Great Bells of Germany
Here are listed 24
existing and former
great bells of Germany,
in descending order by weight.
The list includes qualifying bass bells of carillons, chimes, peals, etc.,
and is believed to include all bells heavier than 10000kg.
Not yet included are more than 100 other great bells between 4000 and 10000 kg.
Separately listed are other
great bells of Europe
(bearing the 84 sequence numbers
which are not included below).
Following the list are some References to related
information about the data found here.
Key:
nr.
City, County, Country - EquivalentWeight lbs
- "name", pitch, reported weight, maker, year
- Institution name and address
- Remarks
- Links:
>
Bells in italics no longer exist.
1.
Köln (Cologne), Germany - ~61300 lbs
- "Kaiserglocke" (Emperor's Bell), pitch?, c.27800 kg, Andreas Hamm, 1874
- Dom (Cathedral)
- Destroyed in 1918 for war munitions;
afterwards recast from fragments (see below).
- Links:
>
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
2.
Köln (Cologne), Germany - 53350 lbs
- "Petersglocke", C, 24200 kg, Heinrich Ulrich (Apolda), 1923
- Dom (Cathedral)
- Replaces bell of 1874 (see above).
Diameter 322 cm, height 440 cm (presumably with crown).
Also reported as 35000 kg, 27000 kg or 24000 kg; or 350 cm.
Sub-bourdon of a peal of 8 bells,
two of which are also listed here
(see #29 and #86, both below).
- Links:
> On the Cathedral Website (German and English),
the Virtual Tour includes an
entire section
about the belfry and each of its bells.
> Wikipedia
image of this bell
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
11B.
Bochum, Germany - ~33070 lbs
- Town Hall bell, D, 15000 kg, Bochumer Verein, 1867
- Town Hall plaza
- Diameter 313 cm
Disused; clapper removed.
Cast for exhibition at the Paris International Exposition in 1867;
thereafter it was displayed outside Gate 11 of the Bochumer Stahlverein works
until it was given to the city in
- Links:
>
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
15.
Neustadt, Germany - ~30800 lbs
- "Kaiser-Ruprecht-Glocke", E-flat, 14000 kg, Bochumer Verein (Bochum), 1949
- North tower
Stiftskirche
Turmstrasse & Kartoffelmarkt
Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Rheinland-Pfalz
- Diameter 321 cm; cast steel - the heaviest such ever made.
Bass bell of a 7-bell peal, all of the same origin and year,
hung in tucked-up yokes and swung by motor;
the two heaviest hang in the north tower, and the rest in the south tower.
The second is in this list below.
- Links:
>
> Where this peal lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
18.
Magdeburg, Germany - ~29300 lbs
- "Maxima", E-flat, 13.3 tonnes, Johann Jacobi (Berlin), 1702
- Cathedral
- Diameter 245 cm
- Links:
>
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
23.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany - 26345 lbs
- "Gloriosa", E, 11950 kg, J. G. Grosse (Dresden), 1877
- Dom (Cathedral)
- Diameter 2585 mm
Intended to be a copy of the "Gloriosa" of Erfurt
(see #24 below)
- Links:
>
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
22.
Dresden, Germany - 25375 lbs
- "name?", E, 11.51 tonnes, Franz Schilling (Apolda), 1899
- Kreuzkirche
- Diameter 257 cm
- Links:
>
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
Schilling bellfoundry.
26.
near Starnberger See, Germany - 25265 lbs
- "Maxhöhen Glocke", E flat, 11.46 tonnes, Bachert (Karlsruhe), 2003
- Private estate
- Diameter 257 cm
- Links:
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
27.
Erfurt, Germany - 25240 lbs
- "Maria Gloriosa", F-, 11450 kg, Gerard van Wou (Kampen), 1497
- Cathedral
- Diameter 2570 mm. Swung electrically.
Pitch sometimes reported as E, but by modern standards it is better described as
slightly flat of F.
