At dawn, the sun rose behind what is known as the Heel Stone, and the first rays shone into the heart of the stone circle.
People gather around the Heel Stone during sunrise as they take part in the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England Wednesday, June 21, 2023. At dawn, the sun rose behind what is known as the Heel Stone in the northeast part of the horizon and the first rays shone into the heart of the stone circle.All over the U.K., optimism will reign supreme as summer officially starts.
This year, the summer solstice at Stonehenge started at 7 p.m. Tuesday and ran through 8 a.m. Wednesday. For this one night, worshippers are allowed to spend time inside the stone circle. Some chanted or played their acoustic guitars or banged their drums. Alcohol was prohibited, as were sound systems. No climbing on the stones, though.
Stonehenge, one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments and a World Heritage Site, was built on the flat lands of Salisbury Plain in stages starting 5,000 years ago, with the unique stone circle erected in the late Neolithic period about 2,500 B.C. Some of the stones, the so-called bluestones, are known to have come from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, nearly 150 miles away, but the origins of others remain a mystery.
English Heritage, a charity that manages hundreds of historic sites, notes several explanations — from Stonehenge being a coronation place for Danish kings, a druid temple, a cult center for healing, or an astronomical computer for predicting eclipses and solar events.
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