title: Babylonian captivity

text: The Cyrus Cylinder, an ancient tablet on which is written a declaration in the name of Cyrus referring to restoration of temples and repatriation of exiled peoples, has often been taken as corroboration of the authenticity of the biblical decrees attributed to Cyrus, but other scholars point out that the cylinder's text is specific to Babylon and Mesopotamia and makes no mention of Judah or Jerusalem. Professor Lester L. Grabbe asserted that the "alleged decree of Cyrus" regarding Judah, "cannot be considered authentic", but that there was a "general policy of allowing deportees to return and to re-establish cult sites". He also stated that archaeology suggests that the return was a "trickle" taking place over decades, rather than a single event.


title: Babylonian captivity

text: As part of the Persian Empire, the former Kingdom of Judah became the province of Judah ("Yehud Medinata") with different borders, covering a smaller territory. The population of the province was greatly reduced from that of the kingdom, archaeological surveys showing a population of around 30,000 people in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE.


title: Babylonian captivity

text: A 2017 exhibition in Jerusalem displayed over 100 cuneiform tablets detailing trade in fruits and other commodities, taxes, debts, and credits accumulated between Jews forced or persuaded to move from Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BCE. The tablets included details on one exiled Judean family over four generations, all with Hebrew names.


title: Babylonian captivity

text: The exilic period was a rich one for Hebrew literature. Biblical depictions of the exile include Book of Jeremiah 39–43 (which saw the exile as a lost opportunity); the final section of 2 Kings (which portrays it as the temporary end of history); 2 Chronicles (in which the exile is the "Sabbath of the land"); and the opening chapters of Ezra, which records its end. Other works from or about the exile include the stories in Daniel 1–6, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the "Story of the Three Youths" (1 Esdras 3:1–5:6), and the books of Tobit and Book of Judith. The Book of Lamentations arose from the Babylonian captivity. The final redaction of the Pentateuch took place in the Persian period following the exile,and the Priestly source, one of its main sources, is primarily a product of the post-exilic period when the former Kingdom of Judah had become the Persian province of Yehud.


title: Babylonian captivity

text: In the Hebrew Bible, the captivity in Babylon is presented as a punishment for idolatry and disobedience to Yahweh in a similar way to the presentation of Israelite slavery in Egypt followed by deliverance. The Babylonian captivity had a number of serious effects on Judaism and Jewish culture. For example, the current Hebrew alphabet was adopted during this period, replacing the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.


title: Babylonian captivity

text: This period saw the last high point of biblical prophecy in the person of Ezekiel, followed by the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life. According to many historical-critical scholars, the Torah was redacted during this time, and began to be regarded as the authoritative text for Jews. This period saw their transformation into an ethno-religious group who could survive without a central Temple. Israeli philosopher and Biblical scholar Yehezkel Kaufmann said "The exile is the watershed. With the exile, the religion of Israel comes to an end and Judaism begins."


title: Babylonian captivity

text: This process coincided with the emergence of scribes and sages as Jewish leaders (see Ezra). Prior to exile, the people of Israel had been organized according to tribe. Afterwards, they were organized by smaller family groups. Only the Tribe of Levi continued in its temple role after the return. After this time, there were always sizable numbers of Jews living outside Eretz Israel; thus, it also marks the beginning of the "Jewish diaspora", unless this is considered to have begun with the Assyrian captivity of Israel.


title: Babylonian captivity

text: In Rabbinic literature, Babylon was one of a number of metaphors for the Jewish diaspora. Most frequently the term "Babylon" meant the diaspora prior to the destruction of the Second Temple. The post-destruction term for the Jewish Diaspora was "Rome", or "Edom".


title: Babylonian captivity

text: The following table is based on Rainer Albertz's work on "Israel in exile". (Alternative dates are possible.)


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Cologne Cathedral (, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day. At , the cathedral is the tallest twin-spired church in the world, the second tallest church in Europe after Ulm Minster, and the third tallest church of any kind in the world.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: It is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires. The towers for its two huge spires give the cathedral the largest façade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height-to-width ratio, 3.6:1, of any medieval church.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in the years around 1560, unfinished. Attempts to complete the construction began around 1814 but the project was not properly funded until the 1840s. The edifice was completed to its original Medieval plan in 1880.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Cologne's medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit for its role as a place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor. Despite having been left incomplete during the medieval period, Cologne Cathedral eventually became unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value" and "a powerful testimony to the strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe". Only the telecommunications tower is higher than the cathedral.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: When construction began on the present Cologne Cathedral in 1248 with laying a foundation stone, the site had already been occupied by several previous structures. The earliest may have been for grain storage and possibly was succeeded by a Roman temple built by Mercurius Augustus. From the 4th century on, however, the site was occupied by Christian buildings, including a square edifice known as the "oldest cathedral" that was commissioned by Maternus, the first bishop of Cologne. A free-standing baptistery dating back to the 7th century was located at the east end of the present cathedral but was demolished in the 9th century to build the second cathedral. During excavations of the present cathedral, graves were discovered in the location of the oldest portion of the building; including that of a boy that was richly adorned with grave goods and another of a woman, popularly thought to be Wisigard. Both graves are thought to be from the 6th century. Only ruins of the baptistery and the octagonal baptismal font remain today.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The second church, called the "Old Cathedral", was completed in 818. It was destroyed by fire on 30 April 1248, during demolition work to prepare for a new cathedral.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: In 1164, the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel, acquired the relics of the Three Kings which the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, had taken from the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio, Milan, Italy. (Parts of the relics have since been returned to Milan.) The relics have great religious significance and drew pilgrims from all over Christendom. It was important to church officials that they be properly housed, and thus began a building program in the new style of Gothic architecture, based in particular on the French cathedral of Amiens.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The foundation stone was laid on 15 August 1248, by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden. The eastern arm was completed under the direction of Master Gerhard, was consecrated in 1322 and sealed off by a temporary wall so it could be used as the work continued. Eighty-four misericords in the choir date from this building phase.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: In the mid-14th century work on the west front commenced under Master Michael. This work ceased in 1473, leaving the south tower complete to the belfry level and crowned with a huge crane that remained in place as a landmark of the Cologne skyline for 400 years. Some work proceeded intermittently on the structure of the nave between the west front and the eastern arm, but during the 16th century this also stopped.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: With the 19th-century Romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, and spurred by the discovery of the original plan for the façade, it was decided, with the commitment of the Protestant Prussian Court, to complete the cathedral. It was achieved by civic effort; the "Central-Dombauverein", founded in 1842, raised two-thirds of the enormous costs, while the Prussian state supplied the remaining third. The state saw this as a way to improve its relations with the large number of Catholic subjects it had gained in 1815, but especially after 1871, it was regarded as a project to symbolize German nationhood.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Work resumed in 1842 to the original design of the surviving medieval plans and drawings, but utilizing more modern construction techniques, including iron roof girders. The nave was completed and the towers were added. The bells were installed in the 1870s. The largest bell is "St. Petersglocke".


