Tours are available from 29 February to 6 November 2024. Visitors can choose from various tours, from entering the chambers to viewing the exhibitions, with tours lasting between 2 to 3 hours. Pre-booking of tickets is essential - BOOK NOW
Brú na Bóinne – Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth is a state-of-the-art, immersive visitor experience that focuses on the monuments of the World Heritage Site during the Neolithic period. The experience transports visitors back 5000 years to the pinnacle of passage tomb-building tradition.
The exhibits explore the seasonal nature of Stone Age society, the significance of the solar cycle, ceremonies, and the monument-building process. The Visitor Centre exhibition is a fully interactive visitor experience exploring the Neolithic culture, landscape and monuments of Brú na Bóinne. Newgrange
Newgrange
Newgrange (c. 3,200 B.C.) is the best-known monument of the World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne. It predates the main pyramids at Giza by 400 years and the main trilithon phase of Stonehenge by about 500-700 years. The passage tomb is surrounded by 97 kerb stones; the most impressive is the large entrance stone, which is covered in swirls and designs.
Inside the large mound is a long passage leading into a chamber that branches off three ways. The corbelled roof inside the burial chamber is still watertight and supports an estimated 200,000 tonnes of cairn. The cremated remains of the dead were laid on large stone basins inside the chamber, which were usually accompanied by grave goods.
At dawn on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year (December 21st), a shaft of sunlight enters the chamber of Newgrange through a specially designed opening over the doorway, illuminating it. On December 21st, 1967, Professor MJ O'Kelly was the first person in modern times to see this now world-famous event.
Knowth
Knowth is another passage tomb complex located to the west of Newgrange. The large mound covers two passage tombs placed back to back, which are surrounded by 127 massive kerb stones. Outside this large passage tomb, there are eighteen small tombs.
Knowth consists of over three hundred decorated stones, representing the greatest concentration of megalithic art in Western Europe. Recurring motifs on these stones include circles, serpentine forms, and spirals.
Knowth has been used for different purposes throughout the centuries. It served as a burial site during the Bronze and Iron Ages, a royal site in the early medieval period, and a manor farmhouse in the later medieval period. Currently, there is a new exhibit at Knowth that showcases the megalithic art of the Boyne Valley and tells the story of the archaeologists who discovered it.
Dowth
Dowth is one of the three large mounds in the Boyne Valley, Ireland. Although it is not as well-known as the other two, it is comparable in size. The mound is surrounded by a kerb of 115 stones and contains two tombs that face westwards. On the 21st of December, the rays of the setting sun shine through the passage of Dowth in a circular manner, similar to the winter solstice at Newgrange. At least thirty-eight of the stones at Dowth feature megalithic art, with the circle being the most common motif used.
