Salisbury Cathedral

Water Towers - an Illuminated Musical Maze by Bruce Munro, until 27th February 2011

If you need any other reason to visit Salisbury Cathedral, apart, that is, from the beauty of this magnificent 13th century building, or the presence in the Chapter House of an original Magna Carta, then Bruce Munro's installation certainly adds a certain something!

Arranged around two sides of the cloister are 69 towers of plastic water bottles, 15,000 bottles in total. Each tower of bottles is lit by fibre optics, and the colours move and change to a soundtrack of choral music. Munro was inspired by reading about synesthesia, a condition in which some people experience sound as literally having colour, but it has also been commented that the installation is reminiscent of light falling through the stained glass windows of a cathedral.

We arrived late afternoon, while it was still quite light. The colours in the bottles were only just discernible, and the installation looked like nothing more than rather a lot of water bottles, so we repaired to the cafe for coffee and cake.

As the light waned, so the sculptures took on a new life - the colours began to appear, delicate at first, but as it darkened so the colours became richer and more vibrant. Walking between them was a rich experience of music, colour and light to equal anything one might have seen INSIDE the cathedral.

The cathedral is generally open until 6.15pm, and there are a number of late openings during the next three weeks. Salisbury is very easy to reach from London by train or bus.