How many people know that Dom Perignon is not only a world-famous trademark, under which an expensive champagne is produced? According to the legend, in the 18th century a French monk named Dom Perignon first began to close the wine with a cork.
He believed that it helps to maintain the effervescence and taste of champagne. He borrowed this idea from the Spanish travelers who clogged by cork with water.
Due to the diversity of flora and fauna, cork forests provide many niches for the various animals. Forests, shrubs and tree crowns provide safe shelter and nesting possibilities for up to 24 species of reptiles and amphibians, 37 species of mammals and 100 species of birds, some of which are endangered, such as the imperial eagle and the Iberian lynx (it is known that as the lair of the female, lynx is preferred by old hollow cork oak trees, and there are not many cork forests in Europe) .
(Greek, from phellos – a cork (cork), and plastike – plastic or art reproduce the elegant forms of clay, gypsum and various other soft substances).Art according to the dictionary of foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov AN, 1910. “Felloplasty is used, mostly, for cutting out the building models.”
German artist Feploplast Dieter Kölen (Cöllen) creates incredible in its authenticity and filigree models of ancient structures of cork. In the beginning, it was difficult for him to establish a manufacturing technology – after all, his teacher – Richard Duburg – died 300 years before Dieter. Three of his cork models are exhibited in the underground museum “Praetorium” (“Praetorium “) in the old part of Cologne. One of them, a copy of the Capitol temple (the Capitol is one of the most luxurious buildings in Cologne) is the largest (1.60 m) cork model in the world.
No less striking are the cork models of the pyramid of Cheops, the temple of Poseidon and the temple of Vesta in Tivoli, made by Dieter Kölen.
From the beginning of the eighties of the last century, Dieter was engaged in a manufacturing of the architectural and construction objects. The cork studio of Dieter Kölen has existed since the 90s, when the attention of the artist was attracted by an old good cork. In the process of searching for new materials and technologies, Dieter rediscovered for himself and the whole world the forgotten art of phalloplasty – carving on the cork. Here, his experience of architectural modeling was useful, and Dieter managed to uncover the secrets of phalloplasty and revive this amazing art.
Cöllen does not complain about the lack of orders .His works are in demand and popular. He restores existing cork models and creates new ones that will last at least 300 years with good care. Large projects are produced exclusively to order. In his personal funds, however, there are jobs that can be purchased. “Cork is a living and tangible material. It creates history, “says Dieter Cöllen .”When people look at my models with the same surprise, like the pyramids of Cheops, wondering: how did I do that, I will assume that my work was a success.”
Africa is divided into four areas according to the nature of the forest and the degree of forest cover: the Northern Region is the subtropical region, the Western is the tropics (the most wooded area), the eastern region is the mountainous tropical region and the southern region is again the subtropics. Oak cork grows in subtropical forests in the lower part of the slopes of the Atlas Mountains and on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Cork patches are saved in the national parks Tazzeka and Tubkal of North Africa, in Morocco. In a number of parks in Algeria – Akfadu, Babor, Jebel Guraya, Jur Jura, and Ouarzenis – the cork oak tree is also preserved.
Thus, it can be stated that the cork forests occupy quite large areas of Africa: In Morocco, they are spread over the territory of more than 370 thousand hectares and give 15-18 thousand tons of cork annually. In Algeria, the area of cork oak forests is 440 thousand hectares, 35 – 40 thousand tons of cork are harvested annually. In Tunisia, such forests occupy about 120 thousand hectares, and the annual harvesting of cork is about 5 thousand tons.