The 32-year-old star looked stunning in the Dolce & Gabbana dress, which she teamed with a pair of black Christian Louboutin heels and a sexy side-swept hairstyle.
Red carpet style: Christine teamed her white Dolce & Gabbana dress with a pair of black Christian Louboutin heels
Christine, who presented the National Movie Awards on ITV, spoke recently about her future with Lampard, admitting she wasn't sure if marriage was on the cards.
She said: 'People keep asking when he’s going to ask me to marry him. But I’m the last person who should know that.
'We went to Paris for two days a few weeks ago and suddenly it was, “Look, they’re ring shopping.” No, we weren’t and he certainly hasn’t asked.
Quick change: After her red carpet appearance, Christine changed into three more dresses for the show
'We’ve only been seeing each other a year and a half, which isn’t long enough for me.'
However, Christine added: 'I can’t imagine not being with Frank, and I’d like to enjoy being married to him for a while before having children. Frank would have more tomorrow, but he knows I’m not ready for it.’
Following her walk down the red carpet, Christine changed into a stunning figure-hugging red dress as she began presenting the ITV coverage.
Date night: Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton were another celebrity couple to attend the event
Relaxing: Nicole and Lewis looked as though they were enjoying themselves at the event
She then decided to showcase her sense of style in a further two dresses - a mint green pleated number and a tight knee-length dress.
Other couples to arrive at the ceremony included Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton, who made their first red carpet appearance in a while at the event, held at London's Wembley Arena.
Don't Hold Your Breath singer Nicole wowed in a pretty nude dress and matching sky-high heels, while Hamilton looked smart in his grey three-piece suit.
Screen stars: (Left to right) Jodie Whittaker, Mandy Moore and Georgie Henley all glammed up for the occasion
Nicole spoke recently about her figure, and while she looked stunning on the red carpet, she said she has 'gained a few pounds'.
She told Glamour magazine: 'I’ve grown as a woman to just accept myself. You’re not going to feel great all the time – so you’ve just not got to be hard on yourself.
'Right now I’ve probably gained a few pounds, but it’s OK because at the right time I’ll lose a couple of pounds. When I put my mind to it, I hit the gym.'
Take That opened the night's entertainment with a performance of their never-before-heard single Love, Love - taken from the upcoming X-Men: First Class.
Full-length glamour: Singers Dame Shirley Bassey and X Factor reject Katie Waissel went for all black outfits
Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald were joined on stage by a group of dancers as they performed the bass-thumping track.
But the song didn't go down too well with viewers, with many taking to Twitter to voice their disappointment over the record.
One viewers tweeted: 'Take that are massiveeeee let downs, what the hell is this? and robbie williams just ruins everything.'
Boys will be boys: JLS stars (left to right) Jonathan "JB" Gill, Marvin Humes, Oritse Williams and Aston Merrygold pose on the red carpet
Suited and booted: Inbetweeners stars Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas and Simon Bird look smart
While another added: 'What the chuff happened to Take That's songs when Robbie came back? Awful!'
The first award of the evening was for Best Comedy film, presented by The Inbetweeners stars Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas and Simon Bird.
After shamelessly plugging their own movie, the trio gave the award to Paul, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's alien comedy.
Opening the show: Take That kicked the evening's events off with a performance of their new single Love Love

