{{Short description|Architectural element}} {{use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} thumb|right|250px|Illustration of an abat-son An '''abat-son''' (plural usually '''abat-sons''') is an architectural device constructed to reflect or direct sound in a particular direction. It consists of large louvers. The term is commonly used to refer to angled louvers in a bell tower or belfry designed to redirect sound or to prevent ingress of water.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Curl |first1=James Stevens|title=The Oxford dictionary of architecture|last2=Wilson |first2=Susan |year=2015|isbn=978-0-19-175298-8|edition=Third|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|oclc=913074935}}</ref>
Abat-son can also refer to a louver or board used in the device.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bond |first=Francis |title=An Introduction to English Church Architecture from the Eleventh to the Sixteenth Century |location=London |publisher=H. Milford |year=1913}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Montague|first=Don|date=2003-09-02|title=Dictionary of Building and Civil Engineering|doi=10.4324/9780203475430|isbn=9781135821685}}</ref> These boards or sheets are typically made of wood or metal.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Newmark|first=Maxim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3mvCwAAQBAJ&q=abat-son+architecture|title=Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases|date=1950-01-15|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-3401-7|language=en}}</ref>
The term comes from the French {{lang|fr|abat-sons}}, literally {{lang|fr|abat}} {{gloss|it strikes down}} and {{lang|fr|sons}} {{gloss|sounds}}.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of ABAT-SONS|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abat-sons|access-date=2020-12-15|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Passy|first1=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yKBiAAAAMAAJ|title=International French-English and English-French Dictionary|last2=Hempl|first2=George|date=1904|publisher=Hinds, Noble & Eldredge|language=en}}</ref>
== In the windshields == The slats, generally of the grid type and fixed to a carpentry frame, are usually made of wood or covered with metal, slate or lead; In addition to redirecting the sound of the bells towards the ground, they prevent rain or snow from penetrating the bell tower and allow the tower's carpentry to be ventilated. «Beffroi», is an architectural technical Gallicism that appeared in the 19th century, replacing the popular name of «windscreen» (abat-vent).<ref>{{cite book |last=Pierrel |first=Jean-Marie |title=Ressources Lexicales |chapter=Structuration et usage de ressources lexicales institutionnelles sur le français |date=2013-11-25 |series=Lingvisticæ Investigationes Supplementa |volume=30 |pages=119–152 |place=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |doi=10.1075/lis.30.04pie |isbn=978-90-272-3140-6 |chapter-url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00914295/file/LEXIQUE_ch_4_PIERREL.pdf |access-date=2022-03-26|id={{HAL|hal-00914295}}}}</ref>
Loudspeakers are often inserted into twin bays on each of the steeple faces, more rarely in the skylights of steeple arrows. These vain bell towers are typically flanked by columns with capitals and decorations, in Romanesque architecture, with archivolts, and with interlocking fretwork in Gothic architecture. Turntables developed especially from the 13th century, and were often already decorated with fretwork, serrated bottoms, or embossed in lead.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=James |last=Hillson |title=Imagining Invention: The Character of the 'Gothic architect' and England, 1200–1400|journal=British Art Studies |issue=6 |access-date=2022-03-26 |doi=10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-06/jillson |url=https://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-6/imagining-invention |date=June 2017 |editor-first=Jessica |editor-last=Berenbeim |editor-first2=Sandy |editor-last2=Heslop|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2022}}
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Villeneuve d'Ascq Abat-Son du clocher de l'église Saint-Pierre de Flers.jpg|Church of Saint-Pierre in Flers-Bourg Villeneuve-d'Ascq File:Trélissac église chapiteau abat-son (2).JPG|A church in Trélissac File:La Tour-Blanche église abat-sons.JPG|Church of Saints Peter and Paul, La Tour-Blanche File:Echourgnac église abat-son.JPG|Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Échourgnac </gallery>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{Cite encyclopedia |year=1989 |title=Sturgis' Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture and Building: an unabridged reprint of the 1901-2 edition |publisher=Dover Publications |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/sturgisillustrat0001stur/page/n11/mode/2up |series=Dover Pictorial Archive Series |volume=I: A–E |page=1 |isbn=0-486-26025-9 |lccn=89-1350 |url-access=registration}} ** {{Cite encyclopedia |date=1901–1902 |title=Abat-Sons |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |editor-last=Sturgis |editor-first=Russell |volume=I: A-E |lccn=01027695}} {{endash}} original publication
== External links == * {{Commons category-inline}}
Category:Architectural elements
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