medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>Any info on "sound spots" in other churches welcome.
i seem to remember something about "whispering spots" in the Pantheon
(formerly a "church") --whispers can be heard across the expanse of the
circular space.
not quite the same thing, but the late 12th c. choir of Pontigny has quite
extraordinary acoustics --the building seems to resonate with an "Ahhh-Ohmmm"
chanted in any one of its radiating chapels.
in '80 i helped Terryl Kinder carefully measure that choir as part of the
first measured drawing of it which she did for her dissertation.
we found that it was very, very carefully laid out, with mere centimeters of
differences between the dimensions of each of the chapels, from one side of
the choir to the other.
there is an evident masonry break about 4-5 stone courses up from the
pavement, and it appears that the guy who laid out the initial plan did so
with considerable deliberation, all the way round the thing.
the choir of nearby Chablis (yes, *that* Chablis) is a kind of copy of
Pontigny, but the acoustics don't work nearly as well there, at all.
c
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