Gloriosa (Erfurt Cathedral)
The Gloriosa , Latin for the glorious or the glorious , is the largest bell in the central tower of Erfurt Cathedral . It was cast by Gerhard van Wou on the night of July 7th to 8th, 1497 and weighs 11.45 tons, is 2.62 meters high and 2.56 meters in diameter. It sounds in the tone e °. This makes it the largest free-swinging medieval bell in the world. It is also one of the most beautiful sounding bells in the world. It is therefore sometimes called the queen of all bells ( omnium campanarum regina ).
prehistory
The current Gloriosa is the sixth bell with this name. Several bells had to be replaced because damage occurred or they were destroyed by fire. The first bell was cast in 1251. This was consecrated by the Bishop of Naumburg . New bells had to be cast in 1307 and 1363 due to damage. During the cathedral fire in 1416, all bells were destroyed, a fourth was cast in 1423. When this was destroyed in the Erfurt city fire in 1472, Master Klaus von Mühlhausen then cast the fifth bell on August 7, 1477. This happened on the square between the cathedral and Severikirche. The bell weighed ten tons and was placed in front of the triangle portal. Destructive damage occurred to this bell after only two years, and a sixth gloriosa had to be made.
history
Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Bonemilch had played a key role in the commissioning of their production and also put the experienced bell founder Gerhard Wou van Kampen into his home at his own expense. At two o'clock at noon on July 7, 1497, the stove at Severihof was lit. In the evening around 10 p.m., the bell meal was liquid and the canons went to the casting site. At 1 o'clock on July 8, Wou van Kampen knocked out the first pin and then the second. At around two o'clock the casting was completed, the canons sang the Te Deum laudamus . In 1499, the Gloriosa was pulled onto the bell storey of the central tower, several vaults had to be broken through. The bell was rung for the first time on May 19, 1499.
The Gloriosa served as a template for a number of large bells, such as the Frankfurt Gloriosa , the large cross bell of the Dresden Kreuzkirche and the Petersglocke in Cologne Cathedral.
In the tower fire of 1717 caused by a lightning strike , the gloriosa was the only bell in the cathedral that was not damaged. It owed this to the vaults above and below the bell house.
ornament
The most striking ornament on the bell is the Madonna in the halo . Two of them are attached as a relief, one on each flank. In addition, the bell adorns the heads of Christ on the six bows of the crown, a frieze of heraldic lilies on the bell neck and inscription with the date and master's name:
“Laude patronos cano gloriosa Fulgus arcens et demones malignos Sacra templis a populo sonanda Carmine pulso Gerhardus wou de Campis me fecit. Anno Dni [Domini] M. CCCC.XCV II ”
“I sing about the patrons with glorious praise, warding off the lightning and evil spirits, ringing the bell for the service, which is to be denounced by the people in the cathedral with singing. Gerhardus Wou from Kampen cast me. In the year of the Lord 1497. "
Repairs
On December 24, 1984, the Gloriosa jumped at the start of Christmas and was welded in 1985 in the tower by Hans Lachenmeyer and son Thomas with 60 kilograms of bronze. The welded crack length was 70 centimeters with a 19 centimeter wall thickness.
The crack apparently occurred because the bell had been turned 90 degrees in good faith in 1899 so that the clapper would not hit the same spot over and over again. In addition, a larger clapper was used in 1927.
To carry out this work, all wooden parts had to be removed from the tower. A portable furnace was installed in the tower. About a year after it had fallen silent, on December 8, 1985, the bell rang again.
The responsible bell expert Kurt Kramer judged after the welding (a German-German joint project): "The Gloriosa not only has its lost voice back, it sounds more beautiful than anyone alive today has ever heard." The decay time, an important bell parameter, which previously lasted a good three and a half minutes, was now five minutes after welding.
However, this repair did not last: In the course of the renovation of the Erfurt Cathedral, the bell had to be removed because of a 40 centimeter long hairline crack and repaired for around 170,000 euros in the bell welding shop Lachenmeyer in Nördlingen. This was the first time the Gloriosa had left the tower in 500 years. In October 2004 the bell returned to the Erfurt Cathedral. On December 8, 2004, it rang for the first time after the repair. Now their cooldown is over six minutes (370 seconds).
In March 2006 the Gloriosa was equipped with a new clapper weighing 366 kilograms.
Ringing order
The Gloriosa is only rung on special occasions and on major religious holidays.
Date / day Time occasion January 1st around 10:45 Ring in the new calendar year Tuesday, the Holy Week approx. 1 p.m. Oil consecration fair Easter Sunday around 10:45 Solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection Pentecost Sunday approx. 11:15 Solemnity Pentecost 15th of August 17:45 Assumption of the Virgin Mary September approx. 9:25 Diocese pilgrimage in Erfurt November 10th approx. 17:50 Eve for Martin's Day 25 December around 10:45 Solemnity of the birth of the Lord
The Gloriosa rang out of schedule on October 3, 2010, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of German unity , and also on September 24, 2011 after the high mass with Pope Benedict XVI. on the Domplatz in Erfurt, on the occasion of his visit to Germany . The cathedral is a Catholic in the otherwise largely Protestant Thuringia. On April 26, 2012 it rang to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the victims of the rampage at Gutenberg High School . It rang after the requiem for the former bishop Hans-Reinhard Koch, who died on April 25, 2018 .
There is a saying in Erfurt: "When the Gloriosa speaks, all the other bells have to be silent." On occasions when the Gloriosa is struck, no other bell is struck in the city beforehand. The Gloriosa is always the first and all the other bells are delayed when it rings.
literature
- Franz Peter Schilling: Erfurt bells - the bells of the cathedral, the Severikirche and the Peterskloster in Erfurt. With prefaces by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Freusberg and Auxiliary Bishop Hugo Aufderbeck (also double issue 72–73 of the series The Christian Monument ). Berlin 1968.
- Verena Friedrich: Der Domberg zu Erfurt , 2001, ISBN 3-89643-535-3 , pp. 151–152.
- Bodo Kühn : Gloriosa , Roman, 5th edition, Wartburg Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86160-138-8 .
Web links
- Recording from Easter Sunday March 27, 2016 on YouTube .
- Animation of the expansion of the bell on YouTube .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Diocese of Erfurt : The "Gloriosa" in the Erfurt Cathedral: data, facts, figures. ( Memento from February 10, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ Carl-Rainer Schad: "On the construction of a famous bell", in: NTM Journal for the History of Sciences, Technology and Medicine , 1997 , Volume 5 , No. 1, pp. 129–141 ( doi : 10.1007 / BF02913656 ).
- ↑ Detailed description at http://www.baufachinformation.de/ ( Memento from July 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ High Cathedral of St. Mary in Erfurt: Chimes of the Gloriosa , accessed on August 8, 2020.
- ↑ Something very special, the Gloriosa (9:11 min) on YouTube .
- ↑ DNB 458836087
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 33.19 " N , 11 ° 1 ′ 24.16" E