“Sounds of Loss” in the atrium of St Peter’s Basilica: 1,096 sounds to remember the victims of war

On 21 September, the International Day of Peace, Sounds of Loss, a sound installation conceived by German filmmaker Philip Gröning, is presented in the atrium of St Peter’s Basilica. The initiative is supported by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the Dicastery for Communication and the Fabric of St Peter.

The work consists of 1,096 individually recorded sounds played at irregular intervals over 49 hours. Each sound represents a person killed in war during that period. Between the sounds, silence makes room to listen and reflect on lives that risk being reduced to statistics.

“To welcome Sounds of Loss is to offer a space for listening and reflection on the victims of conflict,” says Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica and President of the Fabric of St Peter. “The installation reminds us of the value of every human life and our shared responsibility to build paths towards peace.”

Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, describes the work as “an invitation to responsibility”. For Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, each sound evokes “an untold story, a face, a name, a voice silenced”.

Through its irregular sounds and intervals of silence, Sounds of Loss invites those passing through the Basilica’s atrium to pause and remember the people behind the figures of war.