive conical rock structures will continue to create new fairy chimneys and rock pillars, however due to the rate of this process, the natural values of the property may still be threatened by unsustainable use. The cultural features, including rock-hewn churches and related cultural structures, mainly at risk of being undermined by erosion and other negative natural processes coupled with mass tourism and development pressures, can never be replaced. threats Some of the churches mentioned by early scholars such as C. Texier, H.G. Rott and Guillaume de Jerphanion are no longer extant.
Authenticity
The property meets the conditions of authenticity as its values and their attributes, including its historical setting, form, design, material and workmanship adequately reflect the cultural and natural values recognized in the inscription criteria.
Given the technical difficulties of building in this region, where it is a matter of hewing out structures within the natural rock, creating architecture by the removal of material rather than by putting it together to form the elements of a building, the underlying morphological structure and the difficulties inherent in the handling of the material inhibited the creative impulses of the builders. This conditioning of human effort by natural conditions persisted almost unchanged through successive periods and civilizations, influencing the cultural attitudes and technical skills of each succeeding generation.
Protection and management requirements
The World Heritage property Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia is subject to legal protection in accordance with both the Protection of Cultural and Natural Resources Act No. 2863 and the National Parks Act No. 2873. The entire territory between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos is designated as a National Park under the Act No. 2873. In addition, natural, archaeological, urban, and mixed archaeological and natural conservation areas, two underground towns, five troglodyte villages, and more than 200 individual rock-hewn churches, some of which contain numerous frescoes, have been entered into the register of immovable monuments and sites according to the Act No. 2863.
Legal protection, management and monitoring of the Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia fall within the scope of national and regional governmental administrations. The Nevşehir and Kayseri Regional Conservation Councils are responsible for keeping the register of monuments and sites, including carrying out all tasks related to the legal protection of monuments and listed buildings and the approval to carry out any restoration-related works. They also evaluate regional and conservation area plans prepared by the responsible national and/or local (i.e. municipal) authorities.
Studies for revision and updating of the existing land use and conservation plan (Göreme National Park Long-term Development Plan) of 1981 were completed in 2003. The major planning decisions proposed were that natural conservation areas are to be protected as they were declared in 1976. Minor adjustments in the peripheral areas of settlements and spatial developments of towns located in the natural conservation sites including Göreme, Ortahisar, Çavuşin, Ürgüp and Mustafapaşa will be strictly controlled. In other words, the Plan proposes to confine the physical growth of these towns to recently established zones. Hotel developments will take into account the set limits for room capacities. Furthermore, the plan also suggested that local authorities should be advised to review land use decisions for areas that have been reserved for tourism developments in the town plans.
Preparation of conservation area plans for the urban and/or mixed urban-archaeological conservation sites within the historic sections of Göreme are in place and provide zoning criteria and the rules and guidelines to be used in the maintenance and restoration of listed buildings and other buildings which are not registered, but which are located within the historic zones. Similar planning studies for the towns of Ortahisar and Uçhisar are in place. Once finalised, a conservation area plan for the urban conservation area in Ürgüp will be in place. All relevant plans are kept up to date on a continuing basis.
Appropriate facilities aimed at improving the understanding of the World Heritage property have been completed for the subterranean towns of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, and are required for Göreme and Paşabağı.
Monuments in danger due to erosion, including the El Nazar, Elmalı, and Meryemana (Virgin Mary) churches, have been listed as monuments requiring priority action. Specific measures for their protection, restoration and maintenance are required at the site level.
While conservation plans and protection measures are in place for individual sites, it is recognised by the principal parties responsible for site management that an integrated Regional Plan for the Cappadocia Cultural and Tourism Conservation and Development Area is required to protect the World Heritage values of the property. Adequate financial, political and technical support is also required to secure the management of the propert
www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/cappadocia/
In the depths of the summer forest, the sun will set, the forest will be surrounded by the darkness ... The beautiful light dance of the Princess firefly will begin in the darkness where no one enters his feet. It is a shine of life of only 10 days on a summer evening.
A rich forest creates a river. It is an irreplaceable flow for many lives.
