Exploring this alluring Mediterranean island
The chimes of Big Ben in London are some of the most familiar bell rings in the world. Big Ben is actually the nickname for the Great Bell of the striking clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster, which is housed in the landmark Elizabeth Tower.
Maria Gloriosa, or the Erfurt Bell, was the largest bell cast during the Middle Ages and, at 2.5 m (8 ft) in diameter, it is still the world's largest medieval free-swinging bell. It was cast in 1497 and is housed in Erfurt Cathedral, in central Germany.
It took two years to cast this gigantic bell, which dates back to 1801 and is found in Mingun, Myanmar. At 90 tons, it was the heaviest functioning bell in the world at several times in history. The bell does not have a clanger, but is rung by striking the outer edge.
The Palace of Mafra in Portugal boasts the largest carillon ensemble in the world—120 cast bronze bells, divided into carillon (103 bells), liturgical, and clock bells shared in two 50-m (164 ft) towers. The carillons are played during organized concerts and religious ceremonies, in particular Mafra's celebration of Lent.
Pictured is Great Paul, cast in 1881 and at the time the largest bell ever fired in the British Isles, ready to be installed in St Paul's Cathedral, in London.
The Bow Bells are the bells of St Mary-le- Bow, one of several churches designed by Sir Christopher Wren. According to tradition, a true Cockney (a Londoner from the East End of London) must be born within earshot of the sound of Bow Bells. The sound of the bells of St Mary's is prominent in the story of 'Richard Whittington and His Cat,' in which the bells are credited with having persuaded him to turn back from Highgate and remain in London to become Lord Mayor. The current set of 12 bells were cast in Whitechapel in 1956, their chimes a signature of the capital in sound.
The Giralda, the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Spain, was originally built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus (Moorish Spain). The Renaissance bell chamber was added after the Catholic reconquest of the city. The Giralda has an impressive 24 bells, 18 of which swing, the other six chimed by clapper.
Notre-Dame's bourdon bell, called Emmanuel, has been an accompaniment to some of the greatest events in the history of France, ever since it was first cast in 1681. The cathedral's great bell rang out once across the French capital on the anniversary of the fire that gutted the 850-year-old Gothic landmark on April 15, 2019.
Did you know that Rome is the city in the world with the largest number of bells? St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City has six bells: the Campanone, the Campanoncino, the Campana della Rota, the Campana della Predica, the Ave Maria, and the Campanella. The oldest bell, Rota, dates to 1288; Campanone (pictured) is rung at Christmas and Easter, and when the Pope imparts the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing to the city and to the world. Campanone also announces the election of a new pope.
Cast in 1951, the Pummerin is the name of the bell in the Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) in Vienna. It's the largest bell in Austria and one of the largest free-swinging bells in Europe. The Pummerin sounds on only a few special occasions, at Easter for example, the beginning of New Year, and on April 23 to celebrate the consecration of St. Stephen.
Among the many bells housed in the towers of York Minster is Great Peter, which weighs over 10 tons. It was the third-biggest bell in Britain when it was cast in 1927. The colossal bell, which strikes on the hour, is seen arriving at the cathedral for hanging.
Pictured: one of the 53 bronze carillon bells bound for Washington National Cathedral in the United States is hoisted up into a ship for its transatlantic journey. The cathedral's Kibbey Carillon, the third heaviest in the world, was manufactured by the John Taylor Bellfoundry of Loughborough, England, and dedicated in 1963.
In 1999, seven new bells were installed at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, bringing its total number of swinging bells to 19. When they rung in the new millennium, the event represented the greatest number of bells being rung for "change ringing" anywhere in the world (change ringing is where different "peals" or sequences of bells are rung out at the same time). Pictured in the bell tower is the cathedral's ringing master at the time of installation.
In this fascinating image taken in 1895, the huge bourdon bell known as "La Savoyarde" arrives at Montmarte from Annecy in southeastern France to be installed at the top of the Sacré-Cœur. The basilica is one of the most famous landmarks in Paris.
The Rockefeller Chapel of the University of Chicago is where these two giant bells are destined for. Two of 72 bronze bells that make up the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon (the single largest musical instrument ever built), they were the masterworks of the Gillett & Johnston bell foundry of Croydon, England. The image dates back to 1932, when the bells were en route to the United States.