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The completion of Germany's largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event on 14 August 1880, 632 years after construction had begun. The celebration was attended by Emperor Wilhelm I. With a height of , it was the tallest building in the world for four years until the completion of the Washington Monument.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during World War II. Badly damaged, it nevertheless remained standing in an otherwise completely flattened city. The twin spires were an easily recognizable navigational landmark for Allied aircraft bombing.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: On 6 March 1945, an area west of the cathedral (Marzellenstrasse/Trankgasse) was the site of intense combat between American tanks of the 3rd Armored Division and a Panther Ausf. A of Panzer brigade 106 Feldherrnhalle. A nearby Panther, a German medium tank, was sitting by a pile of rubble near a train station right by the twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral. The Panther successfully knocked out two Sherman tanks, killing three men, before it was destroyed by a T26E3 Pershing, nicknamed Eagle 7, minutes later. Footage of that battle survives. The destroyed Panther was later put on display at the base of the cathedral for the remainder of the war in Europe.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Repairs of the war damage were completed in 1956. An of the northwest tower, carried out in 1944 using poor-quality brick taken from a nearby ruined building, remained visible as a reminder of the war until 2005, when it was decided to restore the section to its original appearance.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: To investigate whether the bombings had damaged the foundations of the Dom, archaeological excavations began in 1946 under the leadership of Otto Doppelfeld and were concluded in 1997. One of the most meaningful excavations of churches, they revealed previously unknown details of earlier buildings on the site.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Repair and maintenance work is constantly being carried out in one or another section of the building, which is rarely completely free of scaffolding, as wind, rain, and pollution slowly eat away at the stones. The "Dombauhütte", established to build the cathedral and keep it in repair, is said to employ the best stonemasons in the Rhineland. Half the costs of repair and maintenance are still borne by the Dombauverein.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: On 18 August 2005, Pope Benedict XVI visited the cathedral during his apostolic visit to Germany, as part of World Youth Day 2005 festivities. An estimated one million pilgrims visited the cathedral during this time. Also as part of the events of World Youth Day, Cologne Cathedral hosted a televised gala performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Choir conducted by Sir Gilbert Levine.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: On 25 August 2007, the cathedral received a new stained glass window in the south transept. The glass work was created by the German artist Gerhard Richter with the €400,000 cost paid by donations. It is composed of 11,500 identically sized pieces of colored glass resembling pixels, randomly arranged by computer, which create a colorful "carpet". Since the loss of the original window in World War II, the space had been temporarily filled with plain glass. The then archbishop of the cathedral, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, who had preferred a figurative depiction of 20th-century Catholic martyrs for the window, did not attend the unveiling. Holder of the office since 2014 is Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: On 5 January 2015, the cathedral remained dark as floodlights were switched off to protest a demonstration by PEGIDA.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: In 1996, the cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally important sites. In 2004, it was placed on the "World Heritage in Danger" list, as the only Western site in danger, due to plans to construct several high-rise buildings nearby, which would have visually impacted the site. The cathedral was removed from the list in 2006, following the authorities' decision to limit the heights of buildings constructed near and around the cathedral.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: As a World Heritage Site and host to the Shrine of the Three Kings, Cologne Cathedral is a major attraction for tourists and pilgrims, and is one of the oldest and most important pilgrimage sites of Northern Europe. Visitors can climb 533 stone steps of the spiral staircase to a viewing platform about above the ground. The platform gives a scenic view over the Rhine.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: There is ongoing conservation at the cathedral to address the problem of the black discoloration caused by the sandstone reacting with sulfuric acid during rainfall. The acidic rain is a consequence of air pollution.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The design of Cologne Cathedral was based quite closely on that of Amiens Cathedral in terms of ground plan, style and the width to height proportion of the central nave. The plan is in the shape of a Latin Cross, as is usual with Gothic cathedrals. It has two aisles on either side, which help to support one of the very highest Gothic vaults in the world, being nearly as tall as that of the Beauvais Cathedral, much of which collapsed. Externally the outward thrust of the vault is taken by flying buttresses in the French manner. The eastern end has a single ambulatory, the second aisle resolving into a "chevet" of seven radiating chapels.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Internally, the medieval choir is more varied and less mechanical in its details than the 19th-century building. It presents a French style arrangement of very tall arcade, a delicate narrow triforium gallery lit by windows and with detailed tracery merging with that of the windows above. The clerestory windows are tall and retain some old figurative glass in the lower sections. The whole is united by the tall shafts that sweep unbroken from the floor to their capitals at the spring of the vault. The vault is of plain quadripartite arrangement.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The choir retains a great many of its original fittings, including the carved stalls, which is made the more surprising by the fact that French Revolutionary troops had desecrated the building. A large stone statue of St Christopher looks down towards the place where the earlier entrance to the cathedral was, before its completion in the late 19th century.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The nave has many 19th century stained glass windows. A set of five on the south side, called the "Bayernfenster", were a gift from Ludwig I of Bavaria, and strongly represent the painterly German style of that date.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Externally, particularly from a distance, the building is dominated by its huge spires, which are entirely Germanic in character, being openwork like those of Ulm, Vienna, Strasbourg and Regensburg Cathedrals.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: One of the treasures of the cathedral is the High Altar, which was installed in 1322. It is constructed of black marble, with a solid slab long forming the top. The front and sides are overlaid with white marble niches into which are set figures, with the Coronation of the Virgin at the centre.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the "Shrine of the Three Kings", commissioned by Philip von Heinsberg, archbishop of Cologne from 1167 to 1191 and created by Nicholas of Verdun, begun in 1190. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose relics were acquired by Frederick Barbarossa at the conquest of Milan in 1164. The shrine takes the form of a large reliquary in the shape of a basilican church, made of bronze and silver, gilded and ornamented with architectonic details, figurative sculpture, enamels and gemstones. The shrine was opened in 1864 and was found to contain bones and garments.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Near the sacristy is the "Gero Crucifix", a large crucifix carved in oak and with traces of paint and gilding. Believed to have been commissioned around 960 for Archbishop Gero, it is the oldest large crucifix north of the Alps and the earliest-known large free-standing Northern sculpture of the medieval period.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: In the Sacrament Chapel is the "Mailänder Madonna" ("Milan Madonna"), dating from around 1290, a wooden sculpture depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. The altar of the patron saints of Cologne with an altarpiece by the International Gothic painter Stefan Lochner is in the "Marienkapelle" ("St. Mary's Chapel").


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: After completion in 1265, the radiating chapels were immediately taken into service as burial place. The relics of Saint Irmgardis found a final resting place in the St. Agnes’ Chapel. Her trachyte sarcophagus is considered to be created by the cathedral masons’ guild around 1280.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Embedded in the interior wall are a pair of stone tablets on which are carved the provisions formulated by Archbishop Englebert II (1262–67) under which Jews were permitted to reside in Cologne.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: Cologne Cathedral has two pipe organs by Klais Orgelbau: the Transept Organ, built in 1948, and the Nave Organ, built in 1998. Cathedral organists have included Josef Zimmermann, Clemens Ganz (1985–2001) and Winfried Bönig (2001).


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The cathedral has eleven church bells, four of which are medieval. The first was the 3.8-tonne "Dreikönigsglocke" ("Bell of the Three Kings"), cast in 1418, installed in 1437, and recast in 1880. Two of the other bells, the "Pretiosa" (10.5 tonnes; at that time the largest bell in the Western world) and the "Speciosa" (5.6 tonnes) were installed in 1448 and remain in place today.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: During the 19th century, as the building neared completion, there was a desire to increase the number of bells. This was facilitated by Kaiser Wilhelm I who gave French bronze cannon, captured in 1870–71, for this purpose. The 22 pieces of artillery were displayed outside the cathedral on 11 May 1872. Andreas Hamm in Frankenthal used them to cast a bell of over 27,000 kilos on 19 August 1873. The tone was not harmonious and another attempt was made on 13 November 1873. The Central Cathedral Association, which had agreed to take over the costs, did not want this bell either. Another attempt took place on 3 October 1874. The colossal bell was shipped to Cologne and on 13 May 1875, installed in the cathedral. This "Kaiserglocke" was eventually melted in 1918 to support the German war effort. The Kaiserglocke was the largest free-swinging bell in history.


title: Cologne Cathedral

text: The 24-tonne "St. Petersglocke" ("Bell of St. Peter", """" in the Kölsch language or in common parlance known as ""Dicker Pitter""), was cast in 1922 and was the largest free-swinging bell in the world, until a new bell was cast in Innsbruck for the People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest in Romania.


title: Lavandula

text: Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to India.


title: Lavandula

text: Many members of the genus are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils. The most widely cultivated species, "Lavandula angustifolia", is often referred to as lavender, and there is a color named for the shade of the flowers of this species. Lavender has been used over centuries in traditional medicine and cosmetics.


title: Lavandula

text: The genus includes annual or short-lived herbaceous perennial plants, and shrub-like perennials, subshrubs or small shrubs.


title: Lavandula

text: Leaf shape is diverse across the genus. They are simple in some commonly cultivated species; in other species, they are pinnately toothed, or pinnate, sometimes multiple pinnate and dissected. In most species, the leaves are covered in fine hairs or indumentum, which normally contain essential oils.


title: Lavandula

text: Flowers are contained in whorls, held on spikes rising above the foliage, the spikes being branched in some species. Some species produce colored bracts at the tips of the inflorescences. The flowers may be blue, violet or lilac in the wild species, occasionally blackish purple or yellowish. The calyx is tubular. The corolla is also tubular, usually with five lobes (the upper lip often cleft, and the lower lip has two clefts).


title: Lavandula

text: "Lavandula stoechas", "L. pedunculata", and "L. dentata" were known in Roman times. From the Middle Ages onwards, the European species were considered two separate groups or genera, "Stoechas" ("L. stoechas", "L. pedunculata", "L. dentata") and "Lavandula" ("L. spica" and "L. latifolia"), until Linnaeus combined them. He recognised only five species in "Species Plantarum" (1753), "L. multifida" and "L. dentata" (Spain) and "L. stoechas" and "L. spica" from Southern Europe. "L. pedunculata" was included within "L. stoechas."


title: Lavandula

text: By 1790, "L. pinnata" and "L. carnosa" were recognised. The latter was subsequently transferred to "Anisochilus". By 1826, Frédéric Charles Jean Gingins de la Sarraz listed 12 species in three sections, and by 1848 eighteen species were known.


title: Lavandula

text: One of the first modern major classifications was that of Dorothy Chaytor in 1937 at Kew. The six sections she proposed for 28 species still left many intermediates that could not easily be assigned. Her sections included "Stoechas", "Spica", "Subnudae", "Pterostoechas", "Chaetostachys", and "Dentatae". However, all the major cultivated and commercial forms resided in the "Stoechas" and "Spica" sections. There were four species within "Stoechas" ("Lavandula stoechas", "L. dentata, L. viridis", and "L. pedunculata") while "Spica" had three ("L. officinalis" (now "L. angustifolia"), "L. latifolia" and "L. lanata"). She believed that the garden varieties were hybrids between true lavender "L. angustifolia" and spike lavender ("L. latifolia").


title: Lavandula

text: The first major clade corresponds to subgenus "Lavandula", and the second "Fabricia". The "Sabaudia" group is less clearly defined. Within the "Lavandula" clade, the subclades correspond to the existing sections but place "Dentatae" separately from "Stoechas", not within it. Within the "Fabricia" clade, the subclades correspond to "Pterostoechas", "Subnudae", and "Chaetostachys".


title: Lavandula

text: Thus the current classification includes 39 species distributed across 8 sections (the original 6 of Chaytor and the two new sections of Upson and Andrews), in three subgenera (see table below). However, since lavender cross-pollinates easily, countless variations present difficulties in classification.


title: Lavandula

text: The English word lavender came into use in the 13th century, and is generally thought to derive from Old French "lavandre", ultimately from Latin "lavare" from "lavo" (to wash), referring to the use of blue infusions of the plants. The botanic name "Lavandula" as used by Linnaeus is considered to be derived from this and other European vernacular names for the plants.


title: Lavandula

text: The names widely used for some of the species, "English lavender", "French lavender" and "Spanish lavender" are all imprecisely applied. "English lavender" is commonly used for "L. angustifolia", though some references say the proper term is "Old English lavender". The name "French lavender" may refer to either "L. stoechas" or to "L. dentata". "Spanish lavender" may refer to "L. stoechas", "L. lanata", or "L. dentata".


title: Lavandula

text: The most common form in cultivation is the common or English lavender "Lavandula angustifolia" (formerly named "L. officinalis"). A wide range of cultivars can be found. Other commonly grown ornamental species are "L. stoechas", "L. dentata", and "L. multifida" (Egyptian lavender).


