I wrote a little in a previous post about my visit to Newgrange.
Some of the designs on the stones are unique, but we're unable to read the meanings of the symbols.
I'm ok with that, there are secrets of the past that will never be revealed.
Newgrange was constructed over 5,000 years ago (about 3,200 B.C.), making it older than
Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Newgrange was built during the Neolithic or New Stone Age by a farming community that prospered on the rich lands of the Boyne Valley.
Knowth and
Dowth are similar mounds that together with Newgrange have been designated a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO.
It has been a highlight of this summer, and I'm still amazed that I had never gone to see it, or known the detail of it, so close to home.
I went with G, my friend, and her Mum. Their home is a 5 minute drive to Newgrange.
As a child, G used to play in the chambers nearby in Knowth. They would bring candles inside, and play around in these 5000 year old structures. Imagine!
We knew little at that time of our wonderful heritage.
So, we went first to the visitor centre, where we had some lovely lunch, and put our names down for the tour. It's busy there and numbers are strictly limited, so you have to get your name down early, or you won't get on a tour.
A big, brave tree. Not as old as the tomb of Newgrange, but very old nonetheless.
There were several of these stones around Newgrange. I'm assuming they were of some significance, and also that they were arranged thus for a reason too.
The guide, at the entrance to the chamber. It's built to capture the morning light at the winter solstice. We put our names down for a draw to win a place in the chamber on December 21st.
The structure is very big on the outside. It took quite a while to walk around it, while the other half of our tour were inside.
Our guide was very knowledgable, from the local area. There were several references to Nama and the recession. Well, may as well get a laugh from our predicament!
Inside the chamber, the guide turned off all the lights, having warned us beforehand that it would be very dark, and using electric light, he showed us how the winter solstice light would appear through the "roof box".
(this photo was taken in a replica in the visitor centre- photography is not allowed in the chamber)
A stillness came over us all, as we watched the pattern of the emerging light with a sense of wonder at how these people were in tune with nature, how they respected their surroundings and the materials available to them, and how carefully they thought about light when building the tomb.
And how, in all the years since it was built, it has never let a drop of rain in.
That is some achievement, given how much it rains in Ireland!
I kept wondering what these wise people would make of the situation we're in now, where housing estates were thrown up in unsuitable locations (eg flood plains), using "any old" materials, with little or no thought of environmental impact ; they're unfinished now and there are no buyers for them.
If we tuned in more often to the wonder of nature around us, and stopped rushing around and being greedy, and built and made things that will last, wouldn't we be much better off?
These were taken on our recent trip to Pisa, this was the view from outside our hotel (though not from the balcony, there were trees in the way!). Can you see the Leaning Tower and the Duomo in the distance?