Herb's Seafood closed yesterday after 30-something years on Route 1 in Kennebunk. Best prices, selection and quality. Not just seafood, but also potted plants, trees, bird houses, vegetables, you name it. Irreplaceable. Sad to see it go.
CAPPADOCIA WORLD HERITAGE LIST :
www.whc.unesco.org/en/list/357
In a spectacular landscape, entirely sculpted by erosion, the Göreme valley and its surroundings contain rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns – the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century – can also be seen there.
Brief synthesis
Located on the central Anatolia plateau within a volcanic landscape sculpted by erosion to form a succession of mountain ridges, valleys and pinnacles known as “fairy chimneys” or hoodoos, Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia cover the region between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos, the sites of Karain, Karlık, Yeşilöz, Soğanlı and the subterranean cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu. The area is bounded on the south and east by ranges of extinct volcanoes with Erciyes Dağ (3916 m) at one end and Hasan Dağ (3253 m) at the other. The density of its rock-hewn cells, churches, troglodyte villages and subterranean cities within the rock formations make it one of the world's most striking and largest cave-dwelling complexes. Though interesting from a geological and ethnological point of view, the incomparable beauty of the decor of the Christian sanctuaries makes Cappadocia one of the leading examples of the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
It is believed that the first signs of monastic activity in Cappadocia date back to the 4th century at which time small anchorite communities, acting on the teachings of Basileios the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, began inhabiting cells hewn in the rock. In later periods, in order to resist Arab invasions, they began banding together into troglodyte villages or subterranean towns such as Kaymakli or Derinkuyu which served as places of refuge.
Cappadocian monasticism was already well established in the iconoclastic period (725-842) as illustrated by the decoration of many sanctuaries which kept a strict minimum of symbols (most often sculpted or tempera painted crosses). However, after 842 many rupestral churches were dug in Cappadocia and richly decorated with brightly coloured figurative painting. Those in the Göreme Valley include Tokalı Kilise and El Nazar Kilise (10th century), St. Barbara Kilise and Saklı Kilise (11th century) and Elmalı Kilise and Karanlık Kilise (end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century).
Criterion (i): Owing to their quality and density, the rupestral sanctuaries of Cappadocia constitute a unique artistic achievement offering irreplaceable testimony to the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
Criterion (iii): The rupestral dwellings, villages, convents and churches retain the fossilized image of a province of the Byzantine Empire between the 4th century and the arrival of the Seljuk Turks (1071). Thus, they are the essential vestiges of a civilization which has disappeared.
Criterion (v): Cappadocia is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement which has become vulnerable under the combined effects of natural erosion and, more recently, tourism.
Criterion (vii): In a spectacular landscape dramatically demonstrating erosional forces, the Göreme Valley and its surroundings provide a globally renowned and accessible display of hoodoo landforms and other erosional features, which are of great beauty, and which interact with the cultural elements of the landscape.
Integrity
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, having been extensively used and modified by man for centuries, is a landscape of harmony combining human interaction and settlement with dramatic natural landforms. There has been some earthquake damage to some of the cones and the pillars, but this is seen as a naturally occurring phenomenon. Overuse by tourists and some vandalism have been reported and some incompatible structures have been introduced.
The erosional processes that formed the distinctive conical rock structures will continue to create new fairy chimneys and rock pillars, however due to the rate of this process, the natural values of the property may still be threatened by unsustainable use. The cultural features, including rock-hewn churches and related cultural structures, mainly at risk of being undermined by erosion and other negative natural processes coupled with mass tourism and development pressures, can never be replaced. threats Some of the churches mentioned by early scholars such as C. Texier, H.G. Rott and Guillaume de Jerphanion are no longer extant.
Authenticity
The property meets the conditions of authenticity as its values and their attributes, including its historical setting, form, design, material and workmanship adequately reflect the cultural and natural values recognized in the inscription criteria.
Given the technical difficulties of building in this region, where it is a matter of hewing out structures within the natural rock, creating architecture by the removal of material rather than by putting it together to form the elements of a building, the underlying morphological structure and the difficulties inherent in the handling of the material inhibited the creative impulses of the builders. This conditioning of human effort by natural conditions persisted almost unchanged through successive periods and civilizations, influencing the cultural attitudes and technical skills of each succeeding generation.
