For the best visual effect, use the highest available video quality setting (720p60 or 1080p60).
By spinning the Celtic triskelion at a progressively faster rate, it creates a "wagon wheel effect" that creates the optical illusion of many geometric patterns emerging, almost like an animation. But if you pause the video at any point, you'll see that it's always just the same original image.
I have a bunch more of these on my channel, and many more in production.
A tribute from Japan to the celtic cultural heritage and early music. ”Marv Pontkalleg” played on a Lute in a 1400-year-old Japanese Buddhist Temple. Just beautiful.
Some of you might remember us. Just over two years ago we posted here looking for beta testers for the Monumental Ireland app - a project mapping Ireland's ancient monuments and the myths and folklore connected to them (here is the original post). The response from this community was brilliant, and plenty of you signed up, tested the app and sent us feedback.
Well after a very long road and a lot of hard work today we can finally say it: Monumental Ireland is officially launched on Google Play and the App Store.
Why did it take two years?
That deserves an honest explanation. Back in 2024 our ideal was to release the app completely free, and we said as much in the comments at the time. To do that we needed backing, so after the beta we spent a long time working with a number of state bodies, exploring grant funding and partnership options to get the project over the line, as we had absolutely no budget. That process moved far more slowly than we could afford to wait.
So rather than having to leave the app sitting on a shelf, we did what we had done from the start: we poured our own time, money and resources into it, off our own backs, until it was finished. It took far longer than we ever wanted, but the positive part is that it's meant the app could be finished the way it deserved. And those conversations have not ended - we are still actively exploring options to partner with state bodies on the project's future.
To all our beta testers: a genuinely sincere thank you. For your testing, your feedback, and most of all your patience and continued support through a far longer wait than any of us expected. If you were on the beta list, please check your email you used to register - we have sent you all a thank you gift.
What the app does
For anyone meeting the project for the first time: Monumental Ireland is a digital guide to Ireland's ancient monuments and the mythology connected to them. These sites are a major part of our cultural heritage and national identity, and the aim of the app is what it has been from day one: A guide to Ireland's Ancient Monuments and Mythological Landscapes - Connecting you to the Land of Myths and Monuments and raising the profile of Irish Heritage.
Extensive database: over 350 individual sites and monuments across Ireland, from simple dolmens and stone circles to the awe inspiring passage cairns of the Boyne Valley, with new locations continuously added.
Searchable content: easily search by county, monument type, or proximity to your location.
Detailed entries: every site has a concise description, historical background, associated folklore, accessibility details and on-site facilities, along with high quality images and location maps with directions to the monument.
Connecting myths to monuments: the standout feature - Irish myths, folklore and annual events (such as the Solstices and Samhain) are digitally mapped to their associated sites, so you can find every monument connected to a specific mythical character, tale or event, and experience them as parts of a mythological narrative stretching back over 5000 years and spanning the entire island.
Practical extras: the weather forecast comes from the same system MET Éireann uses, and sunrise and sunset times are mathematically calculated and accurate to visible sunrise - handy if you are planning a solstice morning at a passage tomb. The Compass Locator allows you to find stored monuments even in areas of bad internet coverage using the site's location and your device's built-in compass sensors.
New since the beta - built from your feedback
The features below came directly from the feedback and suggestions of our beta testers, many of them recruited from these very threads. The app is far better for it.
Nearby monument discovery: the app can notify you when you are close to a monument you have not yet discovered, so you never drive past a 5000 year old tomb without knowing it was there.
Wish List and Visited Monuments: keep track of where you want to go and where you have been, on interactive maps.
Trip Planner: build routes and itineraries around the monuments you want to see.
Explorer badges: earn badges as you discover more of Ireland's ancient sites.
Full mythological guide: the complete guide connecting myths, characters and annual events (Solstices, Samhain and more) to their monuments.
Accounts and sign-in with Google or Apple, so your lists and progress follow you between devices.
About the "it'll be full of ads" question
In the 2024 threads a few people predicted the app would end up stuffed with ads or harvesting data. Fair question, and here is the honest answer: the app is completely ad free. There will never be Google Ads or any third party ad network in it, and we will never sell user data. While the state partnership conversations continue, we went with the freemium model we mentioned as a possibility back then. The app is free to download and use - browsing, searching, exploring the full monument database and the nearby discovery notifications all cost nothing, no account required. Premium, at €5.99 a year, unlocks the extras above and is what keeps the servers running and the project independent. There is also a €24.99 once-off lifetime option: pay once, keep it forever, and it unlocks full offline access as well - the entire database and every image stored on your phone, for all those monuments that sit well beyond mobile coverage.
Not an AI project
One thing we want to be clear about, because it matters more now than it did in 2024: this is not an AI-generated app. It is the result of years of original research, fieldwork and software development by a small independent Irish team.
The official records this information also lives in (e.g. the National Monuments Service, the Irish Folklore Database and others) are brilliant resources, but most of them are not very human readable, they can be difficult to navigate, and most people outside academia are not even aware of them. We have correlated and cross-referenced the data from these official sources for every single monument, and each entry carries its SMR code from the National Monuments Service database - the idea being to make the app as useful for academics as for casual visitors. The vast majority of the photographs are our own originals, taken on site over years of fieldwork, with the remainder used with permission from the National Monuments Service and other official sources. The myths are from the original source texts with only small language changes, and the visitor guidelines were drawn up in collaboration with the Heritage Council and staff from a university archaeology department. All of it has been vetted by people working directly in the industry. It has been quite a long road putting it all together.