title: Lavandula

text: Because the cultivated forms are planted in gardens worldwide, they are occasionally found growing wild as garden escapes, well beyond their natural range. Such spontaneous growth is usually harmless, but in some cases, "Lavandula" species have become invasive. For example, in Australia, "Lavandula stoechas" has become a cause for concern; it occurs widely throughout the continent and has been declared a noxious weed in Victoria since 1920. It is regarded as a weed in parts of Spain.


title: Lavandula

text: Lavenders flourish best in dry, well-drained, sandy or gravelly soils in full sun. English lavender has a long germination process (14–28 days) and matures within 100–110 days. All types need little or no fertilizer and good air circulation. In areas of high humidity, root rot due to fungus infection can be a problem. Organic mulches can trap moisture around the plants' bases, encouraging root rot. Gravelly materials such as crushed rocks give better results. It grows best in soils with a pH between 6 and 8. Most lavender is hand-harvested, and harvest times vary depending on intended use.


title: Lavandula

text: Commercially, the plant is grown mainly for the production of lavender essential oil. English lavender ("Lavandula angustifolia") yields an oil with sweet overtones and can be used in balms, salves, perfumes, cosmetics, and topical applications. "Lavandula "×" intermedia", also known as lavandin or Dutch lavender, hybrids of "L. angustifolia" and "L. latifolia". are widely cultivated for commercial use since their flowers tend to be bigger than those of English lavender and the plants tend to be easier to harvest. They yield a similar essential oil, but with higher levels of terpenes including camphor, which add a sharper overtone to the fragrance, regarded by some as of lower quality than that of English lavender.


title: Lavandula

text: The US Food and Drug Administration considers lavender as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for human consumption. The essential oil was used in hospitals during World War I.


title: Lavandula

text: Some 100 individual phytochemicals have been identified in lavender oil, including major contents of linalyl acetate (30–55%), linalool (20–35%), tannins (5–10%), and caryophyllene (8%), with lesser amounts of sesquiterpenoids, perillyl alcohols, esters, oxides, ketones, cineole, camphor, beta-ocimene, limonene, caproic acid, and caryophyllene oxide. The relative amounts of these compounds vary considerably among lavender species.


title: Lavandula

text: Culinary lavender is usually English lavender, the most commonly used species in cooking ("L. angustifolia" 'Munstead'). As an aromatic, it has a sweet fragrance with lemon or citrus notes. It is used as a spice or condiment in pastas, salads and dressings, and desserts. Their buds and greens are used in teas, and their buds, processed by bees, are the essential ingredient of monofloral honey.


title: Lavandula

text: For most cooking applications the dried buds, which are also referred to as flowers, are used. Lavender greens have a more subtle flavor when compared to rosemary.


title: Lavandula

text: The potency of the lavender flowers increases with drying which necessitates more sparing use to avoid a heavy, soapy aftertaste. Chefs note to reduce by two-thirds the dry amount in recipes that call for fresh lavender buds.


title: Lavandula

text: Lavender buds can amplify both sweet and savory flavors in dishes and are sometimes paired with sheep's milk and goat's milk cheeses. Lavender flowers are occasionally blended with black, green, or herbal teas. Lavender flavors baked goods and desserts, pairing especially well with chocolate. In the United States, both lavender syrup and dried lavender buds are used to make lavender scones and marshmallows.


title: Lavandula

text: Lavender buds are put into sugar for two weeks to allow the essential oils and fragrance to transfer; then the sugar itself is used in baking. Lavender can be used in breads where recipes call for rosemary. Lavender can be used decoratively in dishes or spirits, or as a decorative and aromatic in a glass of champagne. Lavender is used in savory dishes, giving stews and reduced sauces aromatic flair. It is also used to scent flans, custards, and sorbets.


title: Lavandula

text: The flowers yield abundant nectar, from which bees make a high-quality honey. Monofloral honey is produced primarily around the Mediterranean Sea, and is marketed worldwide as a premium product. Flowers can be candied and are sometimes used as cake decorations. It is also used to make "lavender sugar".


title: Lavandula

text: Flower spikes are used for dried flower arrangements. The fragrant, pale purple flowers and flower buds are used in potpourris. Lavender is also used as herbal filler inside sachets used to freshen linens. Dried and sealed in pouches, lavender flowers are placed among stored items of clothing to give a fresh fragrance and to deter moths. Dried lavender flowers may be used for wedding confetti. Lavender is also used in scented waters and sachets.


title: Lavandula

text: The ancient Greeks called the lavender herb νάρδος: nárdos, Latinized as "nardus", after the Syrian city of Naarda (possibly the modern town of Duhok, Iraq). It was also commonly called "nard". The species originally grown was "L. stoechas".


title: Lavandula

text: During Roman times, flowers were sold for 100 "denarii" per pound, which was about the same as a month's wages for a farm laborer, or fifty haircuts from the local barber. Its late Latin name was "lavandārius", from "lavanda" (things to be washed), from "lavāre" from the verb "lavo" (to wash).


title: Lavandula

text: Spanish nard (), referring to "L. stoechas", is listed as an ingredient in making a spiced wine, namely hippocras, in "The Forme of Cury".


title: Lavandula

text: Lavender was introduced into England in the 1600s. It is said that Queen Elizabeth prized a lavender conserve (jam) at her table, so lavender was produced as a jam at that time, as well as used in teas both medicinally and for its taste.


title: Lavandula

text: Lavender was not used in traditional southern French cooking at the turn of the 20th century. It does not appear at all in the best-known compendium of Provençal cooking, J.-B. Reboul's "Cuisinière Provençale". French lambs have been allowed to graze on lavender as it is alleged to make their meat more tender and fragrant. In the 1970s, a blend of herbs called "herbes de Provence" was invented by spice wholesalers. Culinary lavender is added to the mixture in the North American version.


title: Lavandula

text: In the 21st century, lavender is used in many world regions to flavor tea, vinegar, jellies, baked goods, and beverages.


title: Lavandula

text: The German scientific committee on traditional medicine, Commission E, reported uses of lavender flower in practices of herbalism, including its use for restlessness or insomnia, Roemheld syndrome, intestinal discomfort, and cardiovascular diseases, among others.


title: Lavandula

text: The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) states that lavender is considered likely safe in food amounts, and that topical uses may cause allergic reactions. NCCIH does not recommend the use of lavender while pregnant or breastfeeding because of lack of knowledge of its effects. It recommends caution if young boys use lavender oil because of possible hormonal effects leading to gynecomastia.


title: Lavandula

text: A 2007 study examined the relationship between various fragrances and photosensitivity, stating that lavender is known "to elicit cutaneous photo-toxic reactions", but does not induce photohaemolysis.


title: Lavandula

text: Some people experience contact dermatitis, allergic eczema, or facial dermatitis from the use of lavender oil on skin.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney (; ; ; ), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, the Mainland, has an area of , making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. Orkney’s largest settlement, and also its administrative centre, is Kirkwall.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a constituency of the Scottish Parliament, a lieutenancy area, and an historic county. The local council is Orkney Islands Council, one of only three councils in Scotland with a majority of elected members who are independents.


title: Orkney

text: The islands have been inhabited for at least years, originally occupied by Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes and then by the Picts. Orkney was colonized and later annexed by the Kingdom of Norway in 875 and settled by the Norsemen. In 1472, the Parliament of Scotland absorbed the Earldom of Orkney into the Kingdom of Scotland, following failure to pay a dowry promised to James III of Scotland by the family of his bride, Margaret of Denmark.


title: Orkney

text: In addition to the Mainland, most of the remaining islands are divided into two groups: the North Isles and the South Isles. The climate is relatively mild and the soils are extremely fertile; most of the land is farmed, and agriculture is the most important sector of the economy. The significant wind and marine energy resources are of growing importance; the amount of electricity that Orkney generates annually from renewable energy sources exceeds its demand.


title: Orkney

text: The local people are known as Orcadians; they speak a distinctive dialect of the Scots language and have a rich body of folklore. Orkney contains some of the oldest and best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe; the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney" is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Orkney also has an abundance of marine and avian wildlife.


title: Orkney

text: Pytheas of Massilia visited Britain – probably sometime between 322 and 285 BC – and described it as triangular in shape, with a northern tip called "Orcas".


title: Orkney

text: This may have referred to Dunnet Head, from which Orkney is visible. Writing in the 1st century AD, the Roman geographers Ptolemy and Pomponius Mela called the islands (Όρκάδες), as did Tacitus in 98 AD, claiming that his father-in-law Agricola had "discovered and subjugated the Orcades hitherto unknown" (although both Mela and Pliny had previously referred to the islands). The Byzantine John Tzetzes in his work "Chiliades" is calling the islands as Orcades.


title: Orkney

text: Etymologists usually interpret the element as a Pictish tribal name meaning "young pig" or "young boar". Speakers of Old Irish referred to the islands as "islands of the young pigs". The archipelago is known as in modern Welsh and in modern Scottish Gaelic, the representing a fossilized prepositional case ending. Some earlier sources alternatively hypothesise that Orkney comes from the Latin , whale. The Anglo-Saxon monk Bede refers to the islands as in "Ecclesiastical History of the English People".


title: Orkney

text: Norwegian settlers arriving from the late ninth century reinterpreted "orc" as the Old Norse "seal" and added "islands" to the end, so the name became "Seal Islands". The plural suffix was later removed in English leaving the modern name "Orkney". According to the , Orkney was named after an earl called Orkan.


title: Orkney

text: The Norse knew Mainland, Orkney as "Mainland" or as "Horse Island". The island is sometimes referred to as "Pomona" (or "Pomonia"), a name that stems from a 16th-century mistranslation by George Buchanan, which has rarely been used locally.


