Abbey visitors see the light, hear the sounds

A dusk-time light and sound show of beauty and subtlety brought the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire to life over the last weekend of September, allowing visitors to experience the English Heritage-run venue – the first Cistercian monastery in the north of England – as never before.

At the evening’s apex was an installation called Halo, by musician and inventor Michael Davis, which was an interactive light and gentle sound experience consisting of 3-metre-tall structures that respond to touch. Davis brought his work Illumaphonium to the Abbey last year.

Ahead of the event, Paul Robson, events manager for the North at English Heritage, said: “Rievaulx Abbey is a beautiful site whatever the season but in the dusk with the lights shining on it, it will be simply stunning.”

Rievaulx Abbey is situated near Helmsley in the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England. It was one of the great abbeys in England until it was seized by Henry VIII in 1538 as part of the dissolution of the monasteries.