Knowth, a photo from Meath, North

Photographer's Note

Less than one hour drive from Dublin, river Boyne Valley between Slane and Drogheda hosts one of the most incredible archaeological ensemble in the world, the most important prehistoric megalithic site in Europe. It is a World Heritage Site from 1993. It is a complex of Neolithic chamber tombs, standing stones, henges and other prehistoric enclosures, some dating from as early as 35th century BC - 32nd century BC. The sites here are older than Egypt Pyramids or Stonehenge in England ! The most known passage graves are Newgrange, Dowth and Knowth. But Newgrange and Knowth only are opened to public. The one on the photo is Knowth.

Knowth was built about 5,000 years ago and was restored in 70s. It consists of one large mound, 67m diameter and 12m height, and 17 smaller satellite mounds. Two passages from east and west drive to two chamber tombs in the middle of the mound. The east passage is 40m long, which makes it the longer in Europe. Knowth is famous for its rich megalithic art, decorated stones such as the one you can see on the right. Over 200 decorated stones were found in Knowth, which makes it more than the third of the total number of examples of megalithic art in all of Wester Europe !

Access to Knowth is by guided tour only. The tours start from Bru Na Boinne Visitor Centre close to Donore. You can visit either Newgrange, either Knowth, or both, and that is what I recommend. The tours are in english only but the guides are quite easy to understand for people who are not fully english fluent. The comments on the tour help you understand why this site is incredible, because of the astronomy or technics knowlegde involved in the building of the monument. Just imagine some of the stones used to build Knowth weight a few tons and they were conveyed from Wicklow Mountains, 80 km far from there, with the poor transport that existed 5,000 years ago !

worldcitizen, COSTANTINO, gildasjan, mkamionka, NickVu, Hansaphotos has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rbassin (11167) 2012-02-04 11:25

Bonsoir Olivier
Une photo très intéressante,c'est bien vu!
la verdure offre un bon contraste avec le ciel.
La photo donne un bon aperçu concernant le tumulus de Knowth
Un bon W-E
Roland

worldcitizen (4858) 2012-02-04 11:25

Hello Olivier,
I had never heard of this site before, and it certainly is amazing. I can't even imagine what life was like in this place 5,000 years ago! Your photo is composed very well. I like the path on the left that leads into the distance. We can clearly see some of the designs on the stones, and all of the colors are very nice, too.

COSTANTINO (42746) 2012-02-05 9:48

Hello
an interesting shot in green with
the little path leading the
eyes away,your notes helped me
to understand and were so
useful,
regards
Costantino

gildasjan (38232) 2012-02-05 10:08

Bonsoir Olivier
C'était un superbe temps en Irlande ce qui a permis de donner un très bon rendu aux couleurs de cette image.Il est superbe ce vert et le bleu de ce ciel légèrement chargé.Cette petite route nous invite à la balade.
Bonne soirée
Amicalement
gildas

mkamionka (24583) 2012-02-10 13:14

Bonjour Olivier,
great presentation of this extraordinary place. As fascinating as it is -it is really difficult to present it in an attractive way. I like how you have included the carved stones with the characteristic patterns.
The composition is very pleasant with the path positioned asymmetrically and disappearing nicely in the distance.
Amazing not typical for Ireland weather and colors :)
M

Hansaphotos (5449) 2012-02-22 3:34

Hello Olivier

Thanks for sharing this picture from this historical interesting site. A nice composition where the gras roof runs in a diagonal across the frame. The puffy clouds adds a touch of life to the image. Interesting note. Very nice work:) TFS. Have a nice day.