Also "Susanna", 1852, 14000(?) kg
- Links:
>
> The sound of this bell is the subject of a
harmonic analysis
by Bill Hibbert, based on...
> A recording of this bell,
swinging
> John Ketteringham's
recording
of this bell (a truncated version of the same)
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
33.
Köln (Cologne), Germany - ~23150 lbs
- "Pretiosa" (Precious), G, c.10500 kg, Heinrich Brodermann & Christian Cloit, 1448
- Dom (Cathedral)
- Diameter 240 cm; was the largest bell in the western world when cast.
Bourdon of a peal of 8 bells,
two of which are also listed here
(see #2 above and #86 below).
- Links:
> On the Cathedral Website
(German and English), the Virtual Tour includes an
entire section
about the belfry and each of its bells.
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
37.
Hannover, Germany - 22840 lbs
- "name?", E, 10.36 tonnes, F.W.Schilling (Heidelberg), 1960
- Marktkirche
- Diameter 246 cm
- Links:
>
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
Schilling bellfoundry.
39.
Gifhorn, Germany - ~22265 lbs
- "Freiheitsglocke" (Freedom Bell), D, 10.1 tonnes, Eijsbouts, 2007
- Open Air Museum
- Diameter 249 cm; hung dead
- Links:
>
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
Eijsbouts bellfoundry.
44.
Berlin, Germany - 21280 lbs
- "Freedom Bell", E, 190 cwt, Gillett & Johnston, 1950
- Schöneberg Rathaus (City Hall)
John-F.-Kennedy-Platz
10825 Berlin-Schöneberg
GPS N 52d39.13m, E 13d20.62m
Building open M-F, 10am-5pm, Apr-Oct, free
Tel. 030 7877070 or 75600
- Cast at 218 cwt; reduced to 190 cwt by tuning; hung for swinging
by dual electric motors, and rung daily.
This bell, "a gift of the Americans from the year 1950 for moral support
to Berlin's citizens in their resistance to the Communist threat",
travelled through the USA and England to raise funds before installation here,
the seat of government for the western part of the divided city of Berlin
for half a century.
Inscribed "That this world under God shall have a new birth of freedom."
- Links:
> photo of the bell
> 3 photos
of the bell after recent rehanging; the third was taken while the bell was in flight.
> A photo of bell
being lifted from its casting pit accompanies a story on the origins of
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.
> A brief
article about the bell has a small photo of it being hoisted
into (or out of) a transAtlantic ship.
> A photo
of the tower from a private tour album.
> An article from the
Hoover Institution Archives, with photo
> A dynamic
city map of Berlin shows the location of the Rathaus
> A small replica
was given to President Kennedy in 1961.
> A BBC article
on President Kennedy's visit to Berlin in 1963 reports that this bell was tolled
after his famous speech.
> Radio Free Europe
used this bell as its logo for more than half a century.
> An MP3 soundtrack
supposedly records this bell (with much background noise); but the pitch is wrong
(B-flat instead of E).
> A 2004
local article on the history of the Gillett & Johnston bellfoundry is
accompanied by a photo of a bell which is incorrectly identified as the Freedeom Bell;
but the decoration is wrong for that.
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
Gillett & Johnston bellfoundry.
46.
Köln (Cologne), Germany - ~21100 lbs
- "name"?, E, 9600 kg, Eijsbouts, 1990
- Kunibertkirche
- The first great Dutch-made swinging bell for Germany, and the largest bell
ever cast in the Low Countries (until 2006).
Diameter 247 cm.
- Links:
>
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
Eijsbouts bellfoundry.
59.
Berlin, Germany - 17240 lbs
- F, 7820 kg, Eijsbouts, 1987
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Kongresshalle)
- Bass bell of a 68-bell carillon.
(The #2, #3 and #4 bells of this carillon also qualify as
great bells, and are listed below.)
Diameter 2372 mm.
- Links:
> (See the site data page for the carillon, linked above.)
59A.
