The Virtual Paul’s Cross Project uses digital modeling technology to create the experience of hearing John Donne’s sermon for Gunpowder Day, November 5th, 1622, from within a detailed visual and acoustic model of Paul’s Churchyard. The user can hear Donne’s sermon unfold in real time from 8 different positions in the Churchyard and in the presence of 4 different sizes of crowd, all the while immersed in the sounds of early modern London.
The Virtual Paul’s Cross Project enables us to experience Donne’s sermon as a performed event that unfolds in real time as a complement to our ability to study it as a printed text or theological essay.