title: Orkney

text: A charred hazelnut shell, recovered in 2007 during excavations in Tankerness on the Mainland, has been dated to 6820–6660 BC, indicating the presence of Mesolithic nomadic tribes. The earliest known permanent settlement is at Knap of Howar, a Neolithic farmstead on the island of Papa Westray, which dates from 3500 BC. The village of Skara Brae, Europe's best-preserved Neolithic settlement, is believed to have been inhabited from around 3100 BC. Other remains from that era include the Standing Stones of Stenness, the Maeshowe passage grave, the Ring of Brodgar and other standing stones. Many of the Neolithic settlements were abandoned around 2500 BC, possibly due to changes in the climate.


title: Orkney

text: In September 2021, archaeologists announced the discovery of two polished stone balls in a 5500-year-old Neolithic burial tomb in Sanday. According to Dr Hugo Anderson, the second object was as the “size of a cricket ball, perfectly spherical and beautifully finished".


title: Orkney

text: During the Bronze Age, fewer large stone structures were built (although the great ceremonial circles continued in use) as metalworking was slowly introduced to Britain from Europe over a lengthy period. There are relatively few Orcadian sites dating from this era although there is the impressive Plumcake Mound near the Ring of Brodgar and various island sites such as Tofts Ness on Sanday and the remains of two houses on Holm of Faray.


title: Orkney

text: Excavations at Quanterness on the Mainland have revealed an Atlantic roundhouse built about 700 BC and similar finds have been made at Bu on the Mainland and Pierowall Quarry on Westray. The most impressive Iron Age structures of Orkney are the ruins of later round towers called "brochs" and their associated settlements such as the Broch of Burroughston and Broch of Gurness. The nature and origin of these buildings is a subject of debate. Other structures from this period include underground storehouses, and aisled roundhouses, the latter usually in association with earlier broch sites.


title: Orkney

text: During the Roman invasion of Britain the "King of Orkney" was one of 11 British leaders who is said to have submitted to the Emperor Claudius in AD 43 at Camulodunum (modern Colchester). After the Agricolan fleet had come and gone, possibly anchoring at Shapinsay, direct Roman influence seems to have been limited to trade rather than conquest.


title: Orkney

text: Polemius Silvius wrote a list of Late Roman provinces, which Seeck appended to his edition of the Notitia Dignitatum. The list names six provinces in Roman Britannia: the sixth is the dubious "Orcades provincia", the possible existence of which recent researches re-evaluate.


title: Orkney

text: By the late Iron Age, Orkney was part of the Pictish kingdom, and although the archaeological remains from this period are less impressive, the fertile soils and rich seas of Orkney probably provided the Picts with a comfortable living. The Dalriadic Gaels began to influence the islands towards the close of the Pictish era, perhaps principally through the role of Celtic missionaries, as evidenced by several islands bearing the epithet "Papa" in commemoration of these preachers. Before the Gaelic presence could establish itself the Picts were gradually dispossessed by the North Germanic peoples from the late 8th century onwards. The nature of this transition is controversial, and theories range from peaceful integration to enslavement and genocide. It has been suggested that an assault by forces from Fortriu in 681 in which Orkney was "annihilated" may have led to a weakening of the local power base and helped the Norse come to prominence.


title: Orkney

text: Both Orkney and Shetland saw a significant influx of Norwegian settlers during the late 8th and early 9th centuries. Vikings made the islands the headquarters of their pirate expeditions carried out against Norway and the coasts of mainland Scotland. In response, Norwegian king Harald Fairhair (Harald Hårfagre) annexed the Northern Isles, comprising Orkney and Shetland, in 875. (It is clear that this story, which appears in the "Orkneyinga Saga", is based on the later voyages of Magnus Barelegs and some scholars believe it to be apocryphal.) Rognvald Eysteinsson received Orkney and Shetland from Harald as an earldom as reparation for the death of his son in battle in Scotland, and then passed the earldom on to his brother Sigurd the Mighty.


title: Orkney

text: However, Sigurd's line barely survived him and it was Torf-Einarr, Rognvald's son by a slave, who founded a dynasty that controlled the islands for centuries after his death. He was succeeded by his son Thorfinn Skull-splitter and during this time the deposed Norwegian King Eric Bloodaxe often used Orkney as a raiding base before being killed in 954. Thorfinn's death and presumed burial at the broch of Hoxa, on South Ronaldsay, led to a long period of dynastic strife.


title: Orkney

text: Initially a pagan culture, detailed information about the turn to the Christian religion to the islands of Scotland during the Norse era is elusive. The "Orkneyinga Saga" suggests the islands were Christianised by Olaf Tryggvasson in 995 when he stopped at South Walls on his way from Ireland to Norway. The King summoned the "jarl" Sigurd the Stout and said, "I order you and all your subjects to be baptised. If you refuse, I'll have you killed on the spot and I swear I will ravage every island with fire and steel." Unsurprisingly, Sigurd agreed and the islands became Christian at a stroke, receiving their own bishop in the early 11th century.


title: Orkney

text: Thorfinn the Mighty was a son of Sigurd and a grandson of King Malcolm II of Scotland ("Máel Coluim mac Cináeda"). Along with Sigurd's other sons he ruled Orkney during the first half of the 11th century and extended his authority over a small maritime empire stretching from Dublin to Shetland. Thorfinn died around 1065 and his sons Paul and Erlend succeeded him, fighting at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. Paul and Erlend quarreled as adults and this dispute carried on to the next generation. The martyrdom of Magnus Erlendsson, who was killed in April 1116 by his cousin Haakon Paulsson, resulted in the building of St. Magnus Cathedral, still today a dominating feature of Kirkwall.


title: Orkney

text: Unusually, from c. 1100 onwards the Norse "jarls" owed allegiance both to Norway for Orkney and to the Scottish crown through their holdings as Earls of Caithness. In 1231 the line of Norse earls, unbroken since Rognvald, ended with Jon Haraldsson's murder in Thurso. The Earldom of Caithness was granted to Magnus, second son of the Earl of Angus, whom Haakon IV of Norway confirmed as Earl of Orkney in 1236. In 1290, the death of the child princess Margaret, Maid of Norway in Orkney, en route to mainland Scotland, created a disputed succession that led to the Wars of Scottish Independence. In 1379 the earldom passed to the Sinclair family, who were also barons of Roslin near Edinburgh.


title: Orkney

text: Evidence of the Viking presence is widespread, and includes the settlement at the Brough of Birsay, the vast majority of place names, and the runic inscriptions at Maeshowe.


title: Orkney

text: In 1468 Orkney was pledged by Christian I, in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland. However the money was never paid, and Orkney was absorbed by the Kingdom of Scotland in 1472.


title: Orkney

text: The history of Orkney prior to this time is largely the history of the ruling aristocracy. From now on ordinary people emerge with greater clarity. An influx of Scottish entrepreneurs helped to create a diverse and independent community that included farmers, fishermen and merchants that called themselves "comunitas Orcadie" and who proved themselves increasingly able to defend their rights against their feudal overlords.


title: Orkney

text: From at least the 16th century, boats from mainland Scotland and the Netherlands dominated the local herring fishery. There is little evidence of an Orcadian fleet until the 19th century but it grew rapidly and 700 boats were involved by the 1840s with Stronsay and later Stromness becoming leading centres of development. White fish never became as dominant as in other Scottish ports.


title: Orkney

text: In the 17th century, Orcadians formed the overwhelming majority of employees of the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada. The harsh winter weather of Orkney and the Orcadian reputation for sobriety and their boat handling skills made them ideal candidates for the rigours of the Canadian north. During this period, burning kelp briefly became a mainstay of the islands' economy. For example on Shapinsay over of burned seaweed were produced per annum to make soda ash, bringing in £20,000 to the local economy. The industry collapsed suddenly in 1830 after the removal of tariffs on imported alkali.


title: Orkney

text: Agricultural improvements beginning in the 17th century resulted in the enclosure of the commons and ultimately in the Victoria era the emergence of large and well-managed farms using a five-shift rotation system and producing high-quality beef cattle.


title: Orkney

text: During the 18th century Jacobite risings, Orkney was largely Jacobite in its sympathies. At the end of the 1715 rebellion, a large number of Jacobites who had fled north from mainland Scotland sought refuge in Orkney and were helped on to safety in Sweden. In 1745, the Jacobite lairds on the islands ensured that Orkney remained pro-Jacobite in outlook, and was a safe place to land supplies from Spain to aid their cause. Orkney was the last place in the British Isles that held out for the Jacobites and was not retaken by the British Government until 24 May 1746, over a month after the defeat of the main Jacobite army at Culloden.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney was the site of a Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, which played a major role in World War I and II. After the Armistice in 1918, the German High Seas Fleet was transferred in its entirety to Scapa Flow to await a decision on its future. The German sailors opened the seacocks and scuttled all the ships. Most ships were salvaged, but the remaining wrecks are now a favoured haunt of recreational divers. One month into World War II, a German U-boat sank the Royal Navy battleship in Scapa Flow. As a result, barriers were built to close most of the access channels; these had the additional advantage of creating causeways enabling travellers to go from island to island by road instead of being obliged to rely on ferries. The causeways were constructed by Italian prisoners of war, who also constructed the ornate Italian Chapel.


title: Orkney

text: The navy base became run down after the war, eventually closing in 1957. The problem of a declining population was significant in the post-war years, though in the last decades of the 20th century there was a recovery and life in Orkney focused on growing prosperity and the emergence of a relatively classless society. Orkney was rated as the best place to live in Scotland in both 2013 and 2014, and in 2019 the best place to live in the UK, according to the Halifax Quality of Life survey.


title: Orkney

text: In the modern era, population peaked in the mid 19th century at just over 32,000 and declined for a century thereafter to a low of fewer than 18,000 in the 1970s. Declines were particularly significant in the outlying islands, some of which remain vulnerable to ongoing losses. Although Orkney is in many ways very distinct from the other islands and archipelagos of Scotland these trends are very similar to those experienced elsewhere. The archipelago's population grew by 11% in the decade to 2011 as recorded by the census. During the same period Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney is separated from the mainland of Scotland by the Pentland Firth, a seaway between Brough Ness on the island of South Ronaldsay and Duncansby Head in Caithness. Orkney lies between 58°41′ and 59°24′ north, and 2°22′ and 3°26′ west, measuring from northeast to southwest and from east to west, and covers .


