Bell foundry Otto (Saarlouis)

Advertisement from the Otto bell foundry from 1954

New bells of the St. Josef Church in Sankt Ingbert, which were cast using the material of the earlier Otto bell

The Saarlouiser Bell Foundry Otto was a bell foundry in the Saarland district town Saarlouis , in the district of Fraulautern . It was founded by Alois Riewer together with Karl (III) Otto from the Otto bell foundry , Bremen-Hemelingen, in 1953. With the Saarlouiser bell foundry, the bell foundry Otto continued and intensified the contacts to the parishes in Saarland from the time before the Second World War. The foundry in Saarlouis has been closed since the end of 1960. Like the bronze lion on the Ludwigsglaxis, the statue of Mary on the fountain on the Saarlouis market square was shaped and cast here.

history

The Saarlouiser bell foundry was founded in 1953 by Karl Otto and Aloys Riewer. The foundry existed in Saarlouis-Fraulautern until 1960 and mainly cast bronze bells . Most of the more than 500 bells hang in the churches of the Saarland. But even before the Second World War , the bell founders Otto from Hemelingen / Bremen delivered bells to the Saarland, of which over 60% were destroyed in the Second World War and melted down for armament purposes. The Saarlouiser bell foundry cast bells throughout the Saarland , but also in parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and all of Germany . So all bronze bells are almost the city Saarlouis of Otto was cast.

In the years 1953 to 1960 the foundry cast over 50% of the bells that were manufactured in Saarland and hung in churches. Since most of the churches in Saarland had bells at the beginning of the 1960s, and thus demand fell, but also because Karl Otto died in 1960, the foundry in Saarlouis was closed at the end of 1960. In the last few months, the Saarlouis bell foundry belonged to Dieter Otto, who also inherited the Otto bell foundry in Bremen-Hemelingen from his father and ran it until 1974.

Today the production facility of the Méguin mineral oil plant, which belongs to the Liqui-Moly group, is located on the former company premises .

Cast chimes

Otto mainly cast bronze bells, which are used in the Saarland region. There are many bells with the tone arrangement b ⁰ –d ¹ –f ¹ –g ¹ –a ¹ , the entrance motif of the Marian antiphon Salve Regina ( Salve-Regina-Bell ).

Examples of the bells cast by Otto

church	place	Sound arrangement	Others
St. Ludwig	Saarlouis	c ¹ -d ¹ -f ¹ -g ¹ -a ¹	Particularly good sound from the Great Market in front of the church
Assumption Day	Roden (Saar)	gis ⁰ -h ⁰ cis ¹ -e ¹ -fis ¹ gis ¹	Largest total weight of the peal in Saarland
Holy Trinity	Woman loudspeakers	b ⁰ -d ¹ -f ¹ -g ¹ -a ¹	One of Otto's strongest bells
Apollonia Chapel	Woman loudspeakers	a ²	To ring exclusively by rope; these bells were cast in 1930 by F. Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen
St. Hildegard	St. Ingbert	gis ⁰ -h ⁰ -dis ¹ -fis ¹ -GIS ¹	Ringing by rope is possible
St. Joseph	St. Ingbert	a ⁰ -cis ¹ -e ¹ -fis ¹ -a ¹	Bells destroyed by fire in 2007, material used in the new bell.
St. Arnual Collegiate Church	Saarbrücken	b ⁰ -d ¹ -f ¹ -g ¹ -a ¹	An extension with a b ¹ is being worked on
St. Joseph	Homburg	d ¹ -fis ¹ -a ¹ -h ¹	One of the softest sounds in the foundry
Advent Church	Homburg	e ¹ -g ¹ -h ¹ -d ² -e ²	rings with all bells even on ordinary Sundays
Mary of Peace	Homburg	h ⁰ –dis ¹ –fis ¹ –gis ¹ –ais ¹	The deepest bell h ⁰ comes from the bell foundry Otto, Bremen

literature

Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: The bells of the Saarland, Saarbrücken 1997.
Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells - family and company history of the bell foundry dynasty Otto. Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 .
Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen).

Individual evidence

^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, especially pages 89-95 .
↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, especially pp. 105–112 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud University Nijmegen).

[1] Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, especially pages 89-95 .

[2] Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, especially pp. 105–112 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud University Nijmegen).