Casting the bell

To start the festivities surrounding the 150th anniversary of Nice joining France, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” wasperformed, followed by a traditional church bell casting. The bell shall be for Nice’s Notre Dame church, and was cast by the FonderiePaccard. Paccard is from Sévrier, on the Lac d’Annecy in Savoy, the duchy of which Nice had been a member. Their bells were, and still are, so well-known that before Savoy joined France, Paccard exported bells to France, as well as to many other countries, including the USA.

Theovenwas turned on at 5 this morning, with a 78% copper and 12% tin mix (to make bronze), with some phosphorous added while we watched the casting this evening at 10. The finished bell will weigh 225 kilos and ring a C#, or “do dièse” since they refer to musical notes using solfege in French, and have a fixed “do”. The head of Paccard mentioned that the largest bell they ever made weighed 33 metric tonnes,

By fraise

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Filed under: Life in Provence

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