A pyramid inspired by mathematics (Q1011821)

In the village of Wespelaar, 25 km northeast of Brussels stands a curious little pyramid, which dates from 1797 and was designed be the Brussels architect Gh. J. Henry. In the present paper, in order to understand the symbolism of the monument it is kept in mind the general Egyptomania of the period. A noted Egyptomaniac in 17th century was a Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, a polyglot, a mathematician and an ethnologist. A hundred years later, in the ``Age of Reason'', the belief in secret Egyptian knowledge was greater than ever, inspired by the Kircher opus. (Napoleon Bonaparte took over a hundred scientists with him on his Egyptian campaign, Masonic lodges borrowed some of their symbols from the Egyptian myths.) The Wespelaar pyramid contains intriguing mathematical ratios that suggest they were influenced by Egyptomania of the period. In the present paper these ratios are analysed thoroughly, with necessary figures. Also the ``whispering effect'', described by Kircher in 1673, is analysed in the acoustics of the lower chamber of the pyramid.