Chladni Figures in Fifteenth Century Rosslyn Chapel

Thomas and Stuart Mitchell have discovered a coded music system based on Chladni Figures or Cymatics diagrams present in decorations of the Rosslyn Chapel which was built South of Edinburgh in the 15th Century (and that appeared in the Da Vinci Code)!

In the twentieth century, the study of cymatics was shown in videos and books by Hans Jenny. This built on the much earlier work of Ernst Chladni (this link has many examples of the figures as well as videos of musical instruments sounds) relating to vibrating plates called Chladni Figures (Scientific American article). I discovered when researching this article that Chladni was aware of Robert Hooke doing a similar thing in 1680. And now it seems that this was not the beginning either, as Chladni figures are present in the Rosslyn Chapel built in the fifteenth century.

Examples of Chladni Figures

Father and son Musicians unlock mystery melody in chapel. Of course being musicians they had to compose an appropriate piece using the symbols as guides.

Each of the cubes here has a Chladni figure carved into it. Often there are Angels playing trumpets at the ends of the rows of “notes”.