Rosslyn Chapel is a famous one. Renowned for its beauty and mystery, with a history dating back to the 1400s, the chapel is one that is rising in notoriety yet again. Not only did Dan Brown think to include the beautiful Scottish church in his best-selling DaVinci Code novel, but Thomas J. Mitchell spent 27 years of his life trying to crack the musical code locked in the chapel's architecture - and he's succeeded.

It seems almost a given that Mitchell, an ex-Air Force code breaker, would be more open to noticing such things as possible hidden code in the carved blocks of stone and figures of angels. His son, a pianist and composer intrigued by the possibilities of a musical mystery, provided help, and their 27-year dedication to the challenge of deciphering a secret locked in time is amazing.

A song frozen in time is a wonderous notion, and plenty of questions arise from the symbolic representation of musical code the chapel held for centuries. Who would have thought up such an idea as hiding a song in stone? And why? Was there a message in the music to be carried through time to the future? Or was the secret melody hidden in stone architecture simply because someone realized they could create such a code?
 
Mitchell's keen eye for perception of patterns and code saw the symbolic potential of representation in the 15th century chapel's arches. The possibility of such a code led to nearly thirty years of pursuit of music hidden within the intrigue of 13 angels and 213 geometrical patterns carved in stone.

Matched to cymatics and ancient Chladni patterns of pitch, the code eventually revealed itself, and Mitchell has discovered the music hidden in symbols. The full musical piece is currently performed in concert at the Rosslyn Chapel itself.

Posted by Louise.

Louise writes for Creative And Unique Gift Ideas.