Bell (instrument) - Notable Bells

Notable Bells

• The Great Bell of Dhammazedi (1484) may have been the largest bell ever made. It was lost in a river in Burma after being removed from a temple by the Portuguese in 1608. It is reported to have weighed about 300 tonnes (330 tons).
• The Tsar bell by the Motorin Bellfounders is the largest bell still in existence. It weighs 160 tonnes (180 tons), but it was never rung and broke in 1737. It is on display in Moscow, Russia, inside the Kremlin.
• The Great Mingun Bell is the largest functioning bell. It is located in Mingun, Burma, and weighs 90 tonnes (100 tons).
• The Gotenba Bell is the largest functioning swinging bell, weighing 79,900 pounds (36,200 kg). It is located in a tourist resort in Gotenba, Japan. Hung in a freestanding frame, and rung by hand. Cast by Eijsbouts in 2006.
• The World Peace Bell was the largest functioning swinging bell until 2006. It is located in Newport, Kentucky, United States, cast by Paccard Foundry of France. The bell itself weighs 66,000 pounds (30,000 kg) while with clapper and supports the total weight which swings when the bell is tolled is 89,390 pounds (40,550 kg).
• The Bell of King Seongdeok is the largest extant bell in Korea. The full Korean name means "Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok the Great." It was also known as the Bell of Bongdeoksa Temple, where it was first housed. The bell weighs about 25 tons and was originally cast in 771 CE. It is now stored in the National Museum of Gyeongju.
• Pummerin in Vienna's Stephansdom is the most famous bell in Austria and the fifth largest in the world.
• The St. Petersglocke, in the local dialect of Cologne also called "Dicke Pitter" (fat Peter), is a bell in Germany's Cologne Cathedral. It weighs 24 tons and was cast in 1922. It is the largest functioning free-swinging bell in the world that swings around the top. (The Gotenba Bell and the World Peace Bell swing around the center of gravity, which is more like turning than swinging. So, depending on the point of view, the St. Petersglocke may be up to now the largest free-swinging bell in the world.)
• Maria Dolens, the bell for the Fallen in Rovereto (Italy) weighs 22.6 tons.
• The South West tower of St Paul's Cathedral in London, England, houses Great Paul, the largest bell at 16.5 tons in the British Isles. One can hear Great Paul booming out over Ludgate Hill at 1300 every day.
• Big Ben is the third largest bell in the British Isles, after Great Paul (St Paul's Cathedral, City of London) and Great George (Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool). It is the hour bell of the Great Clock in the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom.
• The Dom Tower in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands, houses the second largest free-swinging bell of Europe, the Salvator, weighing 8.2 tons, cast in 1505 by Geert van Wou.
• Great Tom is the bell that hangs in Tom Tower (designed by Christopher Wren) of Christ Church, Oxford. It was cast in 1680 and weighs over 6 tons. Great Tom is still rung 101 times at 21:05 every night to signify the 101 original scholars of the college.
• The Liberty Bell is a 2,080 pounds (940 kg) American bell of great historic significance, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It previously hung in Independence Hall and was rung on July 4, 1776 to mark American independence.
• Little John, named after the character from the legends of Robin Hood is the bell within the Clock Tower of Nottingham Council House. It was the deepest toned clock bell in the United Kingdom until Great Peter of York Minster was incorporated into a new clock chime to celebrate the Queen Mother's centenary. Great Peter is deeper than Little John by only a few Hz. The sound of Little John is said to be heard over the greatest distance of any bell in the UK, occasionally on quiet days being heard in Derby.
• Sigismund is a bell in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland, cast in 1520. It is rung only on very significant national occasions.
• The Maria Gloriosa in Erfurt, cast by Geert van Wou, is considered to be one of Germany's, and also Europe's, most beautiful medieval bells, serving as a model for many other bells.
• The Lutine Bell, named after HMS Lutine, weighs 106 pounds (48 kg) and bears the inscription "ST. JEAN - 1779". It rests in Lloyd's of London Underwriting Room where it used to be struck when news of an overdue ship arrived - once for the loss of a ship (i.e. bad news, last in 1979), and twice for her return (i.e. good news, last in 1989).