Brú na Bóinne – Newgrange

The passage tombs of Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth were built around 3200 BC, during the Neolithic or late Stone Age. The builders aligned Newgrange so that, around the winter solstice, the rising sun shines through a roof-box above the entrance and along the passage into the inner chamber for about 17 minutes. Modern observers first witnessed the effect in 1967 during the excavations led by Professor Michael J. O'Kelly between 1962 and 1975, when the white quartz facade was also reconstructed.

The area is famous for its megalithic art: spirals, lozenges and zigzags pecked into the stones, and Knowth holds the largest assemblage of megalithic art in Western Europe. The landscape remained significant long after the Stone Age, with evidence of later activity through to the medieval period. In 1993 UNESCO inscribed Brú na Bóinne – Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne on the World Heritage List.

For many Irish people Newgrange is a powerful symbol of the island's deep past, and the winter solstice sunrise draws great interest each December. The surrounding Boyne Valley is rich farming country dotted with later heritage sites, and nearby Drogheda is the main town. Visitors are asked to treat the monuments, which were sacred places for their builders, with care and respect.