A rare 1948 color photograph of a couple walking under one of the top-level bells installed in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The crowning belfry encloses seven bells tuned to musical scale.
Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church spire today stands as a poignant reminder of the devastation visited upon the city by the Second World War. A new church, built between 1959 and 1963, contains a belfry with six bronze bells cast from French cannons seized during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, and which are rung on different occasions. In this 1952 photograph, the biggest of the five bells in the original church hangs in forlorn silence.
King George V and Queen Mary pose proudly with members of London's Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1919 with the Victory Bell, one of two bells recast during the restoration of Westminster Abbey following the end of the First World War. Victory belonged to a ring of eight bells that continued in use for 52 years, ringing out in 1937 for the coronation of King George VI, in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and on May 8, 1945 for VE Day, among other public celebrations.
The bells of Sainte-Mere-Eglise in northwestern France are especially significant in that they were pealing during a parachute drop made by US Army combatants on June 6, 1944. On that night, paratrooper John Steele of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment ended up entangled on the church spire, and could only observe the fighting going on below. The incident was portrayed in the movie 'The Longest Day' (1962). Today, an effigy of a paratrooper can be seen on the tower, which serves as a memorial to those killed during the assault.
Sources: (Reuters) (World Heritage Site) (Spitalfields Life)
See also: It's time to meet the most amazing clock towers in the world
The mighty bell Maria Dolens, one of the largest outside Russia and East Asia, is located on a hill overlooking the city of Rovereto in Italy. It was built under the inspiration of a local priest, between 1918 and 1925, to commemorate the fallen in all wars. It sounds for the dead every day, chiming 100 times.
The pealing of bells is one of the most romantic and evocative sounds met by our ears. From a single echoing chime to the harmonious swirl of a carillon, bells are used to call communities together for religious services, commemorate important events or people, and have been associated with the concepts of peace and freedom. Some of these bells have achieved global fame for their size, resonance, and historical attachments, and are celebrated equally as the churches, cathedrals, and temples they are housed in. But where can you admire these ring tone sensations?
Click through this gallery and see what chimes with you.
This is the four-bell campanario of the 19th-century Mission San Juan Capistrano, in California. Local legend has it that the mission's original Great Stone Church bell tower, long ruined, could be seen for 16 km (10 mi) or more, and that the bells could be heard from even farther away. Today, the reset bells are not used daily, but are rung for celebrations and times of mourning.
Cast in 1923, Saint Peter's Bell is the largest bell in Cologne Cathedral in Germany, and hangs in the belfry of the south tower. The bell, the second-largest free-swinging bell in the word, after the bell of the People's Salvation Cathedral in Romania, is only rung on special occasions and on solemnities, or feast days.
Salvaged in 1858 from the wreck of HMS Lutine, which sank during a storm in 1799, the Lutine Bell is housed in the rostrum in the Underwriting Room at Lloyd's of London. It tolls when a member of the royal family dies, and is rung for ceremonial purposes to commemorate disasters such as the 9/11 attacks. It's always rung at the start and end of the two-minute silence on Armistice Day.
Pictured is one of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park's three Peace Bells.
Regarded as one of Poland's national symbols, the Sigismund Bell is the largest of the five bells hanging in the Sigismund Tower of the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. Cast in 1520, the bell regularly tolls on major Catholic holidays, Polish national holidays, and feast days of various patron saints.
Cast in 1633, the 74-ton Chion-in Temple Bell, located in Kyoto, Japan, held the title of heaviest functioning bell in the world until 1810. It's still Japan's largest temple bell, and takes 17 monks to ring it.
Chiming in with the world's most beautiful bells
Where to admire the most famous functioning bells in the world
TRAVEL World
The pealing of bells is one of the most romantic and evocative sounds met by our ears. From a single echoing chime to the harmonious swirl of a carillon, bells are used to call communities together for religious services, commemorate important events or people, and have been associated with the concepts of peace and freedom. Some of these bells have achieved global fame for their size, resonance, and historical attachments, and are celebrated equally as the churches, cathedrals, and temples they are housed in. But where can you admire these ring tone sensations?
Click through this gallery and see what chimes with you.