Gloriosa (Frankfurt Cathedral)

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Gloriosa

The Gloriosa (Latin for the glorious ) is the largest bell in the Imperial Cathedral of St. Bartholomew in Frankfurt am Main . Together with the other eight bells in the church tower of the cathedral, it was cast as opus 891 on May 5, 1877 by Hermann Große , owner of the JG Große foundry in Dresden , and rung for the first time on January 23, 1878. After the Petersglocke in Cologne Cathedral , it is the second heaviest bronze bell and the fifth heaviest bell in Germany.

Like all bells in the Frankfurt donation churches , it is the property of the city. The Gloriosa sounds four times a year as part of the Frankfurt city bells , and also at high mass on high Christian holidays. As so-called Vorläuteglocke it sounds to the Pontifikalämtern (z. B. Confirmation or ordination) and Pontifical Requiem (d. E. For ceremonial funeral service). The gloriosa is only rung when the death of a bishop or pope becomes known.

history

The cathedral tower with the gloriosa during a city bell
The gloriosa hangs in the lower bell bottom of the cathedral

With a weight of 11,950 kg, the bell with a strike note e 0 +1/16 is the largest among the 50 bells in Frankfurt city bells and at the same time one of the largest bells in Germany. The model for the Frankfurt Gloriosa was the famous Gloriosa by Gerhard van Wou, cast in 1497 in Erfurt Cathedral . Große had carefully studied the sound properties of the Erfurt Gloriosa before he started casting the Frankfurt bell. His work is considered to be one of the most beautiful bells of the 19th century.

The cathedral bells survived the First World War undamaged. During the Second World War , almost all bronze bells in the empire were confiscated to create a long-term reserve of raw materials. Eight of the nine cathedral bells also had to be delivered to the Reich Office for Metals in 1942, including the Gloriosa . Due to favorable circumstances, the cathedral bells remained intact. At the end of the war they were in the Hamburg bell cemetery and could be brought back to Frankfurt in October 1947. In 1984 the cathedral bells were completely renovated. The Gloriosa also received a new yoke made of oak.

In 1987 the Gloriosa had to be welded together with the Bartholomäus bell due to casting defects at Lachenmeyer , which also increased its decay time by 60 seconds.

The cathedral bell from 1877 was the replacement for the bells destroyed in the cathedral fire in 1867. Among the destroyed bells was one called Gloriosa , which was cast in 1484 by master Martin Moller from Frankfurt. This bell with the strike tone b 0 weighed 4,552 kg and originally served as a large clock bell. Only in 1767 was it hung up so that it could be rung.

Description of the bell

Image of the Gloriosa in an advertising brochure for the foundry from 1877

For the new bells of 1877, five tons of bronze were used as so-called dross from the rubble of the bells destroyed in the cathedral fire, as well as 13 tons from French guns captured during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. This material was the German Kaiser Wilhelm I been donated.

The Gloriosa therefore bears the inscription Gloriosa nominor Guilelmus imperator dono dedit fecit IG Grosse Dresden MDCCCLXXVII [I am called Gloriosa, Kaiser Wilhelm donated me, J. G. Große , Dresden, created me in 1877] on a ribbon below the crown. As further decorations, it has a Gothic hanging frieze below the lettering as well as a Frankfurt eagle on the front and an imperial eagle on the back.

It is 2,663 mm high and has a diameter of 2,585 mm on the impact ring. The impact ring itself was originally 190 mm thick, after grinding the stop points in 1985 it was 188 mm. The iron clapper, cast in Sinn by the Rincker foundry in 1984, is 2,700 mm long and weighs approx. 380 kg. It strikes 37 times a minute, with the bell being swung out by about 35 ° by the bell ringing machine.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Schäfer: The largest bells in the Federal Republic of Germany. (PDF; 184 kB) Accessed December 22, 2014 .
  2. ↑ The Big City Bell. In: municipal website frankfurt.de. Retrieved December 22, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Hubert Foersch: Musical appreciation of Frankfurt Domgeläutes of 1877. In Konrad Federation (ed.): Frankfurt bells book . Frankfurt am Main, Waldemar Kramer Verlag, 1986.
  4. ^ Kurt Kramer: The welding of the two Gloriosa bells in the domes in Erfurt (1985) and Frankfurt (1987). In: Konrad Bund et al.: Jahrbuch für Glockenkunde , Jg. 1989/1990, Frankfurt 1990, p. 106 ff.

literature

  • Konrad Bund (ed.): Frankfurter Glockenbuch . Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Waldemar Kramer, 1986, ISBN 3-7829-0211-0 .
  • Erwin Hoheisel: The Frankfurt cathedral bells - then and now , in: Almanach '77, yearbook for the Diocese of Limburg. Limburg, Verlag Josef Knecht, 1977, pp. 106-108.
  • Konrad Bund: Booklet to the record documentation (see below), 1986, ISBN 3-7829-0312-9 .

Sound carrier

  • Stadtarchiv Frankfurt am Main (Ed.): The Frankfurt Cathedral Bells and the Frankfurt Big Bells , 1986. 2 records 30 cm, stereo; with booklet by Konrad Bund (see above)
  • Frankfurt am Main. Glocken, Glockenspiel, Großes Stadtgeläute , Axel-Gerhard-Kühl-Verlag 1999, CD recorded in summer 1999, digital quality (DDD), with a detailed booklet.

Web links