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La Hougue Bie in Jersey hosts sound installation
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La Hougue Bie in Jersey hosts sound installation

One of the oldest Neolithic sites in the world Discovered 100 years ago in Jersey It was full of voices made of stone.

A six-minute art commission called Lithophilia, created by composer Charles Mauleverer, was installed in the 6,000-year-old passage tomb at La Hougue Bie.

Mr Mauleverer said his composition “brings the ancient passage tomb to life, connecting visitors to the island’s deep geological and historical roots”.

The exhibition, commissioned by Jersey Heritage and Société Jersiaise, is planned to run until the end of November.

Mr Mauleverer said he decided to use stone in its installation because the facility was built in the stone age.

He spoke with geologists who helped him identify and collect samples of every different rock type found in Jersey; and a colleague built two lithophones that resembled stone xylophones.

Mr Mauleverer said: “We then recorded all the stones in a studio by scraping, tapping, wobbling, shaking, white noise – as many different sounds as we could think of – to create a six-speaker surround experience at the magical passage tomb at the ancient site, which I remastered as a stereo file for radio.”