Men in black: The boys pose up for photographers ahead of their performance
Dame Shirley Bassey was next to take to the stage, ready to present the award for Best Drama.
And the winner was The King's Speech, with Geoffrey Rush accepting the award along with director Tom Hooper and the film's producers.
Explaining star Colin Firth's absence, Rush said: 'Colin Firth sends his apologies. He is off shooting a light comedy, which is a form of therapy I guess.'
And when Hooper took the microphone, he joked: 'I would like to thank the Queen and the Royal Family for thoughtfully arranging the Royal Wedding the Friday before the release of The King's Speech DVD.'
Winners: Nick Frost and Simon Pegg accept the Best Comedy Award for their alien movie Paul
Speech time: Mandy Moore accepts the Best Animation award for Tangled, while Dame Shirley Bassey presented the prize for Best Drama
After an exclusive clip of Cars 2, Lewis Hamilton, who makes a cameo in the movie, presented the award for Best Animation to Disney's Tangled.
Accepting the award was one of the film's main voice characters, Mandy Moore, who looked incredible in a long moss green dress.
But after the diminutive Hamilton had spoken into the microphone, statuesque Mandy had to stoop down to accept the prize.
Performers: JLS got one of the biggest screams of the night when they performed their new single Eyes Wide Shut
Victory: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I producers David Heyman, David Barron and actress Bonnie Wright
James McAvoy was up next, presenting the Best Fantasy prize to Bonnie Wright for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
JLS were the next performers of the evening, performing their new track Eyes Wide Shut.
Alice Eve took to the stage next to present the award for the L'Oreal Paris Performance of the Year award to Colin Firth for The King's Speech.
As Colin couldn't be there, he requested his two on-screen daughters from the film, Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez, to collect the award on his behalf.
Excited: Colin Firth's on-screen daughters from The King's Speech, Ramona Marquez (left) and Freya Wilson, accepted the Performance of the Year award on his behalf
Tribute: Keith Richards recorded a special video message to Screen Icon winner Johnny Depp
Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick presented the Must-See Movie of the Summer award to Bonnie Wright and the film's producers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.
Geoffrey Rush returned to the stage to present the Screen Icon award to Johnny Depp.
Talking about Depp, Rush said: 'Johnny Depp is so cool. He can come to rehearsal in a crazed blouse and a bit of mismatched jewellery and he can look hip - I would look like my mother.'
Success: Eliza Doolittle and Lloyd Wade performed their huge hit Pack Up
Here come the boys: James Corden and James McAvoy were among the guest presenters for the evening
And Depp's other Pirates co-star Keith Richards recorded a special tribute video message in honour of the actor.
In the message, which had been interspersed with footage of Johnny's most famous films, Richards said: 'There ain't another movie star who comes close to this guy. And to think that he didn't even start off as an actor first of all. That's my boy.'
And, as Depp was unable to attend, he recorded a message of thanks for viewers, calling the award a 'sublime honour'.
Eliza Doolittle was the third musical performance of the evening, having changed out of her Missoni dress into a pink crop top and blue pleated skirt.
James Corden was next up, treating viewers to a glimpse of which films to look forward to during the rest of the year.
Gwyneth Paltrow was next to take to the stage, presenting the Special Recognition Award to The King's Speech.
Accepting the award, director Tom Hooper said: 'This isn't the first award we have received for The King's Speech and of all those presenters, I have to say a special thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow for presenting this award.'

In honour: Geoffrey Rush collected the Screen Icon award on behalf of his Pirates of the Caribbean co-star Johnny Depp
Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton interview at the National Movie Awards 2011

Harry Potter wins big at National Movie Awards,click
JLS - Eyes Wide Shut at 'The National Movie Awards'

Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up - National Movie Awards 2011 Live

Simon Pegg interview: Star Trek 2 and Tintin at the National Movie Awards 2011

Eliza Doolittle interview at the National Movie Awards 2011

source: dailymail

VIA Trying to drop a hint, Christine? Ms Bleakley arrives at National Movie Awards

Since his 2012 appointment as head of antiquities in the midst of Syria s civil war, Maamoun Abdulkarim says just one thing has been on his mind -- avoiding a repeat of the kind of looting that ravaged Iraq s heritage after the 2003 invasion.

"The images of the looting of the museum in Baghdad and other Iraqi sites are always on my mind, and I told myself that everything must be done to avoid a repeat of that here," he told AFP.

Widespread illegal excavation and the destruction of artefacts and religious sites by jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group have only added to the sense of urgency.

Before the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Abdulkarim was co-director of a French-Syrian mission working excavating the 700 so-called Dead Cities of northern Syria, which date back to Roman and Byzantine times.

Syria has been the home of many civilisations over the millennia, from the Canaanites to the Ottomans, and is rich in both artistic and architectural treasures.

Since his appointment, Abdulkarim and his colleagues have worked to protect Syria s heritage from a conflict that has killed more than 215,000 people.

So far, they have wrapped and stored some 300,000 items and thousands of manuscripts in secret locations protected from fires, shelling and floods.

The pieces come from 34 museums, including 80,000 items from Damascus alone.

Perhaps the most dramatic rescue yet was from the eastern city of Deir Ezzor last August.

After Mosul in neighbouring Iraq fell to IS in June, and the destruction began there, a decision was taken to evacuate the 13,000 artefacts remaining in Deir Ezzor.

