Vatican hosts Sounds of Loss exhibit

German filmmaker Philip Gröning presented a sound installation titled Sounds of Loss in the colonnade of St. Peter's Basilica to observe the United Nations International Day of Peace. The exhibit, hosted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the Dicastery for Communication, and the Fabric of St. Peter’s Basilica, began September 20.

The installation consisted of 1,096 individually recorded sounds, such as clicks and knocks, played at irregular intervals over a 49-hour period. Each sound symbolically represented one person killed in armed conflict. According to InfoVaticana, the 49-hour duration was intended to cover the International Day of Peace across all global time zones. Based on 2026 statistics used for the project, a sound was heard on average every 2.62 minutes.