Protection and management requirements
The World Heritage property Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia is subject to legal protection in accordance with both the Protection of Cultural and Natural Resources Act No. 2863 and the National Parks Act No. 2873. The entire territory between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos is designated as a National Park under the Act No. 2873. In addition, natural, archaeological, urban, and mixed archaeological and natural conservation areas, two underground towns, five troglodyte villages, and more than 200 individual rock-hewn churches, some of which contain numerous frescoes, have been entered into the register of immovable monuments and sites according to the Act No. 2863.
Legal protection, management and monitoring of the Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia fall within the scope of national and regional governmental administrations. The Nevşehir and Kayseri Regional Conservation Councils are responsible for keeping the register of monuments and sites, including carrying out all tasks related to the legal protection of monuments and listed buildings and the approval to carry out any restoration-related works. They also evaluate regional and conservation area plans prepared by the responsible national and/or local (i.e. municipal) authorities.
Studies for revision and updating of the existing land use and conservation plan (Göreme National Park Long-term Development Plan) of 1981 were completed in 2003. The major planning decisions proposed were that natural conservation areas are to be protected as they were declared in 1976. Minor adjustments in the peripheral areas of settlements and spatial developments of towns located in the natural conservation sites including Göreme, Ortahisar, Çavuşin, Ürgüp and Mustafapaşa will be strictly controlled. In other words, the Plan proposes to confine the physical growth of these towns to recently established zones. Hotel developments will take into account the set limits for room capacities. Furthermore, the plan also suggested that local authorities should be advised to review land use decisions for areas that have been reserved for tourism developments in the town plans.
Preparation of conservation area plans for the urban and/or mixed urban-archaeological conservation sites within the historic sections of Göreme are in place and provide zoning criteria and the rules and guidelines to be used in the maintenance and restoration of listed buildings and other buildings which are not registered, but which are located within the historic zones. Similar planning studies for the towns of Ortahisar and Uçhisar are in place. Once finalised, a conservation area plan for the urban conservation area in Ürgüp will be in place. All relevant plans are kept up to date on a continuing basis.
Appropriate facilities aimed at improving the understanding of the World Heritage property have been completed for the subterranean towns of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, and are required for Göreme and Paşabağı.
Monuments in danger due to erosion, including the El Nazar, Elmalı, and Meryemana (Virgin Mary) churches, have been listed as monuments requiring priority action. Specific measures for their protection, restoration and maintenance are required at the site level.
While conservation plans and protection measures are in place for individual sites, it is recognised by the principal parties responsible for site management that an integrated Regional Plan for the Cappadocia Cultural and Tourism Conservation and Development Area is required to protect the World Heritage values of the property. Adequate financial, political and technical support is also required to secure the management of the property.
whc.unesco.org/en/list/357
www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/cappadocia/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia
On his 88th Birthday, Churchill was given a marmalade puss and he named him Jock. Jock was reportedly on Winnie's bed when the ex Prime Minister died. ....................
"It was a dying request of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill that there should always be a marmalade cat called Jock living a 'comfortable' life at his former home.
But yesterday, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the war hero's death, it emerged that the latest incumbent is banned from large parts of Chartwell in Kent because of his claws.
Curators are concerned Jock IV could do 'untold damage to irreplaceable objects' in the dining room, study and bedroom – where the original cat would have once had free rein."
Daily Mail Jan. 2015
These small dunes were formed by north winds pushing sands off the Cadiz Dry Lake. The pristine nature of the dunes and the beautiful spring display of unique dune plants have made the area a favorite for photographers.
On February 12, 2016, President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the Mojave Trails National Monument east of Los Angeles in Southern California.
Mojave Trails National Monument: Spanning 1.6 million acres, more than 350,000 acres of previously congressionally-designated Wilderness, the Mojave Trails National Monument is comprised of a stunning mosaic of rugged mountain ranges, ancient lava flows, and spectacular sand dunes. The monument will protect irreplaceable historic resources including ancient Native American trading routes, World War II-era training camps, and the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of Route 66. Additionally, the area has been a focus of study and research for decades, including geological research and ecological studies on the effects of climate change and land management practices on ecological communities and wildlife.