Large parts of the city were in IS hands, but the airport and some districts remained under government control.

Yaarub al-Abdullah, the former director of antiquities for Deir Ezzor, said: "I worked for a week with two colleagues to wrap everything. We put it into a truck that came under heavy machinegun fire.

"We put the boxes on a military plane among dead and injured soldiers. It was terrible, but we managed it," added Abdullah, who now heads the National Museum.

Back in Damascus, Abdulkarim followed the operation with trepidation.

"I didn t sleep for a week after I took the decision to evacuate the artefacts," he said.

"If the plane had crashed, I would have lost three friends and gone to prison for losing 13,000 items," he said, with a smile.

He said an estimated 99 percent of Syria s museum collections had been preserved, thanks to his 2,500 employees, including those in opposition-held areas.

"They feel that protecting our heritage is a question of honour, like defending the honour of their mothers," Abdulkarim said.

But their work has come with a price: around a dozen of them have been killed in the conflict, including five during the course of their work.

Despite their best efforts, Abdulkarim fears thousands of artefacts have already been stolen across the country.

Even worse is the damage that has been done to 300 sites and 445 historic buildings.

In some cases the damage came in fighting. In others, it has come from illegal excavation, even with bulldozers, in places like Mari, Doura Europos, Apamee and Ajaja in the northeast, the Yarmuk valley in southern Daraa, and Hamam near Raqa in the north.

Ayham al-Fakhry, 39, fled his post as director of antiquities in Raqa in 2012, and laments the irreversible losses to Syria s rich heritage.

"Not only do you have the barbarity of the IS jihadists who destroy any representation of humans and Muslim mausoleums, but also the greed of mafia groups coming from Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey to buy pieces found by local residents," he said.

"They pay IS 20 percent of the estimated value and then the mafias take the objects to be sold in Europe or the Gulf," he said.

Despite international action to prevent smuggling antiquities from Syria, Abdulkarim and his colleagues say sanctions on Damascus have left them isolated.

"We felt like we had the plague," he said."Can there be an embargo on heritage? It belongs to the whole world."

Recently though, there have been signs of change, with invitations to Germany and France for directorate staff and an award in Venice for their work.

Abdulkarim urged the international community to rally around those in Syria trying to save their heritage.

"There must be a international mobilisation to save culture and civilisation. It s not just our responsibility, but a collective one," he said.

Author: Sammy Ketz | Source: AFP [March 27, 2015]

Now several companies are responding to demand from brides-to-be, keen to channel 27-year-old Pippa's look for their own big day.
Meeting demand: Dan Rentillo, design director at David's Bridal, will be ordering as many copies of Pippa's dress as he will of Catherine's
Design director Dan Rentillo told the New York Times: 'There was really no anticipation about Pippa’s dress. I can’t think of one where there was such a fuss over the bridesmaid’s dress.'
Andrew Hops, vice president for JS Collections, added: 'She wore it so well, so we said, "We’ll do that dress right away."'
Unexpected trend: Mr Rentillo said that he couldn't think of a time when so much fuss was made over the bridesmaid's dress
Sketch in time: All three companies already have samples made up, and expect to get dresses on sale within six to eight weeks
source: dailymail

VIA Forget Kate! The dressmakers working overtime on copycat gowns for brides-to-be...

Katie appeared to have forgone any makeup and had her hair scraped up into a messy top bun.
The mother–of-one perused the show section of the store enjoying a some alone time retail therapy.
Katie had taken centre stage the night before as her husband Tom Cruise was honoured by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
Polished and preened to casual and comfy: Katie looked stunning on Thursday night at an event honouring her husband while she opted for comfort yesterday
The 32-year-old actress looked stunning in the black dress with green sash, which she teamed with black sandals, as she posed with Cruise outside the event.
However, it was inside the event that Holmes really stood out from the crowd, as she glowed while applauding the honorees at the ceremony.
The couple were also accompanied by Cruise's 16-year-old adopted son Connor as the Mission: Impossible actor was presented with the Humanitarian Award - the highest honour bestowed by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish rights organisation which also educates people about the Nazi Holocaust.
Too much choice? The 32-year-old actress looked at shoes and enjoyed some alone time in the Barneys store in Beverly Hills
Cruise, who played a German military officer who planned an assassination of Adolf Hitler in the 2008 film Valkyrie, was honoured for his support of the organisation throughout his life.
Absent from the ceremony was the couple's five-year-old daughter Suri, who is perhaps too young for such an occasion.
Late night? The mother-of-one appeared tired as she made her way around the store. The night before she had joined Tom at a party
Despite reports that she and her husband are planning to have more children, Holmes recently insisted that she is happy with the size of her family.
She also said that Cruise and ex-wife Nicole Kidman's adopted children Connor and 18-year-old Isabella get on incredibly well with Suri.