Meissen, Germany - 17240 lbs
- "Johannesglocke", G0, 7820 kg, Schilling (Apolda), 1928
- Dom (Cathedral), northwest tower
- Diameter 216 cm
This bell survived being taken to Hamburg in World War II, and was afterward rehung.
In 1977, it broke in the crown, and was silent until it was repaired in the tower
in 2010.
Four smaller bells (B0,c1,es1,f1) from the same foundry hang in the southwest tower.
- Links:
> The Cathedral Website
has photos of the building, and contact information, but does not
mention this bell.
> A German-language
Wikipedia article
about the Cathedral has a paragraph about the bell and its history,
but no photo of it.
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
Schilling bellfoundry.
62.
Hamburg, , Germany - 16627 lbs
- "Millennium bell", F, 7542 kg, Bachert, 2000
- "Hamburger Michel" tower (St.Michaelis)
- Remarks
- Links:
> The ProBell Project will be
making measurements of this bell in September 2006.
64.
Neustadt, Germany - ~16200 lbs
- "Kurfürsten-Glocke", G, 7350 kg, Bochumer Verein (Bochum), 1949
- North tower
Stiftskirche
Turmstrasse & Kartoffelmarkt
Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Rheinland-Pfalz
- Diameter 255 cm; cast steel.
Second bell of a 7-bell peal, all of the same origin and year,
hung in tucked-up yokes and swung by motor;
the two heaviest hang in the north tower, and the rest in the south tower.
- Links:
> See the bass bell of this peal, above.
76.
Berlin, Germany - 14462 lbs
- F#, 6560 kg, Eijsbouts, 1987
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Kongresshalle)
- #2 bell of a 68-bell carillon
Diameter 2235 mm.
- Links:
> (See the site data page for the carillon, linked above.)
79.
Herrenberg, Germany - 14043 lbs
- F, 6370 kg, Mark (Brocksheid), 2000
- Glockenmuseum
- Intended to replace a 1953 Eijsbouts bell which had cracked in use
(see #69);
this first attempt did not harmonize with the rest of the bells,
and was then given to the museum.
- Links:
> (See the entry for the successful replacement,
#92.)
82.
Köln, Germany - 13590 lbs
- "Johannes Paul II", pitch?, 6165 kg, Hans-Göran Hüesker (Gescher), 2005
- Katholische Pfarrgemeinde St Aposteln
- Mounted on a stand at ground level; diameter 220 cm.
- Links:
> A page about this bell
with two photos (and two more pages of photos), all in Spanish.
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
90.
Berlin, Germany - 12345 lbs
- G, 5600 kg, Rincker, 1961
- Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
- Largest of a peal of 6 bells by the same founder in the same year
Diameter 220 cm
- Links:
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
Rincker bellfoundry.
91.
Köln (Cologne), Germany - ~12345 lbs
- "Speciosa", A, c.5600 kg, Johannes (Hoerken) de Vechel, 1449
- Dom (Cathedral)
- Third of a peal of 8 bells;
the heavier two are listed above
(see #2 and #29).
- Links:
> On the Cathedral Website (German and English),
the Virtual Tour includes an
entire section
about the belfry and each of its bells.
> Where this bell lies in the total sequence of output of the
miscellaneous bellfoundries.
99.
Berlin, Germany - 11993 lbs
- G, 5440 kg, Eijsbouts, 1987
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Kongresshalle)
- #3 bell of a 68-bell carillon
- Links:
> (See the site data page for the carillon, linked above.)
108.
Berlin, Germany - 9832 lbs
- G#, 4460 kg, Eijsbouts, 1987
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Kongresshalle)
- #4 bell of a 68-bell carillon.
- Links:
> (See the site data page for the carillon, linked above.)
References:
John Ketteringham's collection of
recordings
of notable bells
Return to the Great Bells index page.
Return to Indexes to tower bell sites in Europe.
[GCNA Home Page]
[Site data top page]
[Credits and Disclaimers]
[Feedback]
This page was created 2006/04/19, and last revised 2011/07/23.
Please send comments or questions to
csz_stl@swbell.net