Frozen Music After nearly 600 years, Rosslyn Cathedral in Scottland gave up one of it’s greatest secrets when the father and…
Frozen Music
After nearly 600 years, Rosslyn Cathedral in Scottland gave up one of it’s greatest secrets when the father and son team of Thomas and Stuart Mitchell postulated that approximately 215 carved stone cubes in the pillars and arches of Rosslyn Chapel were found to match 13 unique geometrical sound patterns, known as Chladni figures or Cymatics. These patterns are produced when a metal plate is sprinkled with salt or powder and vibrated by sound frequencies. Documented first by Ernst Chladni in 1787, the patterns can range from primitive polygons like triangles, pentagons and hexagons to beautiful Mandela-like patterns, depending on which frequencies are used (see Music of the Quantum Lattice). The Mitchells found that each of the cube patterns matched specific musical tones that were organized into vertical groups around the chapel’s pillars. Using these tones to form a melody, the men then composed and staged the premier performance of “the Rosslyn Motet” on May 18, 2007 inside the chapel.
Masonry at it’s finest.
I definitely think that Rossyln Cathedral is still going to be giving up its secrets for years to come. The fact that music, resonance, frequency can be encoded within the architecture is amazing. Check out the source link.