Red carpet royalty: Katie was looking picture perfect at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Annual National Tribute Dinner on Thursday evening
She said: 'They're great kids, a great brother and a great sister to Suri, and she's a great sister to them. It's not, "This is stepmotherhood and this is motherhood".
'I'm not worried about it (having another baby). She's got really good friends and great cousins, so I feel happy about it.
'We have a really busy household, and it's really fun and fulfilling. There's always something going on.'
source: dailymail

VIA Dressed down day? Katie Holmes opts for casual comfort shopping day

VIA William and Middleton Kate adopt Acorn

The 21-year-old actress looked stunning in the monochrome dress, which she teamed with slicked back hair and a pair of sky-high heels while leaving the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
Fashionista: Emma showed off her enviable figure in the flirty outfit, which she teamed with on-trend slicked back hair
Emma has worked hard to transform herself from innocent young actress into a world-famous fashionista, but her status was secured earlier this year when she won a job with cosmetics house
Lancôme.
In a statement released by Lancôme, Emma said: 'Being a Lancôme ambassadress today is an immense pleasure and a great honour.
'For me, Lancôme is an authentic brand. It reflects elegance, class and style.'
Who's your friend? Emma shared a joke with one of the hotel staff as she headed out for the evening
In February, she was handed the Elle Style Icon award by Vivienne Westwood, who admitted to having no idea who the actress was.
Watson also launched an eco-friendly collection with Italian designer Alberta Ferretti, a line called Pure Threads by Emma Watson.
source :dailymail

VIA Emma Watson shows why she was named world's best-dressed woman

The Montaigne Readalong is a year long project in which I try to read over 1,000 pages of Montaigne's essays. Every Monday I write about the essays I read for the week. You can share your thoughts or join the readalong if you'd like, just check the Montaigne Readalong schedule. You can read several of these essays for free on Google Books or subscribe to Montaigne's essays on Daily Lit.

Essays Read this Week:
1. On moderation
2. On the Cannibals

Favorite Quotations:
"True victory lies in your role in the conflict, not in coming through safely: it consists in the honour of battling bravely battling through." (On the Cannibals)

"I wish everyone would write only what he knows--not in this matter only but in all others. A man may well have detailed knowledge or experience of the nature of one particular river or stream, yet about all the others he knows only what everyone else does; but in order to trot out his little scrap of knowledge he will write a book on the whole physics! From this vice many inconveniences arise." (On the Cannibals)

General Thoughts:
On the Cannibals is frequently taught in nonfiction writing classes, or at least it is at Iowa, which is why it makes me think not so much about the essay itself as nonfiction writing. That last quote in my favorite quotations about writing what you know, I think that is my biggest takeaway from this essay. Montaigne is really interested in judgement and the the human tendency to think there is only one way to do something. Your way. Culture to culture we all do things a little differently and it's easy to think of the world only in your terms. I think part of what essays do is help the writer recognize the way he or she does something while still pushing their boundaries and looking at how others might do it.

So then how do you write about your experience in another culture and still acknowledge that you are not an expert on that culture? This seems to be a huge problem in travel writing. The best travel writing, I usually feel, is either completely inward or completely social. In the inward variety the author really doesn't experience much but rather writes about the displacement of being in another culture and ruminates on that. The more social kind involves the writer talking to people of that culture but acknowledging his or her outsider status and understanding.

I am struggling with this quote a little bit because it doesn't acknowledge the writer's ability to go seek out first hand knowledge from an expert. Maybe I'm struggling because I become annoyed by people who do very little research and try to pass themselves off as experts. Part of the reason I love John McPhee is he always acknowledges how stupid he is on a given topic, even if he knows more than the average person. This seems like an extremely important aspect of essay writing--no wonder I'm pulling it from Montaigne.