Photo by Bob Wick, BLM.
He's now been with us for almost six months... it's hard to imagine our lives without him. He makes us laugh on a daily basis, even when he's getting into trouble. He's certainly our stud-muffin... ;)
The Viennese Giant Wheel was build in 1897 and is one of Vienna’s landmarks. Its outline can be seen from a long distance and makes it an irreplaceable attraction. A ride on the fascinating and imposing structure is a must-do for most Vienna visitors.
"We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which we have created ourselves." Pope Francis
Erin is leaving this week.
We snuck another shoot in after this one so it wasn't quite the last one, but this shot is from our anniversary shoot. Two weeks ago on the 20th of August I met and shot with Erin for the first time, and instantly she was my favorite. She picked up what I wanted in a shot without me saying it, and I could look at her sitting off to the side waiting on me to load film into a camera and see something in her that should be on the cover of a magazine.
She's definitely someone I don't want to lose, and I hope whoever meets Erin in her new home treats her right.
I'm more than half tempted to retire now that she's gone, since she's an irreplaceable person and a lovely model.
Now it's final. After all my writing about moving, the time is here. The van is fully loaded, and we're ready for the 2,5 hours drive to the island I'm from where we are moving to.
After living 12 years on Jæren, a special and really beautiful part of Norway, there's so much I'll miss: All the friends I've got, irreplaceable colleagues and job, the beautiful and diverse nature that I'm in love with - both the beaches, rocky shores, lakes, fjords and mountains, my choirs and the people in them, the fitness center nearby, the advantages of the city life when wanted, and all the fun I've been having here.
I hope I'll be able to visit both my friends and family here often, and to get to enjoy the nature again as well.
This image is from one of my favorite places here - the Sele beach, with a lovely view towards the beautiful Feistein lighthouse.
Take a look at all the beautiful sights I've got to capture during my 12 years on Jæren here.
Historical pigeon nests carved inside a huge rock in Cappadocia, Turkey.
Canon AE-1 Program.
KODACHROME
YEAR. 1981
CAPPADOCIA WORLD HERITAGE LIST :
www.whc.unesco.org/en/list/357
In a spectacular landscape, entirely sculpted by erosion, the Göreme valley and its surroundings contain rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns – the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century – can also be seen there.
Brief synthesis
Located on the central Anatolia plateau within a volcanic landscape sculpted by erosion to form a succession of mountain ridges, valleys and pinnacles known as “fairy chimneys” or hoodoos, Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia cover the region between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos, the sites of Karain, Karlık, Yeşilöz, Soğanlı and the subterranean cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu. The area is bounded on the south and east by ranges of extinct volcanoes with Erciyes Dağ (3916 m) at one end and Hasan Dağ (3253 m) at the other. The density of its rock-hewn cells, churches, troglodyte villages and subterranean cities within the rock formations make it one of the world's most striking and largest cave-dwelling complexes. Though interesting from a geological and ethnological point of view, the incomparable beauty of the decor of the Christian sanctuaries makes Cappadocia one of the leading examples of the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
It is believed that the first signs of monastic activity in Cappadocia date back to the 4th century at which time small anchorite communities, acting on the teachings of Basileios the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, began inhabiting cells hewn in the rock. In later periods, in order to resist Arab invasions, they began banding together into troglodyte villages or subterranean towns such as Kaymakli or Derinkuyu which served as places of refuge.
Cappadocian monasticism was already well established in the iconoclastic period (725-842) as illustrated by the decoration of many sanctuaries which kept a strict minimum of symbols (most often sculpted or tempera painted crosses). However, after 842 many rupestral churches were dug in Cappadocia and richly decorated with brightly coloured figurative painting. Those in the Göreme Valley include Tokalı Kilise and El Nazar Kilise (10th century), St. Barbara Kilise and Saklı Kilise (11th century) and Elmalı Kilise and Karanlık Kilise (end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century).
