Sound absorption of 18th-century baroque woodcarving in churches

Abstract

The use of woodcarving in very large surfaces within Catholic churches was very usual in the 17th and 18th century not only in Portugal and Spain but also in Southern America, and in other European Catholic countries. In Portugal, the town of Porto was even well known for its informal school of woodcarving masters. This paper presents the results for sound absorption coefficients regarding a typical early 18th century baroque woodcarving church piece. A large chestnut-tree wood altarpiece (about 21 m2) from the Portuguese church of the Monastery of the Saint John the Evangelist of Vilar de Frades (near the northern town of Barcelos) was tested. That