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DEWEY began blogging at The Hidden Side of a Leaf in April 2007. While her main topic was books - book reviews, book discussions, reading challenges, book giveaways - her focus was always on building community, as she said herself:

My main focus in blogging is community. I want to share my love for books with other bloggers, hear what they think of what they’re reading, and have lots of bookish fun. My non-review blog activities...are all meant to build community.

In just over a year and a half as a book blogger, Dewey quickly became a leader in the community she sought to foster. Her book reviews were well-thought-out, insightful, and thorough; her style of reviewing and the books she wrote about influenced the reading and blogging choices of many other book bloggers - and while she was a prolific reviewer, her reading outpaced her reviewing, and she often remarked about being behind on her reviews. In addition to her own reading and reviewing, Dewey organized and managed several reading challenges, and founded three events which spread across the book-blogging community: the semi-annual 24-Hour Read-a-Thon, the monthly Bookworms Carnivals, and Weekly Geeks.

In April 2008, Dewey proposed a new sort of "challenge" at her blog; not a reading challenge, but a blogging challenge, to be called "Weekly Geeks" - her initial post to gauge interest in the idea prompted 150 people to sign up! The challenge would involve a weekly assignment - a question, a task, a theme - to be completed and posted on the Geeks' individual blogs and linked at the main assignment post. Not every Geek participated every week, some assignments were more popular than others, and new Geeks joined in as the word spread. Visiting other Geeks' posts for that week was part of the assignment as well, which is where Dewey's community-building focus kicked in.

The book-blogging community was stunned and saddened by the news that Dewey passed away on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - but it never doubted that Dewey's contributions to it would live on, and there was a drive to continue the events she founded. It will take committees of bloggers and several blogs to keep them going, though. Welcome to the new home of Weekly Geeks, part of Dewey's legacy to the community she was so important to.

Written by Florinda

The following table contains links to the many posts that have been written in memory of Dewey:

