Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun See
gallery .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a space beneath a dome or arch in which sounds produced at certain points are clearly audible at certain distant points
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trivet commented on the word whispering gallery
One of such a form that sounds produced in certain parts of it are concentrated by reflection from the walls to another part, so that whispers or feeble sounds are audible at a much greater distance than under ordinary circumstances.
Like this one.
June 18, 2007
uselessness commented on the word whispering gallery
This. Is. Beautiful. I think the ancients had a lot more appreciation for this kind of architecture. Now that we have amplifiers and speakers, we've moved on. It's sad, really.
June 18, 2007
trivet commented on the word whispering gallery
Yeah - the town I grew up in had a museum that was originally built as a Mormon church and it was a wispering gallery until they remodeled. It was really cool to eavesdrop on the unsuspecting or play with your friends...
There is a more modern version in Chicago.
June 18, 2007
slumry commented on the word whispering gallery
yes, we've moved on, but now there are recording studios with tunable walls
June 18, 2007
oroboros commented on the word whispering gallery
At the Christian Science Church Headquarters in Boston there is an amazingly constructed room open to the public wherein you look upward and downward from a suspended catwalk as if from the center of a desk-type globe of the earth at the continents and countries (ca. 1930s era) of the planet. The acoustics in that place are whispering gallery-like; eerie and fun!
June 18, 2007
uselessness commented on the word whispering gallery
Dang, that sounds awesome. I need to get to Boston!
June 18, 2007
reesetee commented on the word whispering gallery
There's also a whispering gallery in the National Statuary Hall in the Capitol. Interestingly, the places where it "whispers" have changed since the 19th century because the floor and ceiling have been altered since that time.
June 19, 2007
jennarenn commented on the word whispering gallery
REALLY??? The National Statuary Hall just made it onto my to-do list for the summer.
Back in college, there was a "whispering wall" on grounds. It was a semicircular monument that would throw sound for quite a distance.
June 19, 2007
reesetee commented on the word whispering gallery
Ooh, having one in one's college would be interesting. :-) The closest we had to that was a short hallway flanked by two enormous mirrors facing one another. If you stood between them, your reflection would endlessly repeat until it vanished into a speck. Sort of a visual echo.
June 19, 2007