Index to carillons and chimes by Schilling
(Apolda and Heidelberg)

The Schilling foundries, both now closed, provided bells for various carillons and chimes throughout the world.  See the bottom of this page for a few historical notes on these bellfoundries.

The sites are grouped separately by foundry--first Apolda and then Heidelberg.
For each foundry, the sites are listed in order by year of installation.
Following the year is an indication of the founder's contribution to the instrument:

Finally, there is an indication of the type of instrument:
  trad      - carillon with traditional keyboard
  non-trad  - carillon with non-traditional mechanism
  mech?     - carillon with unknown mechanism
  chime     - chime (any mechanism)
NOTE: This index initially included only installations in the Americas.  It is currently being expanded to have a wider geographic coverage.

Franz Schilling, Apolda, Germany (1878-1911)

[INCOMPLETE]
LUEBECK                       : GERMANY-BRD  1908*F  trad
   South tower 
   St.Mary's Church (Marienkirche)
   * part cast for a site in Danzig/Gdansk

Franz Schilling's Sons, Apolda, Germany (1911-1939)
(Franz Schilling Söhne)

BUENOS AIRES - MU             : ARGENTINA    1930 C  non-trad
   Torre del Consejo Deliberante
   Municipio 
PHILADELPHIA - LHG            : USA - PA     1930 F  non-trad
   Harrison Bell Tower
   The Lutheran Home of Germantown (ELCA)
   (These bells were once part of a traditional carillon elsewhere.)
MERCEDES                      : ARGENTINA    1931 C  mech?
   Iglesia de los Palotinos 

Schilling, Apolda, Germany (1945-1987)

The post-war partition of Germany left Apolda in the region called East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik = DDR).

[INCOMPLETE]

LUEBECK                       : GERMANY-BRD  1954 E  trad
   South tower 
   St.Mary's Church (Marienkirche)
KLAIPEDA                      : LITHUANIA    1987 C  trad
   Central Post Office 

F.W.Schilling, Heidelberg, Germany (1949-1971)

This foundry existed during the period when Germany was partitioned into West and East; Heidelberg was in West Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland = BRD).

[INCOMPLETE]

 [none posted yet]

Schilling, Waren, Germany (19??-19??)

ROSTOCK - U                   : GERMANY-DDR  1986 C  trad
   Fünfgiebelhaus

Historical Notes:

Apolda
The Apolda bellfoundry was begun in 1722 by Johann Christoph Rose, and later was operated by his close relative Martin Rose.  In 1759, this foundry was taken over by members of the Ulrich family, who had been bellfounders in Laucha since 1730.  The Ulrich family operated both foundries together for over a century, only separating into distinct operations in 1862.  In 1878, the Apolda foundry was taken over by Franz Friedrich August Schilling (1853-1926), though he seems to have made use of the Ulrich name and connection for some years thereafter.  (The Laucha foundry continued to operate until 1908; it is now a bell museum.)  F.F.A.Schilling retired in 1910, after which the name of the foundry was changed to reflect its management by his sons, Otto Wolfgang Schilling (1882-1962), August Heinrich Friedrich Schilling (1886-1928) and Franz August Schilling (1897-1977).

In the partition of Germany following World War II, Apolda fell into the Russian zone, which eventually became the German Democratic Republic (DDR), commonly called East Germany.  In spite of the difficulties caused by the political situation, the foundry was reestablished under the management of F.A.Schilling, later joined by his son, Franz Peter Schilling (1930-2001; called Peter).  In 1972, the foundry was nationalized; nevertheless, Peter and his wife, Margarete, were retained in management positions for a further four years, Peter being the plant manager.  (After that, they were self-employed in a variety of fields.)

This foundry ceased operation in 1987.  After the reunification of Germany, the foundry property was returned to Peter and Margarete Schilling in 1992; but they found nothing of value left there--only scrap metal and other rubbish.

The total production of the Apolda foundry during its 275+ years of operation was more than 20,000 bells.  For a considerable part of that time, it was one of the largest bellfoundries (if not the largest) in Germany.

Heidelberg
The partition of Germany also led to the establishment of another Schilling bellfoundry, this one in Heidelberg, West Germany.  It was operated by F.W.Schilling, son of O.W.Schilling, until his death in 1971.  It served the West German and worldwide markets, which the Apolda foundry could not then do.

Waren
There is evidence that there was also a Schilling bellfoundry in Waren, Neubrandenburg, East Germany (see indexed sites, above).  It is not yet clear what connection it might have had with the Apolda foundry.


Return to Indexes to bellfoundries.


This index page was built from the database on 02-Jul-01 and last updated on 19-Mar-08.

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