Academic literature on the topic 'Dzwon Zygmunta (Bell)'

Funded by King Sigismund the Old, the great bell for the Wawel cathedral, cast by Hans Behem in 1520, transported from the bell foundry to Wawel in the early summer of 1521, after a solemn consecration and baptism, was hung on the new cathedral belfry. Like every church bell, it became a liturgical parament whose task was to toll during church holidays. However, the bell was royal. It was supported by the guild of carpenters of Krakow, Kleparz and Kazimierz under a document issued by the king, which strictly defined the dates of tolling. The service of the bell was paid for by the royal treasury. In addition, Sigmund tolled on the occasion of state ceremonies or events in the royal family. And this is the first time that Sigismund sounded over the Jagiellonian capital on July 13, 1521, in the memory of St. Margaret, that is on the eve of the Sending of the Apostles ( July 15), which was the yearly celebration of the victory at Grunwald. It was the second day, apart from the annual feast of St. Stanisław (in May 8th) which is church, state and national holiday. From then on, the sound of Sigmund adorned coronation ceremonies, tributes and royal funerals, royal entrances and entrances of royal brides to the capital, announced victories, and welcomed the victorious hetmans and King Jan III Sobieski when he returned from Vienna. It also tolled on the occasion of important events in the royal family, especially the birth of a descendant. After the partitions, when there was no king and the guild organization ceased to exist, the bell passed to the cathedral chapter and the bishop. Cathedral sanctuaries and random bell towers began to operate it. Most often its body was struck by the clapper. Full tolling only took place on the most important occasions.

Hans Behem, the bell founder who came from Nuremberg to Krakow 500 years ago, cast a magnificent bell, which, even today, continues to fascinate with its size and sound. The paper contains some technical insights about this bell. Even now, we can learn a lot about the technique that the master used years ago when making the cast, because the traces (jagged edge, veins on the lampshade, etc.) on the surface of the bell clearly indicate this. From other traces – incl. traces of the clapper – it can be concluded that the bell was properly operated and that it was in good technical condition. There were also some omissions but they did not affect the overall durability of the bell. The lampshade also features elements that were not present after the bell was cast. For example, the name and surname of Behem and the place of his origin were carved on the lampshade in Latin and German, but it is not known exactly when and under what circumstances it happened.

Much has been written about the Sigismund Bell, but it turns out that in the Archives of the Krakow Cathedral Chapter at Wawel there are still manuscripts unknown to a wider group of researchers. They were recorded in the books kept by the Chapter, and also preserved in the form of loose files. They complement the findings so far and confirm the theses put forward by historians. From source materials we learn about the renovation of the Sigismund Tower and its condition. This topic returned from time to time and was raised during the chapter sessions. In addition, numerous sources provide information on the use and maintenance of the largest of the cathedral bells. Among the first, there are mentions of the dates of ringing in connection with events important for our country (such as the birth of the children of the royal couple or the Victory of Vienna) and the Church (for example, the death of the pope or the election of a new bishop), as well as requests for the Sigismund Bell to ring during funerals of important people. When it comes to maintenance, a number of references to the measures taken to keep the bell and its structure in good condition have survived – such as bills for replacing belts or lubricating bearings, reports on the assessment of the condition of the walls and the slope on which the Sigismund Tower has been erected. In addition, thanks to source materials, we can trace how the largest of the cathedral bells was called over the centuries and from when it started to be called the Sigismund Bell.

The Sigismund Bell as a masterpiece of Renaissance bell-founding with its vastness and sound qualities already inspired poets contemporary to its creation. In the 16th century, the Bell was the theme of the works of the Polish-Latin poet Andrzej Krzycki and Mikołaj Rej. In the Old Polish era there were other men of letters who wrote about the Sigismund Bell, although not necessarily in verse. In the era of partitions, slavery and Poland’s non-existence – in the 19th century – the enormous Wawel bell funded by the great king in the times of the power of the Polish-Lithuanian state grew to the role of a link between the great past and the present. It rose to the level of a symbol raising hopes for the rebirth of the state. Especially the tolling of the Sigismund Bell for the Resurrection on Easter raised hopes for the resurrection of Poland. The poets such as Edmund Wasilewski – a romantic eulogist of the beauty of Krakow’s historical monuments, with Wawel at the forefront, Wincenty Pol, Teofil Lenartowicz, Maria Konopnicka, and Lucjan Rydel expressed this role of the sound of the Sigismund Bell. However, it was only Stanisław Wyspiański who most clearly and fully expressed in his dramas (Wesele, Wyzwolenie, Akropolis) the symbolism of the bell born in the 19th century, the evolution of the meanings of its sound – from the sound of mourning to the sound of calling to act and the sound of heralding the rebirth of the state. Echoes of the Sigismund Bell are also present in the poetry of Józef Piłsudski, a soldier of the Legions. Finally, there is a well-known patriotic poem-song: Jak długo na Wawelu Zygmunta bije dzwon, tak długo w sercach naszych rozbrzmiewa polski ton, [As long as the bell on Zygmunt’s Wawel tolls, the Polish tone resounds in our hearts,] announcing victory and existence.