Criterion (i): Owing to their quality and density, the rupestral sanctuaries of Cappadocia constitute a unique artistic achievement offering irreplaceable testimony to the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
Criterion (iii): The rupestral dwellings, villages, convents and churches retain the fossilized image of a province of the Byzantine Empire between the 4th century and the arrival of the Seljuk Turks (1071). Thus, they are the essential vestiges of a civilization which has disappeared.
Criterion (v): Cappadocia is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement which has become vulnerable under the combined effects of natural erosion and, more recently, tourism.
Criterion (vii): In a spectacular landscape dramatically demonstrating erosional forces, the Göreme Valley and its surroundings provide a globally renowned and accessible display of hoodoo landforms and other erosional features, which are of great beauty, and which interact with the cultural elements of the landscape.
Integrity
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, having been extensively used and modified by man for centuries, is a landscape of harmony combining human interaction and settlement with dramatic natural landforms. There has been some earthquake damage to some of the cones and the pillars, but this is seen as a naturally occurring phenomenon. Overuse by tourists and some vandalism have been reported and some incompatible structures have been introduced.
The erosional processes that formed the distinctive conical rock structures will continue to create new fairy chimneys and rock pillars, however due to the rate of this process, the natural values of the property may still be threatened by unsustainable use. The cultural features, including rock-hewn churches and related cultural structures, mainly at risk of being undermined by erosion and other negative natural processes coupled with mass tourism and development pressures, can never be replaced. threats Some of the churches mentioned by early scholars such as C. Texier, H.G. Rott and Guillaume de Jerphanion are no longer extant.
Authenticity
The property meets the conditions of authenticity as its values and their attributes, including its historical setting, form, design, material and workmanship adequately reflect the cultural and natural values recognized in the inscription criteria.
Given the technical difficulties of building in this region, where it is a matter of hewing out structures within the natural rock, creating architecture by the removal of material rather than by putting it together to form the elements of a building, the underlying morphological structure and the difficulties inherent in the handling of the material inhibited the creative impulses of the builders. This conditioning of human effort by natural conditions persisted almost unchanged through successive periods and civilizations, influencing the cultural attitudes and technical skills of each succeeding generation.
Protection and management requirements
The World Heritage property Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia is subject to legal protection in accordance with both the Protection of Cultural and Natural Resources Act No. 2863 and the National Parks Act No. 2873. The entire territory between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos is designated as a National Park under the Act No. 2873. In addition, natural, archaeological, urban, and mixed archaeological and natural conservation areas, two underground towns, five troglodyte villages, and more than 200 individual rock-hewn churches, some of which contain numerous frescoes, have been entered into the register of immovable monuments and sites according to the Act No. 2863.
Legal protection, management and monitoring of the Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia fall within the scope of national and regional governmental administrations. The Nevşehir and Kayseri Regional Conservation Councils are responsible for keeping the register of monuments and sites, including carrying out all tasks related to the legal protection of monuments and listed buildings and the approval to carry out any restoration-related works. They also evaluate regional and conservation area plans prepared by the responsible national and/or local (i.e. municipal) authorities.
Studies for revision and updating of the existing land use and conservation plan (Göreme National Park Long-term Development Plan) of 1981 were completed in 2003. The major planning decisions proposed were that natural conservation areas are to be protected as they were declared in 1976. Minor adjustments in the peripheral areas of settlements and spatial developments of towns located in the natural conservation sites including Göreme, Ortahisar, Çavuşin, Ürgüp and Mustafapaşa will be strictly controlled. In other words, the Plan proposes to confine the physical growth of these towns to recently established zones. Hotel developments will take into account the set limits for room capacities. Furthermore, the plan also suggested that local authorities should be advised to review land use decisions for areas that have been reserved for tourism developments in the town plans.
Preparation of conservation area plans for the urban and/or mixed urban-archaeological conservation sites within the historic sections of Göreme are in place and provide zoning criteria and the rules and guidelines to be used in the maintenance and restoration of listed buildings and other buildings which are not registered, but which are located within the historic zones. Similar planning studies for the towns of Ortahisar and Uçhisar are in place. Once finalised, a conservation area plan for the urban conservation area in Ürgüp will be in place. All relevant plans are kept up to date on a continuing basis.
