16.11.16 / Le Panthéon / One of the first things I did upon arriving in Paris, before making any recordings, was to take advantage of the free entry to museums, monuments and galleries / Only upon embarking did I realise just how many there were, and how utterly stunning they were / I still don’t know just how many there are, but I do know that with the few months I had I was only able to scratch the surface / Often the acoustics of the buildings were as impressive to me as the contents / Unfortunately the more impressive the building, the more the security resembled that of an airport / Anxious not to be turned away, I held back with the recording equipment until I grew more confident / In mid November, whilst returning to the Latin quarter to record other points of interest, I came across the Panthéon, the 83m tall church, modelled after the Pantheon temple in Rome / Made of stone and marble, it’s an imposing structure with a large central dome / Beneath it lies a crypt dedicated to French men and women who had served their country exceptionally / It includes the likes of Voltaire, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo and Emilie Zola /

Upon entering I explained to the security that no, I wasn’t a journalist, I wasn’t planning to record, and that I make recordings of the “paysage urbain” (cityscape) / Its true, I wasn’t planning to record, but as soon as I heard the acoustics I realised that the opportunity was too good to miss /

Possibly my favourite thing about Paris in an objective sense, is the level of detail put into making things beautiful / It seems to cover every inch of the city in one-way or another / From the ornate floral patterns adorning lampposts, to the stone carvings on the bridges, which can only be appreciated if traversing the river Seine by boat / It is truly a city of art and I love how proud the French continue to be of it and the care that they invest / As awestruck as I was by the beauty of the Pantheon, I struggled to retain the respectful silence / With the Marble floor, huge surrounding pillars and giant concave roof I was dying to excite the frequencies and see how long they could hold a sound and how they would colour it / It is still possible to hear the traffic outside, but now its just a low rumbling reminder that Paris continues madly on around the circumference of the tranquil space / My recording was cut short after 10 minutes of sitting on a bench to the side of the main dome / A security guard approached me / I quickly reached into my bag and shut down the mixer / He told me that I wasn’t allowed to listen to music in the Panthéon / I took that as my cue to leave //

All recordings and Photos by Ben Gale See the PDF: https://issuu.com/bivouacrecording/docs/60_minute_cities-_paris-_ben_gale

To know more about purchasing an album from us please see: https://bivouacrecording.postach.io/post/i-just-bought-an-album-when-will-i-recieve-it