Stonehenge

Our childhood dreams are mere pictures of what we want to capture in front of our eyes…. Well I’ve had my chance… I have always been intrigued by the Stonehenge in England. In the last six years I have visited the UK a couple of times but could never make it to the Stonehenge. This time around I made it. 22nd July 2007 and I was standing right in front of them - during my stay at Bournemouth I managed to plan a visit to the place. Hired a taxi and zoomed towards it.
The intensity and curiosity to see Stonehenge was growing with the acceleration of the car moving towards my dream place. I have always wondered about the mystery and strangeness surrounding Stonehenge. What is it? Why was it built? Why is so famous? Does it really matter so much? What was it that made it what it is?

After driving for miles through the rolling hills and planes of the English countryside the sight of this unusual structure makes people gasp. It’s some sort of looming being that seems to revel in its own importance and is aware that people can feel its power too… It taunts us with its mystery. For over 5000 years it has stood silent vigil over the earth. It has been excavated, x-rayed, measured, and surveyed, its age and construction has been thoroughly researched, yet its purpose remains one great mystery to the world.



We had to pay £4 .70 for a concession ticket - and we spent around 2 hours going around the structure with a free audio tour. - Constructed four millennia ago, Stonehenge is amongst one of the world's greatest historic monuments; a creation that still provokes awe and wonder. It is angled on the equinoxes and the solstices in such a way that the sun rising over the horizon appears to be perfectly placed between the gaps in the megaliths. This is undoubtedly not an accident, and probably has contributed to the stories of its mysterious origins.

This monument evoked a certain level of frustration in me as It was totally out of context and I really didn’t seem to understand the relevance and the audio tour only gives references about the stones and does not spell out or solve the mysterious existence of the Stonehenge. The surviving pillar of the great trilithon weighs nearly forty tons and stands twenty-two feet tall. It originally had a twin, while a third stone bridged their summits to make an arch. Nothing so tall or complex had been built in northern Europe ever before. It is a technological marvel which is over four thousand years old, but even if that is comprehended, it still leaves the question as to why was it built.



37 frames captured in my digital camera - as the site was great amidst a huge plane which ran for miles with an artistic hue of blue and white brushed across the horizon. My childhood dream came true and on my way back I gathered that it was a construction of a great temple of the sun on a bare green hillside. Almost certainly, Stonehenge is that; a sun temple and a monument of a religion that failed, nevertheless a stunning and wondrous achievement.

P.S. For those who want to visit this world heritage site - Stonehenge is situated around 90 miles west from Central London and is well within a comfortable day trip, either by an organized tour or by independent means. The nearest town with good public transport and facilities is Salisbury, a medieval cathedral city that I already wrote about and is worth a visit in its own right. About 24 miles north of Stonehenge is Avebury, another World Heritage Site with even larger stone rings to Stonehenge and unlike Stonehenge with free access to the stones themselves.