ArtSmart Roundtable: The Amazing Waterproof Ceiling at Newgrange
Welcome to the next installment of the ArtSmart Roundtable with the topic of Ceilings. What is ArtSmart? A couple fellow travel bloggers with an interest in art and I decided to do a roundtable series focused on making our readers “art smart”, e.g. understanding why certain works of art are famous and worth the visit while traveling. At the end of this post are links to the other ArtSmart posts by participating bloggers. Interested in joining the Roundtable? Check out our Facebook page or email me.
I was debating which ceiling to cover this month. I saw Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque’s domes this year, the tower over the Shroud of Turin is just mind-blowing-ly geometric for Baroque design, and English Gothic ribbing always looks so pretty. But I decided to go prehistoric this month. I have sung the praises of Newgrange in Co. Meath, Ireland. It’s older than the great pyramids in Egypt and Stonehenge. Yet, the two times I’ve visited, there were very few Americans on the tour. It seems to be overlooked (with the whole county) in favor of the west or Dublin.
Exterior side view of Newgrange.
Newgrange was built in the Boyne River Valley approximately 5000 years ago. The stone used to build it came from the next county over, Louth, which is about 12 miles away. The interior chamber lights up on the morning of the Winter Solstice, and archaeologists believe it was used for ceremonies and possibly burials. The white stones that form the facade is a recreation of what archaeologists think it looked like since the stones were found toppled around the site.
View of the corbelling. Photo by fachxx00 via Creative Commons.
What’s even cooler? The roof shows no sign of smoke which means the roof was built without the aid of torches. Stone Age Celts made a corbelled roof that has been waterproof for 5000 years in the dark. Corbelled means stacked. Think stacking cookies in concentric rings on a plate and you get the idea. This is how domes were constructed until the Romans invented concrete. Despite being buried under grass and dirt for millennia, there is no water damage or erosion found within the passage or chambers. I cannot wrap my head around how they did that. How did they do the math and make such precise measurements before geometry was “invented” in ancient Greece? How did they get the stones to fit so tightly that in such a rainy climate, the inside always stayed dry? To me, this is the most fascinating ceiling in art history because of the age and the skill.
Second photo by fachxx00.
This Month’s Fellow ArtSmart Roundtable Articles:
Jeff of EuroTravelogue: ArtSmart Roundtable: Tintoretto’s ‘Sistine’ Ceiling at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice
Jenna of This Is My Happiness: ArtSmart Roundtable: The Dome of Florence
Kelly of Travellious: Artsmart Roundtable: Ceilings and the Art of Looking Up
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» ArtSmart Roundtable: The Dome of Florence » This Is My Happiness — December 26, 2011 @ 10:51 am
[...] ArtSmart Roundtable: The Amazing Waterproof Ceiling at Newgrange from A Sense of Place [...]
Jeff Titelius — December 26, 2011 @ 6:33 pm
What a fascinating account of history!! I have never heard of this place before and it’s unfathomable to think that this was built over 5,000 years ago. Thx for this extraordinary article!!
Jeff Titelius recently posted..ArtSmart Roundtable: Tintoretto’s ‘Sistine’ Ceiling at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice
ehalvey replied: — December 27th, 2011 @ 9:30 am
Thanks, Jeff! You MUST go see it if/when you go to Ireland. The simulation of what the chamber looks like on the morning of the Winter Solstice is so cool!
Jenna — December 26, 2011 @ 10:34 pm
Wow, really interesting! It’s always kind of weird to learn about things that were happening before our usual view of history’s milestones– this ceiling really is incredible.
ehalvey replied: — December 27th, 2011 @ 9:28 am
I can never wrap my head around how ancient people were able to built such precise things in stone without modern technology. I can barely handle IKEA, hahaha!
Ayngelina — December 27, 2011 @ 5:48 pm
Very cool. I also agree that I think civilization has gotten dumber over the years because in ancient times they pulled off feats we could never imagine.
Ayngelina recently posted..Reviewing 2011 from A to Z
ehalvey replied: — December 28th, 2011 @ 9:15 am
I’m concerned for the Spongebob generation. That show has been scientifically proven to decrease your cognitive skills.