Aural Histories: Listening to Historic Coventry

A display in the History Gallery presenting research into how music sounded in Coventry's historic buildings between the 15th and 17th centuries.

This display shares the findings of the Aural Histories: Coventry 1451-1642 research project, which used materials from Coventry Archives and the Herbert to explore how music sounded in the Old Cathedral, Holy Trinity Church and St Mary's Guildhall. Drawing on a musical fragment from the Coventry Leet Book, nineteenth-century watercolours and Thomas Sharp's dissertation on medieval pageants, the team built 3D models from Lidar scans to simulate each space. Visitors can drop in during opening hours and use an app containing computer simulations of the reconstructed acoustic environments.