Page 78 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(2) (2024)

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studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 12 (2024), številka 2 / volume 12 (2024), number 2

Figure 9: Intervisibility Network between the Àneu Deanery Parish Churches

indicate the number of parishes that can see each was one of the most visually controlled church-
raster pixel. This analysis reveals that Santa Ma- es in the deanery, at least before many surround-
ria d’Àneu, visible from three different observa- ing parishes were outfitted with tall bell towers
tion points, is situated in an area relatively well in the modern era. These new towers created ad-
monitored by the surrounding parish churches. ditional connections, especially when analyzing
Apart from the slopes and peaks of the highest the visibility from their top. This suggests that
mountains, which are visible from most of the while the network was not fully interconnected
valley, only a narrow strip of land between Santa during the Middle Ages, efforts to maximize in-
Maria and Esterri—visible from one additional tervisibility across the network may have been
observation point—has a higher visibility index. sought as much as possible.
Finally, the various intervisibility network
simulations demonstrate no continuous visual Discussion
communication between all the parishes of the In this section, we will discuss three main top-
Àneu deanery. The region’s abrupt geography ics that arose from our research: 1) The limita-
creates isolated points and at least three visual- tions of the SpreAD-GIS script when exploring
ly independent subsystems (fig. 9). Of these, the the propagation of bell sounds in the landscape,
one in the central valley plain—including San- 2) The audibility of bell sounds concerning back-
ta Maria d’Àneu—is the most intricate, with up ground noise, and 3) The aural network with
to six fully interconnected churches. Notably, Santa Maria d’Àneu as the central church of the
Santa Maria d’Àneu, with its three connections, Àneu valley.