title: Orkney

text: Orkney is separated from the Shetland Islands, a group farther out, by a body of water called the Fair Isle Channel.


title: Orkney

text: The islands are mainly low-lying except for some sharply rising sandstone hills on Mainland, Rousay and Hoy (where the tallest point in Orkney, Ward Hill, can be found) and rugged cliffs on some western coasts. Nearly all of the islands have lochs, but the watercourses are merely streams draining the high land. The coastlines are indented, and the islands themselves are divided from each other by straits generally called "sounds" or "firths".


title: Orkney

text: The tidal currents, or "roosts" as some of them are called locally, off many of the isles are swift, with frequent whirlpools. The islands are notable for the absence of trees, which is partly accounted for by the strong winds.


title: Orkney

text: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established a uniform system of county councils in Scotland and realigned the boundaries of many of Scotland's counties. Subsequently, Orkney County Council was created in 1890. Orkney County Council was based at the County Buildings in Watergate in Kirkwall.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney is now administered by the Orkney Islands Council, a unitary island council created in the Scottish local government re-organization in 1975. In that year Scotland’s civil parishes were replaced by Community Council Areas, which had an advisory, rather than an administrative role. Orkney’s parishes were replaced by 20 CCA’s covering 34 rural settlements. Ten of these CCA’s were formed on Mainland, replacing 13 civil parish and two burgh councils.


title: Orkney

text: Genetic studies have shown that 25% of the gene pool of Orkney derives from Norwegian ancestors who occupied the islands in the 9th century.


title: Orkney

text: The Mainland is the largest island of Orkney. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, are on this island, which is also the heart of Orkney's transport system, with ferry and air connections to the other islands and to the outside world. The island is more heavily populated (75% of Orkney's population) than the other islands and has much fertile farmland. The Mainland is split into areas called East and West Mainland. These areas are determined by whether they lie east or west of Kirkwall. The bulk of the mainland lies west of Kirkwall, with comparatively little land east of Kirkwall.


title: Orkney

text: The island is mostly low-lying (especially East Mainland) but with coastal cliffs to the north and west and two sizeable lochs: the Loch of Harray and the Loch of Stenness. The Mainland contains the remnants of numerous Neolithic, Pictish and Viking constructions. Four of the main Neolithic sites are included in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1999.


title: Orkney

text: The other islands in the group are classified as north or south of the Mainland. Exceptions are the remote islets of Sule Skerry and Sule Stack, which lie west of the archipelago, but form part of Orkney for local government purposes. In island names, the suffix "a" or "ay" represents the Norse "ey", meaning "island". Those described as "holms" are very small.


title: Orkney

text: The northern group of islands is the most extensive and consists of a large number of moderately sized islands, linked to the Mainland by ferries and by air services. Farming, fishing and tourism are the main sources of income for most of the islands.


title: Orkney

text: The most northerly is North Ronaldsay, which lies beyond its nearest neighbour, Sanday. To the west is Westray, which has a population of 550. It is connected by ferry and air to Papa Westray, also known as "Papay". Eday is at the centre of the North Isles. The centre of the island is moorland and the island's main industries have been peat extraction and limestone quarrying.


title: Orkney

text: Rousay, Egilsay and Gairsay lie north of the west Mainland across the Eynhallow Sound. Rousay is well known for its ancient monuments, including the Quoyness chambered cairn and Egilsay has the ruins of the only round-towered church in Orkney. Wyre to the south-east contains the site of Cubbie Roo's castle. Stronsay and Papa Stronsay lie much further to the east across the Stronsay Firth. Auskerry is south of Stronsay and has a population of only five. Shapinsay and its Balfour Castle are a short distance north of Kirkwall.


title: Orkney

text: Other small uninhabited islands in the North Isles group include Calf of Eday, Damsay, Eynhallow, Faray, Helliar Holm, Holm of Faray, Holm of Huip, Holm of Papa, Holm of Scockness, Kili Holm, Linga Holm, Muckle Green Holm, Rusk Holm and Sweyn Holm.


title: Orkney

text: The southern group of islands surrounds Scapa Flow. Hoy, to the west, is the second largest of the Orkney Isles and Ward Hill at its northern end is the highest elevation in the archipelago. The Old Man of Hoy is a well-known seastack. Graemsay and Flotta are both linked by ferry to the Mainland and Hoy, and the latter is known for its large oil terminal. South Walls has a 19th-century Martello tower and is connected to Hoy by the Ayre.


title: Orkney

text: Burray lies to the east of Scapa Flow and is linked by causeway to South Ronaldsay, which hosts cultural events the Festival of the Horse and the Boys' Ploughing Match on the third Saturday in August. It is also the location of the Neolithic Tomb of the Eagles. South Ronaldsay, Burray, Glimps Holm, and Lamb Holm are connected by road to the Mainland by the Churchill Barriers.


title: Orkney

text: Uninhabited South Islands include Calf of Flotta, Cava, Copinsay, Corn Holm, Fara, Glimps Holm, Hunda, Lamb Holm, Rysa Little, Switha and Swona. The Pentland Skerries lie further south, closer to the Scottish mainland.


title: Orkney

text: The superficial rock of Orkney is almost entirely Old Red Sandstone, mostly of Middle Devonian age. As in the neighbouring mainland county of Caithness, this sandstone rests upon the metamorphic rocks of the Moine series, as may be seen on the Mainland, where a narrow strip is exposed between Stromness and Inganess, and again in the small island of Graemsay; they are represented by grey gneiss and granite.


title: Orkney

text: The Middle Devonian is divided into three main groups. The lower part of the sequence, mostly Eifelian in age, is dominated by lacustrine beds of the lower and upper Stromness Flagstones that were deposited in Lake Orcadie. The later Rousay flagstone formation is found throughout much of the North and South Isles and East Mainland.


title: Orkney

text: The Old Man of Hoy is formed from sandstone of the uppermost Eday group that is up to thick in places. It lies unconformably upon steeply inclined flagstones, the interpretation of which is a matter of continuing debate.


title: Orkney

text: The Devonian and older rocks of Orkney are cut by a series of WSW–ENE to N–S trending faults, many of which were active during deposition of the Devonian sequences. A strong synclinal fold traverses Eday and Shapinsay, the axis trending north-south.


title: Orkney

text: Middle Devonian basaltic volcanic rocks are found on western Hoy, on Deerness in eastern Mainland and on Shapinsay. Correlation between the Hoy volcanics and the other two exposures has been proposed, but differences in chemistry mean this remains uncertain. Lamprophyre dykes of Late Permian age are found throughout Orkney.


title: Orkney

text: Glacial striation and the presence of chalk and flint erratics that originated from the bed of the North Sea demonstrate the influence of ice action on the geomorphology of the islands. Boulder clay is also abundant and moraines cover substantial areas.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney has a cool temperate climate that is remarkably mild and steady for such a northerly latitude, due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. The average temperature for the year is ; for winter and for summer .


title: Orkney

text: The average annual rainfall varies from to . Winds are a key feature of the climate and even in summer there are almost constant breezes. In winter, there are frequent strong winds, with an average of 52 hours of gales being recorded annually.


title: Orkney

text: To tourists, one of the fascinations of the islands is their "nightless" summers. On the longest day, the sun rises at 04:00 and sets at 22:29 BST and complete darkness is unknown. This long twilight is known in the Northern Isles as the "simmer dim". Winter nights are long. On the shortest day the sun rises at 09:05 and sets at 15:16. At this time of year the aurora borealis can occasionally be seen on the northern horizon during moderate auroral activity.


title: Orkney

text: The first averages table below is for the largest settlement Kirkwall's weather station, the second is for the Loch of Hundland, a rural location to the northwest of Mainland Orkney.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney is represented in the House of Commons as part of the Orkney and Shetland constituency, which elects one Member of Parliament (MP), the current incumbent being Alistair Carmichael. This seat has been held by the Liberal Democrats or the former Liberal Party since 1950, longer than any other they represent in Great Britain.


title: Orkney

text: In the Scottish Parliament the Orkney constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system. The current MSP is Liam McArthur of the Liberal Democrats. Before McArthur the MSP was Jim Wallace, who was previously Deputy First Minister. Orkney is within the Highlands and Islands electoral region.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney Islands Council consists of 21 members, 18 of whom are independent, that is they do not stand as representatives of a political party. Two councillors are members of the indigenous Orkney Manifesto Group, and the remaining councillor represents the Scottish Greens.


title: Orkney

text: The Orkney Movement, a political party that supported devolution for Orkney from the rest of Scotland, contested the 1987 general election as the Orkney and Shetland Movement (a coalition of the Orkney movement and its equivalent for Shetland). The Scottish National Party chose not to contest the seat to give the movement a "free run". Their candidate, John Goodlad, came 4th with 3,095 votes, 14.5% of those cast, but the experiment has not been repeated.


title: Orkney

text: In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum 67.2% of voters in Orkney voted No to the question "Should Scotland be an independent country?" This was the highest No vote by percentage in any council area in Scotland. Turnout for the referendum was at 83.7% in Orkney with 10,004 votes cast in the area against independence by comparison to 4,883 votes for independence.


title: Orkney

text: In the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum 63.2% of voters in Orkney voted Remain.


title: Orkney

text: In 2022, as part of the Levelling Up White Paper, an "Island Forum" was proposed, which would allow local policymakers and residents in Orkney to work alongside their counterparts in Shetland, the Western Isles, Anglesey and the Isle of Wight on common issues, such as broadband connectivity, and provide a platform for them to communicate directly with the government on the challenges island communities face in terms of levelling up.


title: Orkney

text: The soil of Orkney is generally very fertile and most of the land is taken up by farms, agriculture being by far the most important sector of the economy and providing employment for a quarter of the workforce according to a 2008 report. More than 90% of agricultural land is used for grazing for sheep and cattle, with cereal production utilising about 4% () and woodland occupying only .


