This video presents the bells e1-g1-a1-h1 [mi3 -sol3 -la3 -si3] of St. Francis church in Schwennigen (Villingen - Schwenningen). Since the end of 2023, the chimes have been ringing with a new bell, which has taken the place of a bell on "loan" from the Czech Republic.
➥ The oldest bell in St Francis is the St Francis bell cast in 1893 by the Grüninger bell foundry in Villingen. It was part of the original inventory of the newly built parish church. Another three bells from the Grüninger foundry were lost, leaving only this smallest bell [4] after the Second World War.
After the Second World War, a bell from the former eastern territories was assigned to St Francis in 1951. The bell [ III ] came from Oldřišov (Ordesch) and was cast in 1507 by an unknown master.
In addition, a larger bell [2] was cast by the Kurtz foundry in Stuttgart in 1951.
This three-part peal was finally supplemented in 1953 by the largest bell [1], again made by the Kurtz foundry, so that since then all four places in the enormous belfry have been occupied again.
The historic bell on loan from St Francis was also considered as part of the ‘Peace Bells for Europe’ project. It was to be returned to its home church in Oldřišov. Its place would be taken by the new casting of a ‘Peace Bell for Europe’.
The new bell [3] was cast in a heavy shape at Bachert bell foundry in Neunkirchen in mid-2023 and has been ringing together with its sisters since September 2023.
As before, the successful re-tuning focussed on the two extraordinarily resonant bells.