House Cliparts

Famous bells

• The Great Bell of Dhammazedi may have been the largest bell ever made. It was lost in a river in Myanmar after being removed from a temple by the Portuguese in 1608. It is reported to have been about 300 tonnes in weight.

• The Tsar Kolokol bell by the Motorin Bellfounders is the largest bell still in existence. It weighs 160 tonnes, but it was never rung and broke in 1737. It is on display in Moscow, Russia inside the Kremlin.

• The Great Mingun Bell is the largest functioning bell. It is located in Mingun, Myanmar and weighs 90 tonnes (200,000 lb).

• The World Peace Bell is the largest swinging bell. It is located in Newport, Kentucky, United States, cast by Paccard of France. The bell itself weighs 66,000 lb while with clapper and supports the total weight which swings when the bell is tolled is 89,390 lb.

• The Bell of King Seongdeok is the largest extant bell in Korea. The full Korean name means "Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok the Great." It was also known as the Bell of Bongdeoksa Temple, where it was first housed. The bell weighs about 25 tons and was originally cast in 771 CE. It is now stored in the National Museum of Gyeongju.

• Pummerin in Vienna's Stephansdom is the most famous bell in Austria and the fifth largest in the world.

• The St. Petersglocke, in the local dialect of Cologne also called "Decke Pitter" (fat Peter), is a Bell in Germany's Cologne Cathedral. It weighs 24 tons and was cast in 1922. It is the largest free-swinging bell in the world that swings around the top. (The World Peace Bell swings around the Center of Gravity, which is more like turning than like swinging. So, depending on the point of view, the St. Petersglocke may be up to now the largest free-swinging bell in the world.)

• Maria Dolens, the bell for the Fallen in Rovereto (TN - Italy) weighs 22.6 tons.

• Big Ben is the hour bell of the Great Clock in St. Stephen's Tower at the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom.

• Great Tom is the bell that hangs in Tom Tower (designed by Christopher Wren) of Christ Church, Oxford. It was cast in 1680, and weighs over six tons. Great Tom is still rung 101 times at 21:05 every night to signify the 101 original scholars of the college.

• The Liberty Bell is an American bell of great historic significance, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It previously hung in Independence Hall and was rung on July 4, 1776 to mark American independence.

• Little John, named after the character from the legends of Robin Hood is the bell within the Clock Tower of Nottingham Council House. It is the deepest bell in the United Kingdom and its chimes are said to be heard over the greatest distance of any in the UK. [citation needed]

• Sigismund is a bell in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland, cast in 1520. It is rung only on very significant national occasions, the most recent of which was the death of Pope John Paul II.

• The Maria Gloriosa in Erfurt, cast by Gerhard van Wou, is considered to be one of Germany's, and als Europea's, most beautiful Medieval bells, serving as a model for many other bells.