The Acoustics of the Cathedral-Mosque of Cordoba. Proposals for Architectural Intervention

摘要

From ancient times, the treatment of sacred spaces has been aimed at restoring the sacralization of the sites rather than the architecture itself. A singular case of intervention in a sacred spaces is that of the Christianization of the Cordoba Mosque, by means of the insertion of two cathedrals in the Muslim site: the Gothic cathedral in the chapel of Villaviciosa and the later 16th century construction of the cathedral transept made up of the main chapel and choir. These two interventions are fitted" to the Islamic mosque, the two architectures being inseparably joined. The difference in the mutual interrelation between the Christian and Muslim space in each of these interventions has obvious repercussions on the acoustic performance of these spaces. In the present work we present a comparative study of the acoustics of these spaces, which are at present used for liturgical and cultural purposes, and also put forward architectural proposals for acoustic intervention on these spaces.