Camera: Nikon FE     Lens: Tokina RMC 4/35-50mm     Film: Fuji RD 100     Date: 22.06.1988

Cemetery and beehive huts in 6th century monastery, Skellig Michael, Ireland

Some 12km off the west coast of Ireland, Skellig Michael (or Great Skellig) reaches up over 200m above the mighty waves of the Atlantic. Best known for the Augustinian monastery of the early middle ages, it also is an important bird sanctuary and since the early 1800s the location of a lighthouse. After a long climb up the 618 irregular steps of the imposing staircase you reach the site of the monastery. Here you can walk among the remains of the six beehive huts, two oratories, St. Michael church and the cemetery. If you look out back to the mainland, you will see the inaccessible island Little Skellig, home of over 35,000 colonies of Northern Gannets.