Phonurgia Nova

Kircher wished to defend his own priority in this invention, asserting that he had used a "tuba stentorophonica" for many years at the shrine of Saint Eustace at the it:Santuario della Mentorella to broadcast calls for the faithful to come to mass.

As he developed his argument, Kircher described various devices of his own invention including speaking statues, musical instruments with internal mechanisms that generated unexpected harmonies, and the aeolian harp.

[1] The frontispiece of the work depicts, at the top, a choir and orchestra of angels gathered around a pyramid representing the Holy Trinity.

On the left sits Apollo surrounded by the nine Muses on Mount Parnassus and below then Pan leads a group celebrating a bacchanalia.

On the right a group of tritons escort Poseidon across the sea, kettledrums and trumpets accompany a cavalry charge, and a huntsman blows his horn while chasing deer.