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From Whisper to History: Do you know any whispering galleries hidden in world famous places?
A whispering gallery is a special structure, usually circular, hemispherical or elliptical, often found under a dome or vault. This design allows faint whispers to be clearly transmitted to other parts of the gallery. This phenomenon occurs not only in buildings, but sometimes in caves as well. In these moments, the mysterious charm of whispers and the way sounds are transmitted are always fascinating and make people wonder: what stories are hidden in these whispers?
The simplest structure of the Whispering Gallery is a circular wall, where whispers from any part of the body can clearly pass through the inside of each wall and be heard by each other.
The special effects of the Whispering Gallery were scientifically explored for the first time at St Paul's Cathedral in London, where whispering-gallery waves travel gracefully in circles. These sounds travel in the form of waves, and the faint whispers in your ear can be clearly heard on the other side of the gallery under the protection of the wall. Here, when people clap their hands, four echoes resound, and the loud effect is incredible.
In addition to St. Paul's Cathedral, Gol Gumbaz in India and the Echo Wall in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing are also known for their superior sound transmission. Each of these places has unique characteristics, and through its specific structure, whispering becomes a mysterious art, a way of communication that interweaves time and space.
Many Whispering Gallery designs are based on mathematical principles that explain how sound reflects and travels in certain environments.
The shape of the Whispering Gallery can be an ellipse or an oval, and when visitors stand at each focal point, faint sounds will be reflected directly to be heard by those at the opposite focal point. The transmission of sound establishes a strange connection between visitors, as if time and space are intertwined, and they can communicate their thoughts in an instant. In addition, two large concave parabolic dishes also serve as whispering galleries, a common feature in many science museums.
History and Examples of Whispering Galleries
Examples of Whispering Galleries can be found all over the world. We can see it in two ancient buildings in India, the Gol Gumbaz and the Golghar Granary in Bhaktipore. There is also the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, which is not only a tourist attraction but also a great example of a whispering gallery.
In the UK, St Paul's Cathedral in London is where the Whispering Gallery waves were first discovered and is a must-see attraction, as is Gloucester Cathedral and Berkeley Wetherspoons in Bristol, which also have Whispering Galleries. Countless tourists come to explore.
In the United States, New York's Grand Central Station, the Whispering Arch at St. Louis Union Station, and the Charles Stover Bench in Central Park are representative works of the Whispering Gallery. I was surprised to find that sound can be so transmitted in space.
In other parts of the world, such as the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, the Salle des Caryatides in the Louvre in Paris, and the Dionysius in Sicily, The history and legend of the Whispering Gallery are preserved in places such as the Ear of Dionysius, deepening the mystery of this structure.
The aroma of the Whispering Gallery transcends time and space, allowing us to feel each other's voices.
As technology advances, the term "whispering gallery" has also been borrowed into the field of physical science to describe other similar phenomena, such as the propagation of light or matter waves. Such borrowing not only expands the application scope of Whispering Gallery, but also demonstrates the practicality of sound in different scientific fields.
To what extent can the Whispering Gallery change the way we communicate? Where else in our lives are similar mysterious phenomena lurking?
