Description: <p><span style="color:black;">Boundaries of</span><span style="color:black;"> Sceilg Mhichíl</span><span style="color:black;"> – </span><span style="color:black;">World
Heritage Property.</span></p><p><span style="color:black;">Sceilg Mhichíl was inscribed on the World Heritage
List in 1996. Sceilg Mhichíl and Sceilg Bheag are towering sea crags rising
from the Atlantic Ocean almost 12 kilometres west of the Ivereagh Peninsula in
County Kerry. Both islands are internationally renowned as one of the most
important sites for breeding seabirds in Ireland. Located at the western edge of
the European landmass, Sceilg Mhichíl was the chosen destination for a small
group of ascetic monks who, in their pursuit of greater union with God,
withdrew from civilisation to this remote and inaccessible place. Sometime
between the sixth and eight centuries, a monastery was founded on this
precipitous rock giving rise to one of the most dramatic examples of the
extremes of Christian monasticism.</span></p><p><span style="color:black;">The monastic community moved to the mainland by the
thirteenth century and the island remained uninhabited until the nineteenth
century when two lighthouses were constructed and linked by a remarkable road
cut into the rock along the southern edge of the island.</span></p>
Description: <p></p><p><span style="color:black;">Boundaries
of Brú na Bóinne – Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne World
Heritage Property and its buffer zone.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:black;">Brú na
Bóinne was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993. The listing reflects
the site’s status as</span><span style="color:black;"> Europe’s
largest and most important concentration of prehistoric megalithic art and as
Ireland’s richest archaeological landscape. The archaeological landscape within
Brú na Bóinne is dominated by three large Neolithic passage
tombs, Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth, which contain the largest assemblage
of megalithic art in Western Europe. Each year at dawn on the winter solstice
(21 December), and for a number of days before and after, a shaft of sunlight
enters the chamber at Newgrange through an opening in the roof box. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:black;">The
natural heritage of Brú na Bóinne is also of importance and it encompasses
several Natural Heritage Areas. The Boyne River Islands are one of the
country’s few examples of alluvial wet woodland, which is a priority habitat
under the EU Habitat Directive.</span></p>