Appropriate facilities aimed at improving the understanding of the World Heritage property have been completed for the subterranean towns of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, and are required for Göreme and Paşabağı.
Monuments in danger due to erosion, including the El Nazar, Elmalı, and Meryemana (Virgin Mary) churches, have been listed as monuments requiring priority action. Specific measures for their protection, restoration and maintenance are required at the site level.
While conservation plans and protection measures are in place for individual sites, it is recognised by the principal parties responsible for site management that an integrated Regional Plan for the Cappadocia Cultural and Tourism Conservation and Development Area is required to protect the World Heritage values of the property. Adequate financial, political and technical support is also required to secure the management of the propert
whc.unesco.org/en/list/357
www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/cappadocia/
Dave favourite all time record
Itchycoo Park
The Small Faces
Cock Lane City of London
Dave told me how recently he headed to his local pub under a cloud of grief. His Uncle had recently died. Dave's Uncle had played a big role in his life, his family are tight and they all played their part. His Uncle had always been his protector and they were very close. Tragically he was senselessly attacked in a pub, no one knows why. It was quick and devastating and within a few timeless moments he was in the car park fighting for his life after the perpetrators had jumped down from a parked vehicle onto his head.
He died in hospital after being in a coma. Dave was by his bedside when heard the strains of Sweet Caroline being sung by spectators on television, which was his Uncle favourite karaoke tune. Somehow this made Dave realise this was the moment he was going to pass.
As Dave stood by the bar early on that Saturday morning it was obvious that he was suffering. Ultimately, he was missing his Uncle, his mate who he loved was gone and the silence and subsequent loneliness within their relationship was overwhelming at that point. The irreplaceable bond the normality of friendship torn apart by an act of cowardly senseless violence. The aftermath of this the people left behind will carry the weight of for life.
But he was approached by a stranger who basically asked if he was alright. Of course he wasn't and they started talking then had another drink. Someone had basically taken time to find out what was happening. Dave found this man's compassion moving. This man is called Bogdan and he is Romanian. He is in England to work - he is in traffic control - just so he can get enough money to send back to Romanian so his 12-year daughter can get a good education.
This disturbed Dave as he was upset that Bogdan couldn't live with his daughter together as a family. All he wanted to do was to make sure his daughter got an education that would benefit her future and if that meant time apart then that's what they had to do. A common struggle all over the world. Dave really felt a lot of empathy for Bogdan and his wife, this mirrored the empathy Bogdan had felt for Dave a stranger standing at a bar. The result somehow temporarily took Dave's mind away from his grief.
We now live in Brexit Britain and for years we had a sustained campaign to leave the European Union with slogan's like 'Take back control'. And while the EU wasn't perfect and needed reform and no country wants criminal gangs coming in, we were exposed to a Leave campaign that led to divisions intolerance and extremism. A campaign that perpetrated to help the working class against the 'elites' which was actually financed by super rich establishment figures who ticked every box of being 'elites' themselves and have no intention of a more equal society. They want even more control and the vote to leave helped them secure their wealth and power. Their agenda would be to paint Bogdan as a problem for the area he is staying, whereas the real problems are the violence and separation that led to Dave and Bogdan meeting in the first place.
And somehow Dave's interaction with Bogdan shined a light on the fact we are all part of the human race. With more understanding and tolerance, we can have better times finding what bonds us instead of looking for what divides us.
Dave and Bogdan ended up watching Romanian third division football highlights because of the incredible ability/wonders of modern technology.
A day both of them won't forget in a hurry, because it's life. Life to be shared and experienced.
This is a great quote from Dave "We are fortunate to get this chance to live and exist and find love and family. Our sadness at death is only a measure of how deeply we have loved."
www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
© All rights reserved please do not use on any other websites or blogs without my explicit permission.
The architecture in Tbilisi is a mixture of local (Georgian), with strong influences of Byzantine, European/Russian (neo-classical), and Middle Eastern architectural styles. The oldest parts of town, including the Abanot-Ubani, Avlabari, and to a certain extent the Sololaki districts clearly have a traditional Georgian architectural look with Middle Eastern influences.
