The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Once placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House, the bell today is located across the street in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park. The bell was commissioned in 1752 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from the London firm of Lester and Pack, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof", a Biblical reference from the Book of Leviticus. The bell first cracked when rung after its arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose last names appear on the bell. In its early years, the bell was used to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens about public meetings and proclamations.
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel.
Campanology is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are founded, tuned, and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art.
The Royal Sigismund Bell is the largest of the five bells hanging in the Sigismund Tower of the Wawel Cathedral in the Polish city of Kraków. It was cast in 1520 by Hans Behem and named after King Sigismund I of Poland, who commissioned it. The bell weighs almost 13 tonnes and requires 12 bell-ringers to swing it. It tolls on special occasions, mostly religious and national holidays, and is regarded as one of Poland's national symbols.
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an internal "clapper" or "uvula", an external hammer, or—in small bells—by a small loose sphere enclosed within the body of the bell.
A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and to announce the fixed times of daily Christian prayer, called the canonical hours, which number seven and are contained in breviaries. They are also rung on special occasions such as a wedding, or a funeral service. In some religious traditions they are used within the liturgy of the church service to signify to people that a particular part of the service has been reached. The ringing of church bells, in the Christian tradition, is also believed to drive out demons.
Bellfounding is the casting and tuning of large bronze bells in a foundry for use in such as churches, clock towers and public buildings, either to signify the time or an event, or as a musical carillon or chime. Large bells are made by casting bell metal in moulds designed for their intended musical pitches. Further fine tuning is then performed using a lathe to shave metal from the bell to produce a distinctive bell tone by sounding the correct musical harmonics.
Tom Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England, named after its bell, Great Tom. It is over Tom Gate, on St Aldates, the main entrance of Christ Church, Oxford, which leads into Tom Quad. This square tower with an octagonal lantern and facetted ogee dome was designed by Christopher Wren and built 1681–82. The strength of Oxford architectural tradition and Christ Church's connection to its founder, Henry VIII, motivated the decision to complete the gatehouse structure, left unfinished by Cardinal Wolsey at the date of his fall from power in 1529, and which had remained roofless since. Wren made a case for working in a Late Gothic style—that it "ought to be Gothick to agree with the Founders worke"—a style that had not been seen in a prominent building for a hundred and fifty years, making Tom Tower a lonely precursor of the Gothic Revival that got underway in the mid-18th century. Wren never came to supervise the structure as it was being erected by the stonemason he had recommended, Christopher Kempster of Burford.
Russian Orthodox bell ringing has a history starting from the baptism of Rus in 988 and plays an important role in the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church.
St Peter's Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church and former cathedral in Worms, southern Germany.
A "ring of bells" is the name bell ringers give to a set of bells hung for English full circle ringing. The term "peal of bells" is often used, though peal also refers to a change ringing performance of more than about 5,000 changes.
Hersfeld Abbey was an important Benedictine imperial abbey in the town of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse, Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Geisa, Haune and Fulda.
Since 1826, there have been two Meneely Founderies, based on either side of the Hudson River in New York state.
Limburg Cathedral (German: Limburger Dom, also known as Georgsdom after its dedication to Saint George, is located above the old town of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Limburg. Its high location on a rock above the river Lahn provides its visibility from far away. It is the result of an Early Gothic modernization of an originally Early Romanesque building and therefore shows a Romanesque-Gothic transitional style.
A cowbell is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are typically referred to as "cow bells" due to their extensive use with cattle, the bells are used on a wide variety of animals.
Saint Peter's bell, referred to in the Colognian dialect as Decke or Dekke Pitter and in common parlance as Dicker Pitter, is the largest bell in Cologne Cathedral. It was cast in 1923 by Heinrich Ulrich in Apolda and hangs in the belfry of the south tower. With a weight of approximately 24,000 kilograms (53,000 lb), a clapper weighing ~700 kilograms (1,500 lb) and a diameter of 322 centimetres, it is the second largest freely swinging ringable bell in the world, after the bell of the People's Salvation Cathedral.
Bonshō, also known as tsurigane or ōgane are large bells found in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, used to summon the monks to prayer and to demarcate periods of time. Rather than containing a clapper, bonshō are struck from the outside, using either a handheld mallet or a beam suspended on ropes.
St. Patrokli is a Roman Catholic parish and church in Soest, Germany. The church is of great significance in the history of architecture as it is the epitome of Romanesque architecture in Westphalia. As a result, it is known as St.-Patrokli-Dom. It holds relics of its patron saint Patroclus of Troyes from 954. It was the church of the canonical foundation of St. Patroclus, which existed from the 10th century until its abolition in 1812. Since 1823 the church has been the parish church of the St. Patrokli parish in the diocese of Paderborn. In 1859 it was promoted to the rank of provost church.
MDR Rundfunkchor is the radio choir of the German broadcaster Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), based in Leipzig, Saxony. Dating back to 1924, the choir became the radio choir of a predecessor of the MDR in 1946, then called Kammerchor des Senders Leipzig, or Rundfunkchor Leipzig. The present name was established in 1992. The choir has appeared internationally, and has made award-winning recordings.
The Miguelete Tower is the bell tower of the Valencia Cathedral in Valencia, Spain. It is known as El Miguelete in Castilian Spanish or Torre del Micalet in the Valencian language. Construction of the tower began in 1381 and was completed in 1429. Due to its complexity and long years of construction, it was successively directed by several master builders; the first being Andrés Juliá, from 1381. Others were José Franch (1396), Pedro Balaguer ; to Martín Llobet (1425), the last of the architects to work on the construction. Subsequently, the belfry was added (1660-1736).
