A long time ago, on an island far, far away….  In the final scene of the new movie, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the young heroes finally track down Luke Skywalker, the Jedi master who has gone into hiding. They find him on the windswept peak of an island far out to sea on a distant planet. By this point in the movie, I could not have cared less whether they found the missing Skywalker, but I was captivated by the setting. I recognized the island as Skellig Michael.

I have never visited Skellig Michael, eight miles off the coast of Portmagee in South West Kerry, Ireland, but have long been intrigued and fascinated by photos and video of the rocky pinnacle, soaring majestically  from the sea. Irish monks established a monastery on the island over 1400 years ago and occupied it continuously for the next 600 years. The island is so small and rugged that only about a dozen monks could live on the island in six beehive-shaped stone huts perched on a ledge six hundred feet above the sea. “Skellig” is from the Irish word meaning “steep.”  The island and the monastery became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

The video below features J.J. Abrams, the director of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” explaining why he wanted to use Skellig Michael for the last scene of the movie.

Star Wars The Force Awakens Exclusive: Behind the Scenes with JJ Abrams in Ireland