In recent years, however, redevelopment pressures have increasingly threatened and in some cases, caused the destruction of the neighborhood's irreplaceable architectural heritage.
Nur Liebesbriefe - only love letters
The idea of communication is an old one: We want to share our thoughts, wishes or feelings with others. Long distances, unviable efforts and the absence of courage caused us to fall back on traditional mailing in the past.
The world is changing, and therefore letters became an endangered species like public phones whose necessity is questioned more and more. Today, the only mail most of us receive consists of official notices or bills which are delivered by the postman who might become a rarity himself in the nearby future.
Most of the private communication has shifted – in the age of modern communication, messages are easily expressed on time in a pleasant way.
Whereas there is no doubt that contemporary media tremendously simplifies our life, the experience of opening an envelope which has been sent to us by somebody with the intention of showing affection is an irreplaceable moment of excitement.
Sunset above park from my living room
Zonsondergang boven park vanuit mijn woonkamer
The sun sets on the horizon from the distant land,
Where birds chirp and couples lay hand in hand.
I look at the sun to say goodbye,
To the beautiful colours that paint the sky.
Shades of orange, yellow and pink,
Fluffy white clouds, into my heart they sink.
And although I hate to see the sun go,
Its beauty and love has been my show.
I've seen the sunset so many times,
Yet it's still the most favourite sight of mine.
Its exquisiteness strikes warm in the month December,
Its irreplaceable memory I will always remember.
There will be no sadness, nor any sorrow,
Because my sun, you will rise tomorrow.
I won't feel hurt, nor feel any pain,
Because on your way down, your beauty will reign.
Poem: Theo Williams
.
Years Ago.
===GCPD- Interrogation Room===
Gordon- Name?
Drury- Seriously?
Gordon- Name. For the record
Drury- Killer Mot- Drury, it's Drury Walker. I didn't do it.
Gordon- Is that so? Funny, the report says that a man, in your costume-
Drury- Well, anyone can wear a costume
Gordon- The costume you yourself called irreplaceable?
....
Drury- Maybe.
Gordon- So, a man, in your costume robbed two thousands dollars worth in rare moth samples from the Gotham University Biology Lab?
Drury- I would say that that's the action of a very disturbed individual.
Gordon- And another man, clearly not Lynns-
Drury- Clearly.
Gordon- Torched the lab in an attempt to cover your tracks. Is that right?
Drury- See, if it was Gar, not saying it is- The whole university would be torched. He really likes fire.
*Gordon looks at the scorch marks across the walls. The GCPD is still feeling the effects of last year's attack*
Gordon- I noticed.
Drury- Batgirl... Fucken' Batgirl...
Gordon- What was that, Walker?
Drury- Finally be respected if she didn't get in our way.
Gordon- You dress like a disco moth, Walker, I don't think she's the issue.
Drury- The Gala, Bressi, the Precinct... the damn lab. You know I wouldn't have to resort to robbing schools if she hadn't set me back!
Gordon- You're in luck. She's retired. Nobody has seen her in weeks. A good thing too. The last thing we need is a kid getting killed doing what he does.
Drury- What-?
Gordon- Sorry, I'll have to cut this short, Arkham's got a cell prepped for you, and I've a dinner planned with my daughter.
...
Drury- Your daughter? The daughter who-
Gordon- Goodnight Walker.
===Gotham Clocktower. Now===
*It's like nothing I've ever seen before. I've not been in the Cave, but I imagine it's something like this. Computer monitors set up everywhere, a selection of old costumes, newspaper clippings of past glories and even... A Moth mask*
Drury- You kept it?
Babs- You were my first supervillain. It's kinda a thing. Heh. We don't get official superhero trophies or medals you know
Drury- Yeah, I guess I never figured that. Must be weird right, Killer Moth chilling with Bat-People?
Babs- It's funny. It's not even in the top ten. Now, if Scarecrow was hanging out, *that'd* be weird.
Drury- So Robin, Tim I mean, says you're good at computers- better than he is by far. I was wondering, if you could decrypt this?
*I hand her the book from the library, and she rolls on over to the central monitor*
Babs- What is it?
