Newgrange winter solstice images

Photographs of the entrance and roof box at Newgrange. Around the winter solstice, a narrow beam of sunrise light passes through the roof box above the doorway and travels along the passage to illuminate the chamber.

At the winter solstice, the rising sun shines directly along the long passage into the chamber for about 17 minutes and illuminates the chamber floor. The sun enters the passage through a specially contrived opening, known as a roof box, directly above the main entrance.

The alignment is such that although the roof box is above the passage entrance, the light hits the floor of the inner chamber. Today the first light enters about four minutes after sunrise, but calculations based on the precession of the Earth show that 5,000 years ago first light would have entered exactly at sunrise.

The solar alignment at Newgrange is very precise compared with similar phenomena at other passage graves such as Dowth or Maes Howe in the Orkney Islands, off the coast of Scotland.

Newgrange, World Heritage Site

Newgrange is a 5,200-year-old passage tomb in the Boyne Valley in Ireland's Ancient East. Newgrange has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The mound is 85 m (279 ft) in diameter and 13 m (43 ft) high, an area of about 1 acre. The passage and chamber are aligned with the rising sun on the mornings around the winter solstice.

Archaeologists classified Newgrange as a passage tomb, but it is now recognised to be much more than that. Ancient temple is a more fitting description: a place of spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance, much as present-day cathedrals are places of prestige and worship where dignitaries may be laid to rest.

More images: Newgrange images, page 2, page 3, and kerbstones. See also the winter solstice pages.