Blog Name
Tribute Post
Weekly Geek Post
1 More Chapter Dewey You'll Be Missed -- 1330V Dewey Thinking Of Dewey 3 Rs Reading, ‘Riting Randomness Book Bloggers Say Goodbye Blogging For Dewey A Garden Carried In The Pocket Requiem -- A Girl Walks Into A Bookstore Dewey -- A Guy’s Moleskine Notebook Goodbye Dewey -- A Reader’s Respite Rest In Peace Dewey -- A Striped Armchair Rest In Peace Dewey -- APOOO Books RIP Dewey -- Armenian Odar Dewey, Thank You For Everything -- At Home With Books In Honor Of Dewey -- B&B ex libris Dewey -- Back To Books A Sad Loss To The World -- Bart’s Bookshelf :( -- Beastmomma Losing A Blogging Pal -- Becky’s Book Reviews Sad News Indeed In Her Own Words Belle Of The Books Dewey Will Be Missed -- Bibliolatry A Great Loss -- BlogHer Remembering Dewey -- Bloody Hell It’s A Book Barrage Farewell, Beautiful Dewey -- Bluestocking Guide Loss In Our Community -- Bluestocking Society Goodbye To Dewey -- Bold. Blue. Adventure We’ll Miss You Dewey -- Book-A-Rama Unbelievably Sad News For Dewey Book Addiction -- Remembering Dewey Book And Cranny Shock and Sadness -- The Book Mine Set Rest In Peace Dewey -- Book Dads The Butterfly Award -- Book Nut -- Geeky Tribute Book Zombie Remembering Dewey This One's For You Bookfoolery And Babble This One's For Dewey -- Bookgirls Nightstand For Dewey -- Bookish Ruth Farewell Dewey -- Booklorn Sad Day -- Bookopolis Bookworms Carnival -- Bookroom Reviews God Bless You Dew -- Books And Border Collies In Memoriam -- Books And Movies A Huge Loss -- Books And Other Thoughts Remembering Dewey -- Books I Done Read Sad News -- Books Of Mee Bye Dewey -- Books On The Brain A Sad Goodbye -- Bookstack Loss Of A Builder -- Bookworm In Memory Tribute Post brideofthebookgod -- Dewey Care’s Online Book Club -- Weekly Geeks Caribousmom Remembering Dewey -- A Loss In Memory Of Dewey Casual Dread -- Dewey ChainReading -- Remembering Dewey Deus ex machina complex Oh Fuck In The Land Of Denial Everyday Reads Prayerful Weekly Geeks Fizzy Thoughts In Memory Of Dewey For Dewey Fyrefly Books In Memoriam -- Galley Cat Book Blogger Dewey -- Giving Reading A Chance Dewey, You Will Be Missed -- Hey Lady! Whatcha Reading? We Love You Dewey -- In Search Of Giants In Memory Of Dewey -- In Spring It Is The Dawn Farewell Dewey -- Incurable Logophilia Bookshelf Peeping -- It’s All About Books Dewey We’ll Miss You Dewey Tribute Just Add Books Huge Loss Making It Count The Kea <3 -- For Dewey -- Kids Book Buzz Farewell To Dewey -- Kittling Books Dewey's Community -- Kristina’s Favorites For Dewey -- Leafing Through Life Missing You -- Life Happens While Books Wait Dewey -- Literary Escapism Sadness In The Book Blogosphere -- Literate Housewife In Remembrance -- Lit*chick Two Things -- Madeleine’s Book Blog In Memory Of Dewey -- Maggie Reads My Eyes Are Dewey -- Maw Books Blog In Which We Say Goodbye -- Melody’s Reading Corner Dewey ... You’ll Be Missed Honouring Dewey Musings Remembering Dewey -- Musings Of A Bookish Kitty In Memory Of Dewey -- My Friend Amy Farewell Dewey For Dewey My Own Little Reading Room My Prayers For Dewey Remembering Dewey My Years Of Reading Seriously Life... -- Naked Without Books Dewey -- Fortress Is Their Library -- Nothing Of Importance This Is Real Life Tribute To Dewey Out Of The Blue Dewey Remembering Dewey Page After Page Life Is So Fleeting Dewey Edition Pages Turned Remembering Dewey -- Passion For The Page -- RIP Dewey The Printed Page Thoughts And Prayers -- Random Wonder In Remembrance -- Reading Adventures Sad News Indeed -- Reading Derby Dewey You Are Missed -- Reading In Appalachia For Dewey -- Reading Is My SuperPower Oh Dewey -- Reading, Writing and Retirement Candle For Dewey For Dewey Ready When You Are C.B. In Memory Of Dewey -- Rebecca Reads A Farewell -- Savvy Verse & Wit My Dearest Dewey Dewey Tribute She Reads Books In Memoria -- Shelf Life Sad News -- Should Be Reading In Memory Of Dewey -- Sleepy Reader For Dewey -- So Many Books, So Little Time Hole In Our World -- So Many Precious Books Today Is A Sad Day In Memory Of Dewey Some Reads So Sad -- Sophisticated Dorkiness Sad News Remembering Dewey Sprite Writes Dewey -- Stephanies Confessions A Terrible Loss... -- Stephanie’s Written Word The Hidden Side Of A Leaf -- Stuff As Dreams Are Made On Oh No... Weekly Geeks Subliminal Intervention -- Dewey Tales From The Reading Room Saying Goodbye -- Tammy’s Book Nook For Dewey, With Love -- Things Mean A Lot Dewey For Dewey Thoughts Of Joy Extremely Sad News -- Tiny Little Reading Room Rest In Peace Dewey -- Tripping Toward Lucidity Loss -- Trish’s Reading Nook In Memory Of Dewey -- True Confessions Of A Book Lover Dewey -- Valentina’s Room -- For Dewey West Of Mars Public Service Announcement -- Word Lily For Dewey Remembering Dewey Worducopia Goodbye -- In Memory Of Dewey Dear Dewey The Written World In Memory Of Dewey -- You Can Never Have Too Many Books Dewey --

Lisa Roe, an online publicist wrote a three part guest post in memory of Dewey. The posts can be found on these blogs:
1. Part 1 Dewey, Our Blog Friend Remembered @ AndiLit.com
2. Part 2 Lisa Roe’s Memorial Post For Dewey @ BookingMama
3. Part 2 Lisa Roe Remembers Dewey @ Reading Is My SuperPower

Flower in desert

VIA ««Desert Flower» by Manfredi Nicoletti»

It is always a shock reaching Bamiyan, coming face to face with the two huge cavities in the cliff face. The upright tombs stare out over the valley, a splash of vegetation surrounded by wild mountains. The town straddles the Silk Road, close to the point where it used to enter Persia, dwarfed by two massive mountain ranges, the Koh-i-Baba and Hindu Kush. The void left by the two destroyed Buddha figures is appalling, it rouses an emotion almost more powerful than their once tranquil presence did for centuries.

