SEPTEMBER 1999 – The Brownshill Portal Tomb (Dolmain Chnoc an Bhrúnaigh) near Carlow, Co. Carlow, Ireland. Photo © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
It was the third week of our trip to the Republic of Ireland in 1999. We had spent the night in Kildare. Before returning to the coast, and finally to Dublin, we wanted to experience this part of the country in sunshine. (Two weeks before we had rainy and windy weather when we left Dublin to see Co. Carlow and the coast.)
Needless to say, we were now very happy about the sunny weather and summer-like temperatures, perfect for visiting the Moone High Cross and the Brownshill Dolmen (Dolmain Chnoc an Bhrúnaigh in Irish) – the photo above.
The dolmen was built as a burial place by Ireland’s first farmers sometime between 4000 and 3000 B.C. A pair of tall portal stones marks the entrance to the burial chamber which is covered with a single massive capstone resting on the portals and slopes. This capstone is probably the heaviest of its kind in Europe weighing about 150 tons. As always, you will find further details at Wikipedia.
We should have been impressed but I clearly remember that we were not. During our long trip through Ireland we had gotten used to visiting historical and even ancient places, and after walking a narrow path through the fields to get to this site we were disappointed. The Dolmen stood in the center of a rather small square area that was surrounded by a fence. An informational board had the key facts. And that was it.
Looking at the image today, I am impressed – by the hard work the Irish farmers put into creating a site for their dead that still exists today.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | September 1999 |
| Location | near Carlow, Co. Carlow, Ireland |
| Camera | Canon AE-1 Program |
| Image Source | Fuji Slide Film |
| Digital Image Source | Minolta Dimage Scan Elite II |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 2484 x 3726 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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