title: Orkney

text: Fishing has declined in importance, but still employed 345 individuals in 2001, about 3.5% of the islands' economically active population, the modern industry concentrating on herring, white fish, lobsters, crabs and other shellfish, and salmon fish farming.


title: Orkney

text: A 2009 report indicated the traditional sectors of the economy export beef, cheese, whisky, beer, fish and other seafood. In recent years there has been growth in other areas including tourism, food and beverage manufacture, jewellery, knitwear, and other crafts production, construction and oil transportation through the Flotta oil terminal. Retailing accounts for 17.5% of total employment, and public services also play a significant role, employing a third of the islands' workforce. There are two Scotch whisky distilleries in Orkney (Scapa distillery and the Highland Park distillery).


title: Orkney

text: In 2007, of the 1,420 VAT registered enterprises 55% were in agriculture, forestry and fishing, 12% in manufacturing and construction, 12% in wholesale, retail and repairs, and 5% in hotels and restaurants. A further 5% were public service related. 55% of these businesses employ between 5 and 49 people.


title: Orkney

text: A new report, published in September 2020, provided updates about several significant aspects of the economy: there are around 1,500 businesses on the island. More than 90% have fewer than 10 employees. [Estimates indicate] 11,000 jobs, of which around 5,000 are part-time ... There's not much manufacturing, beyond food and drink processing (think cheese and whisky), and apart from the Flotta oil terminal, it lacks big private employers ... Fisheries off Orkney are only half as important to employment as in Shetland, and farming is roughly twice as important.


title: Orkney

text: The report expressed concern about the loss of business caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic: "blighting business activity, travel and tourism". On 1 February 2021, a new plan (subsequent to previous funding schemes) from the Scottish government was announced. The Island Equivalent Payment Fund was designed to "provide the equivalent of Level 4 support to eligible businesses in Orkney and other island areas".


title: Orkney

text: A report published in February 2020 stated that spending by visitors increased from £49.5 million in 2017 to £67.1 million in 2019, making this a significant sector of the economy. The primary attractions that encourage tourism include the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney" on the main island, defined as "a group of 5,000-year-old sites that include the preserved village of Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar stone circle". The Hoy area's landscape is also attractive to visitors, "with its scattered woodland, steep valleys, high cliffs and the famous Old Man, a withered red sandstone sea stack". In 2017, 62% of tourists to Orkney visited for its heritage. The UHI Archaeology Institute have led excavations at the Ness of Brodgar, contributing to tourism to the area and driving interest in archaeology.


title: Orkney

text: During most years, the islands are the home of several international festivals, including the Orkney International Science Festival in September, a folk festival in May, and the St Magnus International Arts Festival in June.


title: Orkney

text: due to the COVID-19 pandemic A news report added that cruise ships also did not arrive and there were "no day trippers and no holiday lets" as of 25 April 2020. Several major events were cancelled: St Magnus Festival, Orkney Folk Festival, Stromness Shopping Week and the Agricultural Shows.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney has significant wind and marine energy resources, and renewable energy has recently come into prominence. Although Orkney is connected to the mainland, it generates over 100% of its net power from renewables according to a 2015 report. This comes mainly from wind turbines situated across Orkney.


title: Orkney

text: The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) is a research facility operating a grid-connected wave test site at Billia Croo, off the west coast of the Orkney Mainland, and a tidal power test site in the Fall of Warness, off the northern island of Eday. At the official opening of the Eday project the site was described as "the first of its kind in the world set up to provide developers of wave and tidal energy devices with a purpose-built performance testing facility."


title: Orkney

text: During 2007 Scottish and Southern Energy plc in conjunction with the University of Strathclyde began the implementation of a Regional Power Zone in the Orkney archipelago, involving "active network management" that will make better use of existing infrastructure and allow a further 15 MW of new "non-firm generation" output from renewables onto the network. 1.5 MW of polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis form a partial hydrogen economy for hydrogen vehicles and district heating, and grid batteries and electric vehicles also use local energy.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney has one of the highest uptakes of electric vehicles in the UK with more than 2% of the vehicles on the road being electric, as of 2019.


title: Orkney

text: A March 2019 report by the BBC stated that "Orkney creates more clean electricity than its inhabitants need. Even after exporting to the UK national grid, the islands' winds, waves and tides generate about 130% of the electricity its population needs – all of it from clean sources". A report about sustainable energy in the islands listed two options. A new cable could be laid for exporting of energy to the mainland but another proposal has progressed rapidly since that time: making "excess renewable power into another fuel – such as hydrogen – and then [storing] it".


title: Orkney

text: In May 2020, CNN published more specifics about the hydrogen plan:"Orkney's success in creating hydrogen using clean energy demonstrates that it can be done at scale. The islands are already using hydrogen to power vehicles, and it will soon be used to heat a local primary school. Now, Orkney is hoping to use hydrogen fuel cells to power a seagoing vessel able to transport both goods and passengers".


title: Orkney

text: Additional specifics about the status of the hydrogen scheme were published in late November 2020 by Orkney Islands Council. A few weeks earlier, another report indicated that the world’s first hydrogen-fueled ferry was to be tested on the Orkney Islands, using "a hydrogen/diesel dual fuel conversion system", developed by a consortium known as the HyDIME project. Initially hydrogen was to power only the auxiliary engine but the plan calls for later using this fuel for the primary engine. The report suggested that, "if all goes well, hydrogen ferries could be sailing between Orkney’s islands within six months".


title: Orkney

text: Kirkwall Airport in Orkney was scheduled "to have its heat and power decarbonised through green hydrogen as part of a new project" starting in 2021. A hydrogen combustion engine system was to be connected to the airport’s heating system. The scheme planned to reduce the significant emissions that were created with older technology that heated buildings and water. This was part of the plan formulated by the Scottish government for the Highlands and Islands "to become the world’s first net zero aviation region by 2040".


title: Orkney

text: Hydrogen manufacturing is also planned for Shetland and will spread to other areas of Scotland that have access to clean electricity. To achieve that goal, the government announced an investment of £100 million in the hydrogen sector "for the £180 million Emerging Energy Technologies Fund".


title: Orkney

text: Highland and Islands Airports operates the main airport in Orkney, Kirkwall Airport. Loganair provides services to the Scottish mainland (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness), as well as to Sumburgh Airport in Shetland.


title: Orkney

text: Within Orkney, the council operates airports on most of the larger islands including Stronsay, Eday, North Ronaldsay, Westray, Papa Westray, Sanday, and Flotta. The shortest scheduled air service in the world, between the islands of Westray and Papa Westray, is scheduled at two minutes' duration but can take less than one minute if the wind is in the right direction.


title: Orkney

text: Ferries serve both to link Orkney to the rest of Scotland, and also to link together the various islands of the Orkney archipelago. Ferry services operate between Orkney and the Scottish mainland and Shetland on the following routes:


title: Orkney

text: Inter-island ferry services connect all the inhabited islands to Orkney Mainland, and are operated by Orkney Ferries, a company owned by Orkney Islands Council. The isles of Westray, Papa Westray (or Papay), North Ronaldsay, Sanday, Eday, Stronsay, and Shapinsay are served from Kirkwall harbour, while the northern end of Hoy and Graemsay are served from Stromness harbour, the Lyness end of Hoy, as well as Longhope on South Walls, and Flotta are served from Houton on the south of the mainland, and Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre are served from Tingwall, in the Rendall area of the Orkney mainland. As well as this, the MV Golden Mariana connects the village of Pierowall on Westray with Papa Westray - this provides a vital local service for schoolchildren on Papay as well as supplementing existing through sailings from Kirkwall.


title: Orkney

text: Local buses around the Orkney Mainland, as well as across the Churchill Barriers to Burray and South Ronaldsay, are operated by Stagecoach in Orkney. The main route is the X1, connecting Stromness, Stenness for Maeshowe, Finstown, Kirkwall, St Mary's, Burray, and St Margaret's Hope. There are also buses from Kirkwall via Orphir (2), and from Stromness (5) to the ferry terminal at Houton (from which inter-island ferries operate to Hoy and Flotta, from Kirkwall to Kirkwall Airport (3 & 4), Tankerness and Deerness (3), from Kirkwall and Finstown to Tingwall (from which there are ferries to Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre), Evie and Birsay, from Stromness to Kirkwall via Skara Brae, Dounby, Harray and Finstown (7), the 8 (which does a circular route to and from Kirkwall and Finstown via Stromness and the West Mainland villages, such as Marwick, Quoyloo, Dounby and Stenness), and the X10, which connects the late-night call of the NorthLink ferry to and from Aberdeen and Lerwick, at Hatston Ferry Terminal, to Kirkwall, Finstown and Stromness.


title: Orkney

text: In 2021, the island's three-vehicle minibus service for disabled people was a target for hackers seeking a £1,000 ransom in cryptocurrency.


title: Orkney

text: A local BBC radio station, BBC Radio Orkney, the local opt-out of BBC Radio Scotland, broadcasts twice daily, with local news and entertainment. Orkney also had a commercial radio station, The Superstation Orkney, which broadcast to Kirkwall and parts of the mainland and also to most of Caithness until its closure in November 2014. Moray Firth Radio broadcasts throughout Orkney on AM and from an FM transmitter just outside Thurso. The community radio station Caithness FM also broadcasts to Orkney.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney is home to the Orkney Library and Archive, located in Kirkwall, Scotland, on the mainland. The Library service provides access to over 145,000 items. They have a wide range of fiction and non-fiction titles available for loan as well as audiobooks, maps, eBooks, music CDs, and DVDs. Orkney Library and Archive operates a Mobile Library Service that serves the rural parishes and islands of Orkney. The Mobile Library carries a wide range of books and audiobooks suitable for all ages and is completely free to use.