To understand what happened you must go back to the beginning of 2001. The Taliban-led regime was on very poor terms with the international community and increasingly tempted by radical gestures. The decision to destroy the two monumental Buddha figures at Bamiyan was just part of the drive to destroy all the country’s pre-Islamic “icons”, an act of defiance to the outside world.

Demolition work at Bamiyan started at the beginning of March 2001 and lasted several weeks, the two figures – 58 and 38 metres tall – proved remarkably solid. Anti-aircraft guns had little effect, so the engineers placed anti-tank mines between their feet, then bored holes into their heads and packed them with dynamite. The world watched this symbolic violence in impotent horror.

Now almost 14 years on, reconstruction work has yet to start as archaeologists and UNESCO policy-makers argue.

The two cavities resemble open wounds, a blemish on the long history of Afghanistan, which experienced the fervour of Buddhism long before the arrival of Islam. For 15 centuries the two mystic colossi gazed down as the trading caravans and warring armies streamed past. Monks came from China to worship here. Others meditated in nearby caves.

The two Buddhas, draped in stucco robes, are testimony to a unique case of cross-breeding, which flourished in the early years of the first century AD, drawing on Buddhist influences from India and Greek aesthetics left behind by Alexander the Great. It gave rise to the kingdom of Gandhara and made a mark so deep that even the disciples of Allah, who reached here in the ninth century, made no attempt to disturb it.

Today the site has recovered a certain serenity. Children play volleyball below the cliffs and archaeologists work unhindered. Whereas a low-intensity war is still rumbling on elsewhere in Afghanistan, the central Hazarajat region and its capital Bamiyan (population circa 60,000) has been relatively spared. Most of the inhabitants are Shia Muslims and they had little sympathy with the Sunni Taliban from the Pashtun south. In the 1990s there was fierce fighting between the two sides. In Bamiyan there is a fairly enlightened view of Islam, and few women wear burqas. They proudly explain that 40% of girls in the province are in education, the highest proportion in Afghanistan.

So the outrage perpetrated by the Taliban came as a huge shock, a blow against a tolerant community that sees itself as unusual in the country as a whole. “The statues symbolised Bamiyan,” says mullah Sayed Ahmed-Hussein Hanif. Bamiyan had adopted and integrated the statues, making them a part of local legend. They had become an allegory for unhappy love, a foreshadow of Romeo and Juliet set in the Hindu Kush. He was Salsal, prince of Bamiyan; she was Shamana, a princess from another kingdom. Their love affair was impossible so, rather than live apart, they turned into stone, beside each other for all eternity.

“Local people had completely forgotten they were figures of the Buddha,” says Hamid Jalya, head of historical monuments in Bamiyan province. The Taliban and their dynamite reminded them of the original story. Ever since, people here have been unsure what to do about them.

An incident in 2013 demonstrated the sensitivity of the subject. A decade ago UNESCO authorised archaeologists and engineers to consolidate the two niches, with props and grouting. But nothing else. Almost two years ago someone noticed that, on the site of the small Buddha, a team from the German branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) was beginning to rebuild the feet. This was contrary to UNESCO policy, based on the 1964 Venice charter for the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites, which requires the use of “original material”. If work on the Bamiyan remains disregarded this rule, then the site would be struck off the World Heritage list. The Afghan authorities ordered the Icomos team to down tools, leaving the remains even less sightly than they were before.

The incident highlights the lack of a clear consensus on the future of Bamiyan both internally and among the international community. “Bamiyan seems emblematic of the way international aid has treated Afghanistan,” says Philippe Marquis, former head of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (Dafa). There has been endless dithering, underhand rivalry, pointless discord and mistakes.

The Buddhas are a powerful symbol – of confessional tolerance, Buddhism in a Muslim country and the remains of the Silk Road – with scope for considerable political kudos, so academic quarrels have been diverted to serve strategic aims. The Afghans have watched this spectacle with growing amazement: Germany and its experience of post-war reconstruction; France and its archaeological exploits in Afghanistan; Japan and Korea, with their interest in the origins of Buddhism; UNESCO and its byzantine bureaucracy. The various parties have sometimes cooperated with one another, but more frequently waged secret wars. “All these endless discussions among experts are pitiful, yielding no positive results,” says Zamaryalai Tarzi, a Franco-Afghan archaeologist who has been in charge of the French dig at the foot of the Bamiyan cliff for many years.

