THE GREAT BELL FOR THE CATHEDRAL OF COLOGNE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1689, 17 October 1887, Page 3

THE GREAT BELL FOR THE CATHEDRAL OF COLOGNE

I j * ( An official notice has been published . of the great bell for the OUhedral of Cologne, the solemn inauguration of which took place some days &zo with great pomp. The bell weighs 27,000 kilo?, ,; or about 26 tona 13 cwt. The clapper , j alone 800k»1ob, or nearly 15$ iwt. Its I perpendicular height is almast 14£ f t; its 'diameter at the mouth nearly ll£ft. . Twenty-two cannons taken from the French were assigned by tha Emperor William for its manufacture ; s,oookilos of tin were added. It was cast by Andreas Hamm, of Frankeolhal and 21,000in. ] (£1050) ware paid for the casting. It will \ be kno-vn as the Kalaerlccke, or Emperor's : bell; and as the t^o other large belle bear the epithets respsotivoly of Preeioaa (precious) and Speoiosa (beautiful), this one h styled Qloricsa. It bears above an inscription recording that ' William, the most aupuat Emperor of the Germans and tha King of the Prasilans, mindful of the heavenly help granted to him whereby ho conducted the lute French war to a prosperous issue and restored the German Empire, caused cannons taken from the Frenoh to ba devoted to founding a bell to be hung m the wonderful cathedral then approaohing completion,' A likenets of St Peter, the name-patron of the ohuroh, Is on the side, beneath which U * quatrain m tha style of the media val oonceits, praying that as devont hearts rise heavenwards st hearing the loand of the bell, so may the doorkeeper of heaven ooen wide the gates of the celestial mansion.