title: Orkney

text: At the beginning of recorded history, the islands were inhabited by the Picts, whose language was Brythonic. The Ogham script on the Buckquoy spindle-whorl is cited as evidence for the pre-Norse existence of Old Irish in Orkney.


title: Orkney

text: After the Norse occupation, the toponymy of Orkney became almost wholly West Norse. The Norse language changed into the local Norn, which lingered until the end of the 18th century, when it eventually died out. Norn was replaced by the Orcadian dialect of Insular Scots. This dialect is at a low ebb due to the pervasive influences of television, education, and the large number of incomers. However, attempts are being made by some writers and radio presenters to revitalise its use and the distinctive sing-song accent and many dialect words of Norse origin remain in use. The Orcadian word most frequently encountered by visitors is , meaning 'small', which may be derived from the French .


title: Orkney

text: Orkney has a rich folklore, and many of the former tales concern trows, an Orcadian form of troll that draws on the islands' Scandinavian connections. Local customs in the past included marriage ceremonies at the Odin Stone that formed part of the Stones of Stenness.


title: Orkney

text: King Lot in certain versions of the Arthurian legend (e.g., Malory) is ruler of Orkney. His sons Gawaine, Agravaine, Gareth, and Gaheris are major characters in the Matter of Britain. In earlier versions of Arthuriana such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain the King of Orkney is named Gunfasius.


title: Orkney

text: The best known literary figures from modern Orkney are the poet Edwin Muir, the poet and novelist George Mackay Brown, and the novelist Eric Linklater.


title: Orkney

text: An Orcadian is a native of Orkney, a term that reflects a strongly held identity with a tradition of understatement. Although the annexation of the earldom by Scotland took place over five centuries ago in 1472, some Orcadians regard themselves as Orcadians first and Scots second. However in response to the national identity question in the 2011 Scotland Census, self-reported levels of Scottish identity in Orkney were in line with the national average.


title: Orkney

text: The Scottish mainland is often referred to as "Scotland" in Orkney, with "the mainland" referring to Mainland, Orkney. The archipelago also has a distinct culture, with traditions of the Scottish Highlands such as tartan, clans, bagpipes not indigenous to the culture of the islands. However, at least two tartans with Orkney connections have been registered and a tartan has been designed for Sanday by one of the island's residents, and there are pipe bands in Orkney.


title: Orkney

text: Native Orcadians refer to the non-native residents of the islands as "ferry loupers", ("loup" meaning "jump" in the Scots language) a term that has been in use for nearly two centuries at least.


title: Orkney

text: Orkney has an abundance of wildlife, especially of grey and common seals and seabirds such as puffins, kittiwakes, black guillemots (tysties), ravens, and great skuas (bonxies). Whales, dolphins, and otters are also seen around the coasts. Inland the Orkney vole, a distinct subspecies of the common vole introduced by Neolithic humans, is an endemic. There are five distinct varieties, found on the islands of Sanday, Westray, Rousay, South Ronaldsay, and the Mainland, all the more remarkable as the species is absent on mainland Britain.


title: Orkney

text: The coastline is well known for its colourful flowers including sea aster, sea squill, sea thrift, common sea-lavender, bell and common heather. The Scottish primrose is found only on the coasts of Orkney and nearby Caithness and Sutherland. Although stands of trees are generally rare, a small forest named Happy Valley with 700 trees and lush gardens was created from a boggy hillside near Stenness during the second half of the 20th century.


title: Orkney

text: The North Ronaldsay sheep is an unusual breed of domesticated animal, subsisting largely on a diet of seaweed, since they are confined to the foreshore for most of the year to conserve the limited grazing inland. The island was also a habitat for the Atlantic walrus until the mid-16th century.


title: Orkney

text: The Orkney char ("Salvelinus inframundus") used to live in Heldale Water on Hoy. It has been considered locally extinct since 1908.


title: Orkney

text: The introduction of alien stoats since 2010, a natural predator of the common vole and thus of the Orkney vole, was also harming native bird populations. NatureScot, Scotland's Nature Agency, provided these additional specifics:The introduction of a ground predator like the stoat to islands such as Orkney, where there are no native ground predators, is very bad news for Orkney’s native species. Stoats are accomplished predators and pose a very serious threat to Orkney’s wildlife, including: the native Orkney vole, hen harrier, short-eared owl and many ground nesting birds.


title: Orkney

text: In 2018, a stoat eradication project was presented by NatureScot to be applied "across Orkney Mainland, South Ronaldsay, Burray, Glimps Holm, Lamb Holm and Hunda, and the


title: Orkney

text: biosecurity activities delivered on the non-linked islands of the archipelago". The Orkney Native Wildlife Project planned to use "humane DOC150 and DOC200 traps". The Partners in the five-year project include "RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), and Orkney Islands Council". A report issued in October 2020 stated that over 5,000 traps had been deployed. Specifics were provided as to the locations.


title: Orkney

text: Not all was going well as of 15 January 2021, according to The Times which stated that the project "has been hit by alleged sabotage after the destruction and theft of traps that have also killed and injured household pets and other animals" but added that the £6 million programme was supported by most islanders. Another news item stated that some of the traps had "caught and killed family pets as well as hundreds of other animals". A subsequent report confirmed that "Police Scotland is investigating a number of incidents involving damage to and the theft of stoat traps in Orkney".


title: Orkney

text: There are 13 Special Protection Areas and 6 Special Areas of Conservation in Orkney. One of Scotland's 40 national scenic areas, the Hoy and West Mainland National Scenic Area, is also located in the islands. The seas to the northwest of Orkney are important for sand eels that provides a food source for many species of fish, seabirds, seals, whales and dolphins, and are now protected as Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA) that covers .


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Sai Baba's believers credited him with miracles such as materialisations of "vibhuti" (holy ash) and other small objects such as rings, necklaces and watches, along with reports of miraculous healings, resurrections, clairvoyance, bilocation and was allegedly omnipotent and omniscient. Multiple studies have concluded that his acts were based on sleight of hand or had other explanations that were not supernatural, although his devotees believe them to be signs of his divinity.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In 1972, Sathya Sai Baba founded the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust. "to enable its members to undertake service activities as a means to spiritual advancement". Through this organisation, Sathya Sai Baba established a network of free super speciality hospitals and general hospitals, clinics, drinking water projects, a university, auditoriums, ashrams, edtech platforms and schools.It has branches in over 40 countries, run by one of its sister organizations - the Sri Sathya Sai Global Council


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Almost everything known about Sathya Sai Baba's early life stems from the hagiography that grew around him, narratives that hold special meaning to his devotees and are considered by them to be evidence of his divine nature. According to these sources, Sathya Narayana Raju was born on 23 November 1926 to Meesaraganda Easwaramma and Peddavenkama Raju Ratnakaram, to a Bhatraju family, a community of religious musicians and balladeers, in the village of Puttaparthi which was the Madras Presidency of British India. His birth was alleged by his mother Easwaramma to be of a miraculous conception. He was the fourth among the five children of his parents.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Sathya Sai Baba's siblings included elder brother Ratnakaram Seshama Raju (1911–1985), elder sisters Venkamma (1918–1993) and Parvathamma (1920–1998), and younger brother Janakiramaiah (1931–2003).


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: As a child, he was described as "unusually intelligent" and charitable, though not necessarily academically inclined, as his interests were of a more spiritual nature. He was uncommonly talented in devotional music, dance and drama. From a young age, he has been alleged to have been capable of materialising objects such as food and sweets out of thin air.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: On 8 March 1940, while living with his elder brother Seshama Raju in Uravakonda, a small town near Puttaparthi, 14-year-old Sathya was allegedly stung by a scorpion. He lost consciousness for several hours and in the next few days underwent a noticeable change in behaviour. There were "symptoms of laughing and weeping, eloquence and silence." It is claimed that then "he began to sing Sanskrit verses, a language of which it is alleged he had no prior knowledge." Doctors concluded his behaviour to be hysteria. Concerned, his parents brought Sathya back home to Puttaparthi and took him to many priests, doctors and exorcists. One of the exorcists at Kadiri, a town near Puttaparthi, went to the extent of torturing him with the aim of curing him.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: On 23 May 1940, Sathya called household members and reportedly materialised sugar candy ("prasad)" and flowers for them. His father became furious at seeing this, thinking his son was bewitched. He took a stick and threatened to beat him if Sathya did not reveal who he really was, the young Sathya responded calmly and firmly "I am Sai Baba", a reference to Sai Baba of Shirdi. This was the first time he proclaimed himself to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdia saint who became famous in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Maharashtra and had died eight years before Sathya was born. It was then he came to be known as 'Sathya Sai Baba'.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In 1944, a mandir for Sai Baba's devotees was built near the village of Puttaparthi. It is now referred to as the "old mandir". The construction of Prasanthi Nilayam, the current ashram, began in 1948 and was completed in 1950. In 1954, Sai Baba established a small free general hospital in the village of Puttaparthi. He won fame for his reputed mystical powers and ability to heal. In 1957, Sai Baba went on a North Indian temple tour.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In 1963, it was asserted that Sai Baba suffered a stroke and four severe heart attacks, which left him paralysed on one side. These events culminated in an event where he apparently healed himself in front of the thousands of people gathered in Prashanthi Nilayam who were then praying for his recovery.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: On recovering, Sai Baba announced that he would one day next be reborn as an incarnation named "Prema Sai Baba" in the neighbouring state of Karnataka. He stated, "I am Shiva-Sakthi, born in the gotra (lineage) of Bharadwaja, according to a boon won by that sage from Siva and Sakthi. Siva was born in the gotra of that sage as Sai Baba of Shirdi; Shiva and Sakthi have incarnated as Myself in his gotra now; Sakthi alone will incarnate as the third Sai (Prema Sai Baba) in the same gotra in Mandya district of Karnataka State." He stated he would be born again eight years after his death at the age of 96, but died at the age of 84.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In 1968, he established Dharmakshetra or the Sathyam Mandir in Mumbai. In 1973, he established the Shivam Mandir in Hyderabad. On 19 January 1981, in Chennai, he inaugurated the Sundaram Mandir.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In a 1993 incident, four intruders armed with knives entered his bedroom, either as an assassination attempt or as part of a power struggle between his followers. Sai Baba was unharmed. During the scuffle and the police response, the intruders and two of Sai Baba's attendants were killed. The official investigation left questions unanswered.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In March 1995, Sai Baba started a project to provide drinking water to 1.2 million people in the drought-prone Rayalaseema region in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. In April 1999 he inaugurated the Ananda Nilayam Mandir in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In 2003, Sai Baba suffered a fractured hip when a student standing on an iron stool slipped and the boy and stool both fell on him. After that he gave darshana from a car or his porte chair. After 2004, Sai Baba used a wheelchair and began to make fewer public appearances.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: On 28 March 2011, Sai Baba was admitted to the Sri Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital, named after and started by himself,