Drury- Found it in a City Lawbook, there's some symbols in here I don't really understand.
Babs- (smiling) You stole it
...
Drury- I stole it.
Babs- I'll see what I can do.
*She types on the keypad, scanning the symbols, doing it so effortlessly. I swallow, then speak*
Drury- Listen, I am really sorry.
Babs- For what?
Drury- Everything. When I put the pieces together... when I realised you were Batgirl... it made me think. It was my fault.
Babs- Fault?
Drury- That you were fighting crime in the first place. That's what happened right? I tried to abduct Bruce and you came to his rescue... God I'm an idiot. It made you official... put a target on you, so that he came and he-
*She turns around*
Babs- That's not what happened.
Drury- Yeah. Yeah it is.
Babs- No, it's not. Do you know what I wanted to be all my life? A cop. Like my dad. Maybe I wouldn't have become Batgirl good and proper, but I would have fought crime with or without you, or Firefly, or even Batman. It's in my blood. Joker didn't shoot me because I was Batgirl. That's not what happened and you need to know that. He did it to prove a point, to drive my dad mad. It was him who did it, and him alone. He would have shot anyone else to get his point across, to send his twisted, screwed up message
*She's right. Probably*
Babs- And, if he hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here. Yes, I've got the chair, but I've also got this job. Oracle. It feels like I've helped so much more people from here than I ever did as Batgirl. Beyond Burnside, beyond Gotham.
*Yeah. She's probably right*
Drury- I have a daughter, few years younger than you. It wasn't until... that, that I realised you were a kid too, that you have a father who loves you just as much as I love her.
Babs- Kitten. I fought her way back when... think I embarrassed her.
Drury- Heh. Really?
Babs- Oh yeah, she was jealous, about me and Dick.
Drury- Ha! That sounds like my kitten.
Babs- I'll send you what I've got on this book later. Take care.
*I walk back to the lift. Then I stop. I don't know why*
Drury- They haven't forgotten, y'know. Gar, heh, he still hates you. I think that this is great- you are great. But y'know what I also think? Gotham needs a Batgirl too, just as much as Oracle. The hope you inspired... It's something that this City needs.
*She nods*
Babs- We're working on it.
Grézieu-la-Varenne is an unremarkable town in the suburbs of Lyon (southeastern France), with an utterly unremarkable church built in the late 1870s.
However, even in the most mundane of environments, wonders can sometimes be found, and in order to do that, truly knowledgeable books, such as those of the Zodiaque publishing house, published between 1950 and 2000 by the Benedictine monks of the abbey of La Pierre-qui-Vire in Burgundy, are irreplaceable.
Thanks to Lyonnais et Savoie romans, I was alerted to the presence in that church of a large sculpted basin, probably a stoup, that was worth seeing. So, I drove over one day and discovered this splendid piece of soft white stone (like a sort of alabaster), coming from the previous church that was razed in 1870 to make way for the ugliness we have to behold today.
Several errors have been made about this piece.
First, it is described locally (and on the web) as “a baptismal font, originally”, which is obviously wrong: because during the Middle Ages, baptism was a major affair that often implied full (or substantial) immersion of the body, and because that sacrament was not generally bestowed upon infants, that sculpted basin wouldn’t have fitted the body of any being but an infant. It is simply too small to have been used for baptism in those distant times. My opinion is that it was designed for the use that’s been its own through the centuries: as a stoup!
Second, it is in general dated from the beginning of the 11th century. However, the manner in which it is sculpted (in particular the shape of the hands and the length of the fingers), as well as the themes developed, lead me to believe it is a lot older than Year 1000, and more typical of Carolingian sculpture. I would vouch it was made around 850.
It is a truly beautiful piece, which is, of course, set in a very dark church where it suffers from ugly, impossible lighting. I should have brought flashes, had I known, because I cannot show all the aspects of the object: one side was decidedly too dark to be photographed. Maybe, one day, I will go back with my two Indra500s and a a couple of speedlights to properly light and photograph this unique piece.
Note: these are the last photos I upload that were taken with my trusty Z7, which I have been using since December 2018. From now on, the photos I will upload will have been taken with the Nikon Z7 II mirrorless camera.