Each time I discovered an old bell in China, I found myself wondering “how in the world did it get here?” They were, after all, from the United States, Russia, France, and Germany.
I didn’t give much thought to how the giant bells were made. So when I ran across this video recently, I was dumbfounded. I had no idea of what was involved in casting a big bell. Now I have an even greater appreciation for them! (email readers, go here to see the video)
This is a fast-motion clip from a German documentary about bell-casting. The entire documentary can be found here; but take note: it’s in German!
In my book The Bells Are Not Silent, I write about the origin of the use of bells in the church:
Catholic tradition has it that the first time bells would have been heard in a church was in the Roman city of Nola, near modern-day Naples. Saint Paulinas, the Bishop of Nola, initially used them to call the monks to worship. Pope Sabinianus approved them to call parishioners to mass in the seventh century, and in the eighth century they were being used at Requiem Masses. By the ninth century, bells were being rung from churches in towns and hamlets all over the Europe.
One of the oldest foundries casting bells is the Marinelli Bell Foundry, in Agnone.
Campane Marinelli foundry has a very long history; the first bell was made around the year one thousand and since then their work has been a long sequence of success and honors. One of the most significant honor that the foundry can boast, is the possibility to use the Papal Arm Coast in their production; it was Pope Pio XI in 1924 to grant the privilege to the foundry. Campane Marinelli foundry, considered to be the oldest foundry in the world, is located in Agnone (Agnéune in the local dialect), a small Italian town of 5,200 inhabitants in the province of Isernia in Molise.
Here’s a short video about the history of the foundry: (email readers, go here to see the video)
Something tells me I’m going to need to make a research trip to Italy!