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: at Prasanthigram at Puttaparthi, following respiration-related problems. After nearly a month of hospitalisation, during which his condition progressively deteriorated, he died on Sunday, 24 April at 7:40 IST, aged 84.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Sai Baba had predicted that he would die at age 96 and would remain healthy until then. After he died, some devotees suggested that he was referring to that many lunar years, as counted by Telugu-speaking Hindus, rather than solar years, and using the Indian way of accounting for age, which counts the year to come as part of the person's life. Other devotees have spoken of his anticipated resurrection, reincarnation or awakening.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: His body lay in state for two days and was buried with full state honours on 27 April 2011. An estimated 500,000 people attended the burial. Political leaders and prominent figures attending included then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi (who later became Prime Minister of India), cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Union Ministers S. M. Krishna and Ambika Soni.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Political leaders who offered their condolences included the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, then Nepali Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Dalai Lama. Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, whose birthday was that day, cancelled his birthday celebrations. "The Hindu" newspaper reported that "Sri Sathya Sai Baba's propagation of spiritualism and preaching of Hindu philosophy never came in the way of his commitment to secular beliefs."


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: The Government of Karnataka declared 25 and 26 April as days of mourning and Andhra Pradesh declared 25, 26, and 27 April as days of mourning.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: The Sathya Sai Organisation (or Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organization) was founded in the 1960s by Sathya Sai Baba. Initially called the "Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi", it was established "to enable its members to undertake service activities as a means to spiritual advancement." In 2020, Sri Satya Sai Central Trust was granted Special Consultative status by United Nations Economic and Social Council


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: The Sathya Sai Organisation reports that there are an estimated 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centres in 114 countries. However, the number of active Sai Baba followers is hard to determine. Estimates vary from 6 million up to nearly 100 million. In India itself, Sai Baba drew followers predominantly from the upper-middle-class, the urban sections of society who have the "most wealth, education and exposure to Western ideas." In 2002, he claimed to have followers in 178 countries.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Sathya Sai Baba founded a large number of schools and colleges, hospitals, and other charitable institutions in India and abroad, the net financial capital of which is usually estimated at 400 billion (US$9 billion). However, estimates as high as 1.4 trillion (about US$31.5bn) have also been made.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: After his death, questions about the manner in which the finances of the organisation were going to be managed led to speculations of impropriety, with some reports suggesting that suitcases containing cash and/or gold had been removed from his personal lodgings.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: On 17 June 2011, officials from the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust opened his private residence in the presence of government, bank and tax department officials. In the private residence, which had been sealed since his death, they inventoried 98 kg of gold ornaments, approximate value Rs 21 crores (US$4.7m), 307 kg of silver ornaments, approximate value Rs 16 million (US$0.36m), and Rs 116 million (US$2.6m) in cash. The cash was deposited into the Sai Trust's account at the State Bank of India with payment of government taxes (thus transferring them from religious gifts to Trust assets.) The gold and other items were inventoried, assessed, and placed in secure storage. In July, district authorities inventoried an additional Rs 7.7 million (US$0.17m) in valuables in another 4 rooms. The total value of these items is believed to exceed 7.8 million US dollars. Also inventoried at Yajurmandir were thousands of pure silk sarees, dhotis, shirts, 500 pairs of shoes, dozens of bottles of perfume and hairspray, watches, a large number of silver and gold "mangala sutrams", and precious stones such as diamonds. There were also 750 saffron and white robes of the type Sai Baba wore. In July 2011, a similar opening of his Bangalore-area ashram tallied 6 kg of gold coins and jewellery, 245 kg of silver articles and Rs 8 million in cash. These items and goods are believed to have been donated over the years by Sai Baba's devotees from all over the world as religious gifts.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: On 23 November 1999, the Department of Posts, Government of India, released a postage stamp and a postal cover in recognition of the service rendered by Sai Baba in addressing the problem of providing safe drinking water to the rural masses. Another commemorative stamp was released on the occasion of what would have been his 88th birthday during November 2013.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In January 2007, an event was held in Chennai Nehru Stadium organised by the Chennai Citizens' Conclave to thank Sai Baba for the 2 billion water project which brought water from the River Krishna in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai city. Four chief ministers attended the function.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Puttaparthi, where Sai Baba was born and lived, was originally a small, remote South Indian village in Andhra Pradesh. Now there is an extensive university complex, a speciality hospital, and two museums: the "Sanathana Samskruti" or Eternal Heritage Museum, sometimes called the Museum of All Religions, and the "Chaitanya Jyoti", devoted exclusively to the life and teachings of Sai Baba; the latter has won several international awards for its architectural design. There is also a planetarium, a railway station, a hill-view stadium, an administrative building, an airport, an indoor sports stadium and more. High-ranking Indian politicians such as the former president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Andhra Pradesh former chief minister Konijeti Rosaiah and Karnataka chief minister B. S. Yediyurappa have been official guests at the ashram in Puttaparthi. It was reported that well over a million people attended Sai Baba's 80th birthday celebration, including 13,000 delegates from India and 180 other countries.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Sai Baba resided much of the time in his main ashram, "Prasanthi Nilayam" (Abode of Highest Peace), at Puttaparthi. In the summer he often left for his other ashram, "Brindavan", in Kadugodi, Whitefield, a town on the outskirts of Bangalore. Occasionally he visited his Sai Sruthi ashram in Kodaikanal.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Reliable sources often describe Sai Baba's following as a "movement". A report from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1998 found that "[a] worldwide mass religious movement is growing around the Indian holy man and alleged miracle worker, Sathya Sai Baba, whose devotees regard him as the full incarnation of God", later noting that "India has a small industry of fake holy men who perform magic tricks for a living". Scholars often refer to it as either a "New Religious Movement" (NRM) or as a cult, reflecting what Robbins and Zablocki, two social science researchers, call "the divisive polarization, which, at least until recently, has plagued the academic study of religious movements." between two camps within academia, each preferring one term over the other (i.e. NRM or cult) for such groups. It has been noted by Eugene Gallagher, a noted professor of religious studies, that in more modern times "'New Religious Movement', is the classification preferred by most academics, who see 'cult' as a pejorative term. Sai Baba's following is regarded by most scholars to be of Hindu persuasion.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Sai Baba claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, and his followers considered him to be the Avatar of Shiva. Sai Baba of Shirdi was known to combine Islamic and Hindu teachings; still Charles S. J. White, of The American University at Washington D.C., noted of Sathya Sai Baba in 1972, that "there is no discernible Muslim influence." Stephanie Tallings, in The Harvard international Review, noted Sai Baba's following is drawn from people of all religions, ethnicities, and social classes. Lawrence A. Babb, of the Amherst College in Massachusetts, labelled Sai Baba movement as a cult in the 1980s, calling it "deeply and authentically Hindu..." and noted, "The most striking feature of this cult, however, is the extremely strong emphasis given to the miraculous." However, a scholarly review claims Babb misapplies the word “cult”, responding, "the so-called 'cult' of Satya Sai Baba seems to possess all such characteristics which are, according to the author, central to a religious movement." Deborah A. Swallow, of the University of Cambridge, referred to it as a cult and said that the "ritual and theology, then, unlike Sai Baba [of Shirdi]'s, is distinctly Hindu in form and content." But John D. Kelly, a professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, wrote about Hindu missions in Fiji that the Sathya Sai Organization (which is part of the movement) rejected the label Hindu. According to Kelly, they see their founder as the "living synthesis of the world's religious traditions" and prefer to be classified as an interfaith movement. But he observed that Sai Baba mission is a Hindu mission as active as Christian or Muslim missions. In a 2001 scholarly book, Tulasi Srinivas notes, "The Sathya Sai global civil religious movement incorporates Hindu and Muslim practices, Buddhist, Christian, and Zoroastrian influences, and "New Age"-style rituals and beliefs.’ And in the appendix of the book (p. 349) lists 10 scholarly authors/researchers in both Europe and America who all refer to it as a New Religious Movement (NRM).


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Sai Baba was known for his quote "Love All, Serve All. Help Ever, Hurt Never." Internationally, his devotees gather daily, or weekly on Sundays or Thursdays or both, for devotional songs, prayer, spiritual meditation, service to the community (Seva), and to participate in "Education in Human Values" (SSEHV) known as ""Bal Vikas"" (Blossoming of the Child).


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Followers believed in seeking the spiritual benefit of Sai Baba's "darshan", scheduled for morning and afternoon each day. Sai Baba would interact with people, accept letters or call groups or individuals for interviews. Devotees considered it a great privilege to have an interview and sometimes a single person, group or family was invited for a private interview for answers to spiritual questions and general guidance.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: Accusations against Sathya Sai Baba by his critics over the years have included sleight of hand, sexual abuse, money laundering, fraud in the performance of service projects, and murder.


title: Sathya Sai Baba

text: In 1972 Abraham Kovoor made the first public criticism of Sathya Sai Baba when he looked into a claim publicly narrated by one devotee that Sai Baba had created a new model of a Seiko watch, and found the claim to be untrue.