Updated 9.20am 

THE WINTER SOLSTICE was broadcast live from Newgrange in Co Meath this morning, with thousands of people tuning in.

Every year on this date, a beam of sunlight shines directly through a light box above the main door and casts a beam of light up the main corridor of the neolithic monument.

Screengrab / YouTube.com Screengrab / YouTube.com / YouTube.com

This feature of the 5,000-year-old neolithic monument was first discovered during reconstruction work in the 1970s.

Unfortunately, weather conditions weren’t great this morning so there wasn’t much to see.

Eamon Farrell / RollingNews.ie Eamon Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

The dramatic scenes are usually only witnessed by a handful of lucky ticket holders. Thousands apply to a lottery but the stone passage has extremely limited capacity.

The solstice was first broadcast from the chamber in 1999 as part of its Millennium programming.

With reporting by Órla Ryan

Read: These bird’s-eye views of Newgrange from above are jaw-dropping >

More: Newgrange’s winter solstice is only 50 years old? No way, says OPW >

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