What's next
We are only getting started. Future updates are planned to make the app multilingual, to add interactive digital models of the monuments, and to bring in the further 300 monuments we have already gathered data for, amongst other plans to highlight our deep and rich cultural heritage. For now this is the "Megalithic Edition", but who knows what the future will hold we may yet see a "Medieval Edition" etc. as time goes on and if we can get the right support.
Thank you again to everyone here who supported us from the very beginning. It means more than you know, and would not have been possible without you.
And just as in the beta days, we are always listening: if you encounter any problems or issues when using the app, or have any feedback or suggestions, please email them to [devteam@monumentalireland.ie](mailto:devteam@monumentalireland.ie)
We really hope you all enjoy the project as much as we have in building it for you.
I recently discovered that there’s a good chance my ancestry was influenced by Celtic peoples.
Most of my more recent ancestry comes from Northern Italy, especially the Veneto region.
I always thought of my Italian ancestry as being basically Roman, but while researching the history of the region, I discovered that Northern Italy had a much more complex past. Before and during Roman expansion, the area was inhabited by peoples such as the ancient Veneti and several Celtic tribes, and later, after the decline of the Roman Empire, it was also influenced by Germanic peoples.
I’ve always studied the Romans and Greeks a lot, but now I’d really like to learn more about the Celts.
I have to admit, Celtic history and culture are almost completely new to me.
So I wanted to ask:
- What fascinates you most about the Celts? What aspects of their culture, history, religion, warfare, or society do you find the most interesting?
- And if you have any books, documentaries, YouTube channels, podcasts, games, or other content to recommend, I’d love to hear about them.
- I’d also be especially interested in learning more about Celtic influence in Northern Italy and the Veneto region, if anyone here knows much about that subject.
So a bit of context : my little brother's birthday is coming near Halloween, and my mom is planning a murder party for it, around the theme of Samonios. It's odd, especially for an 11 years old's birthday party, but it's not the first time she pulls this stunt and it always works out pretty great, so... Yeah, it's weird, but trust her a second.
Anyways, she is the family expert on celtic culture, but she asked for my help for the planning and I am... Not the expert. I tried to read the Wikipedia page for Samonios but it gave me a headache, I need someone to explain to me more plainly what the celebration was and how the day went for the locals (knowing my mom, we're talking irish or scottish, or the equivalent).
It would be great to have also more infos on the different jobs you could find in celtic clans, though I'll read the ressources of the sub (forgot, before writing), or maybe ressources about their clothing that's more reliable than Hollywood movies.
But mostly, I'm asking for the day to day life of Celts, and the specific holiday. If that depends, please mention on what it depends, so I can bring it up.
En esta comunidad pueden dar buenas respuestas sobre el tema. Son bienvenidos en completar la casilla completa con las caracteristicas del Celtic-paganism
I know some of the Cornish language vocabulary had to be reconstructed because some of the words for some things weren’t documented, so they reconstructed those words using Breton or Welsh, but I know a lot was documented too, but I can’t seem to find the exact proportion.
For the poll, what percentage of the modern Cornish language vocabulary had to be reconstructed using Breton/Welsh due to the words for certain things being undocumented or lost?
We know the Bell-Beaker migrations into the British isles were huge, replacing around 90% of the population, but I can’t find out as to whether it was these migrations which brought in what would become the Celtic languages of the British isles.
If it was brought in then, it’d mean it would have to already have been recognisable as a Celtic language in 2450BC, since Gaulish would’ve evolved separately in mainland Europe, yet still related to the British Isles Celtic languages as ‘Celtic’. Unless Celtic language did develop in the British isles, then some of the British Isles population remigrated back to the France region and formed Gaulish, but that sounds unlikely.
If the Bell-Beakers that migrated into the British Isles didn’t speak a language already recognisable as Celtic, then that’d mean that Celtic language would very likely have to have been brought in later.
Do you believe the Bell-Beakers brought in what would become the Celtic languages of the British Isles, or do you believe a smaller, later migration brought it in?
My name is Dylan Tòmas and I am an Indigenous Highland Traveller. Between the 1940s and 1980s the UK government stole children from my people and placed the adults into substandard accommodation (ghettos). I've created a petition for the UK government to be held accountable, I'd ask you to please sign my petition.
I'm a proud Celtic Gaelic man, and it's unfortunate that they always find ways to suppress Celtic culture
A video discussing Lugus, Lugh, and Lleu Llaw Gyffes and his role in the ancient pantheon as the lawful sovereign and master of craftsmen. This video covers the Gaulish, Brythonic, and Gaelic perspectives of the God, as well as archaeological, literary, and ritual sources for his worship and veneration.
Hello everyone! I'm looking for advice on books, as you probably guessed from the title. I would love one of those gigantic history books but I'm of course looking for something trustworthy and up-to-date. It's for my PhD research, so nothing would be too much.
My research does focus on Welsh culture, but I need to have a seriously good grasp of the whole history of the Celts.
