Virtual Acoustic Reconstruction of the Church at the Lost Monastery of Santa Maria de la Murta

Abstract

Archeological acoustics is a part of acoustics that studies ancient environments which were dedicated (completely or partly) to sound performing. The combination of this acoustic area in conjunction with room acoustics enables the study of the acoustic evolution of existing buildings (in terms of the historical documentation) or even, make the acoustic reconstruction of rooms which were destroyed or they are in a bad state or in ruins. In this work, an acoustical reconstruction of the church of the Hieronymites’ monastery of the Murta from the XIV century, in Alzira, Spain has been developed. This building was abandoned in 1836 and now is in ruins. The work develops a geometrical model, together with a proposal of materials which were common in the churches of the same area, an acoustical study and finally an auralization of a choral performance has been done (as this monastery had its own musical chappele).