Behind the squabbling there is, however, a very real controversy as to how best to honour the fallen Buddhas. How should we go about making sense of an obscurantist crime the better to vanquish it? Or, in other terms, how should we mourn the martyrs? There are two opposing schools of thought: complete reconstruction or keeping the status quo. For now, the latter camp have the upper hand. “The two niches should be left empty, like two pages in Afghan history, so that subsequent generations can see how ignorance once prevailed in our country,” Tarzi asserts. Many other sites have adopted this approach, in particular the Genbaku dome in Hiroshima and the former summer palace in Beijing.

There is also a practical side: any attempt at reconstruction would be extremely complex. The original material, as required by the Venice charter, would be a major obstacle. The 2001 demolition left a heap of scattered fragments. Barely a third of the smaller Buddha has been saved, consisting of a pile of rock behind a wire fence. Furthermore, some of what does remain is from more recent additions. Over the centuries, long before the coming of the Taliban, the two figures were damaged and defaced. In the 1970s Indian archaeologists rebuilt the feet of the smaller Buddha using new material. Given this, how can the Venice charter rules be applied?

The final objection is that it may be a mistake to focus so much attention on the two Buddhas, given that the Bamiyan valley boasts many other exceptional sites, as yet little known. The ruins of the Shahr-e-Gholghola fortress, and probably monastery, perched on a hillock across the valley from the Buddhas, and the fortified town of Shahr-i-Zohak are both at risk, worn down by weather and earthquakes. “The priority is to save all the endangered sites around Bamiyan,” says Amir Fouladi, of the Aga Khan Trust. “There is no urgency about rebuilding the Buddhas.” The economic development of Bamiyan, due to gather speed with the projected launch of the Hajigak iron ore mines, makes it all the more important to adopt an overall strategy.

Meanwhile, the advocates of reconstruction have not wasted their time. Although the current mood is hardly in their favour, the small structure resting on the remains of the small Buddha’s feet suggests that the German branch of Icomos has not given up hope. Its president, Michael Petzet, a professor at the Technical University of Munich, has made many statements in favour of at least rebuilding the smaller of the two figures. The local representative of Icomos Germany, Bert Praxenthaler, sees the controversy about the small Buddha’s feet as salutary in that it “stirred debate about what should be done with the Buddhas”. “We must be ready the day a decision is taken,” he adds. He is referring to the possibility that an ad hoc UNESCO group may give the go-ahead for “partial re-assembly of the fragments”. His organisation sees this as an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of its restoration work in combining old and new materials.

Local residents are in favour. The idea of leaving the larger niche empty but rebuilding the smaller Buddha appeals to them, particularly as they take little interest in quarrels about original material. They are more concerned about boosting tourism in a relatively isolated area in desperate need of revenue. But there is symbolic value too. “By rebuilding a Buddha we could regain possession of our history and send a message to the whole world in favour of reconciliation between religions,” says Shukrya Neda, who campaigns for a local NGO. “By leaving the other niche empty we leave a testimony to the damage done by the Taliban.” Kabul has officially approved this approach, but some in Bamiyan feel its support is rather timid, for ethnic reasons. The Hazara population of Bamiyan distrust the Pashtun leaders in Kabul. “The government doesn’t want Bamiyan to develop its identity and economy,” says Riza Ibrahim, head of the city’s tourist board. “It’s discrimination.”

UNESCO has tried to steer a cautious middle course on the issue of reconstruction. Its ad hoc expert committee has warned against rushing to make a decision. “It is neither for nor against reconstruction,” says Masanori Nagaoka, head of UNESCO’s culture unit in Kabul. The committee has ruled that before considering partial reassembly of the small Buddha, a thorough technical and scientific study would be required. All of which favours keeping the status quo. Will the reconstruction lobby finally succeed in resurrecting Shamana (the small Buddha)? Perhaps, by dint of patience, but everyone seems to have overlooked an essential detail: the legendary prince and princess wanted to stay together forever. If Shamana rises again, but without Salsal, it would break their oath.

Author: Frédéric Bobin | Source: Guardian Weekly [January 10, 2015]