Neolithic man constructs a monument with pinpoint accuracy that continues to be a source of amazement.

The passage grave at Newgrange has stood for five thousand years and is older even than the Great Pyramids. As the sun rises on the shortest day of the year, a ray of light breaks through a narrow slot at the entrance, illuminating the central chamber at the end of a sixty foot long tunnel.

What happens here on this day every year is described as a miracle.

Sunrise was at 8.58 am providing 17 minutes of light inside the chamber, the best for years.

Reporter Joe O’Brien spoke to Newgrange Manager Claire Tuffy about the immortality of the structure of Newgrange.

To think that somebody was here 5,000 years ago, organising this and to think we can come now and witness what they planned. That is a miracle.

An RTÉ News report broadcast on 21 December 1986. The reporter is Joe O’Brien.

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