The Sigismund bell, with a weight close to 10 tons, belongs to the group of great European bells. Inside the bell’s cup is an iron clapper hanged on a cowhide belt, now reinforced with a steel band. The clapper length is 218.5 cm and weighs 323 kg. The clapper consists of the so-called a tail, a ball that directly hits the sound bow of the bell, i.e. the thickest point of the bell cup, the so-called clapper’s ring. Further upwards there is a shaft and, at the end, an ear with which the clapper is hooked to the bell. The clapper of Sigismund that had been working for centuries, failed in 2000. It was then found that it broke at the span of the shaft. Several factors contributed to this. 1. Material factor, i.e. high phosphorous iron, and therefore brittle, with a ferritic and ferritic-pearlitic structure, susceptible to fatigue. 2. Physical factor including linear velocity, greater energy at the end of the clapper as it rings, causing the clapper to bend. 3. The clapper’s profile, including the stria section, below the ball, the edges of which are most exposed to tensile forces and less resistant to shear. These 3 factors caused the fracture to cover more than half of the cross section of the tail neck. This rupture grew very slowly, for a long time during the ringing of the bell, and gradually enlarged in size with each subsequent ringing. It was accelerated in the period when, in the past, as a result of the leather catch being pulled out, the clapper was hitting the bell with its shaft, not a ball. Sigismund’s clapper may have survived to our times if not the reasons mentioned above, that is, if the clapper had not lowered, if the forces of hitting the bell’s cup while ringing were evenly distributed and the edges of the stria were rounded. The material from which the clapper was forged had the least influence on the fracture.

The belfry is an element of key importance in the complex of the Vilnius Archcathedral Basilica and the Higher and Lower Castles, as well as one of the main vertical landmarks of the Old Town of Vilnius, which has become a symbol of the city. As a heritage object, the building is acclaimed for its volume, décor elements and authentic constructions. The 13th century tower originally was part of the defensive wall. Its ground floor has survived almost in its entirety. It is one of the oldest and best-preserved brickwork structures in Lithuania. In Lithuania, the appearance of large bells is related to the name of Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas. The master K.S. Skobeltas cast the first large bell for this ruler in the second half of the 14th century. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, bells and cannons were most often cast in weapon foundries by the same masters. Sigismund Augustus established such a foundry in the territory of the Lower Castle in the 16th century. From the 16th century onwards, bells began to be cast in Varniai, Kaunas and Nesvizh as well. In 2002, six large bells were consecrated in the Vilnius Cathedral Square and installed in the belfry. It was a gift from the Archdiocese of Cologne to the Vilnius Cathedral and the city. As a token of gratitude to Archbishop of Cologne Joachim Meisner (1933-2017), the largest bell was given the name of Saint Joachim. In 2002, the bells were cast in one of the largest foundries of Germany, “Petit und Edelbrock” in Westphalia, which is in operation since the second half of the 18th century. The clock of the belfry of the Vilnius Cathedral is the oldest and most important clock in the capital of Lithuania. It was installed in this tower in 1672. It is presumed that the mechanism of the clock was produced in Germany, but the name of the master is unknown. The date 1803 incised on the forged frame bears witness to the last significant repair of the clock, supervised by the elder of the Vilnius clock makers’ guild Juozapas Bergmanas. When the clock tower of the Vilnius Town Hall collapsed in the late 19th century, this mechanism became the city’s main clock. The bell cast in 1673 by Jan Delamars, the bellfounder working in Vilnius, strikes the hours in the cathedral belfry. Its height is 58 cm, and its diameter is 107 cm. The bell is a work of art: it is encircled with a Latin inscription and an ornament, and decorated with the figures of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the patrons of the Vilnius Cathedral, Saint Casimir and Saint Stanislaus.

The Sigismund bell, suspended on the yoke without a crank, generates a large load during ringing, which can be estimated at the level of over three times its weight. It is enough to realize that its weight (determined for the first time in its history) with the yoke and bearings measured during the renovation and maintenance carried out in 2001 was 12.6 tons. Even before the comprehensive renovation carried out in 2001, it was necessary at the beginning of the 1990s to carry out reinforcement in the form of non-steel strands, which stiffened the truss skeleton. The strings strengthening the Sigmund Bell’s truss were then installed as an ad hoc operation in a situation when, during the ringing, elements wooden supporting truss hit the brick walls of the Sigismund Tower. This could lead to irreversible deformation of the brick tower. The operation of these reinforcements was corrected on an ongoing basis by appropriate tensioning on the introduced turnbuckles. This method of regulation functions up to the present day as a reaction to changes occurring in the carpentry joints of the oak truss of the bell. The basis for these corrections of the tension of the tendons are the current measurements of the scale of deflections of the bell’s support truss, carried out during the ringing after winter periods. On the basis of experience from the last 20 years, i.e. the period after the renovation of the yoke and the bell heart carried out in 2001, the values of the measured deflections are in the range from 6.0 to 8.0 mm. The deflection values are measured at the level of the platform situated at the height of the yoke and the bell bearing. The magnitudes of the deflections accompanying the ringing process are the highest at the level of the Sigismund Bell as the highest level where this type of impact occurs. On the anniversary of the installation of the Sigismund Bell, it is worth realizing the high craftsmanship of the carpentry art, which provided the possibility of assembling and ringing both the Sigismund Bell and the other bells installed in the tower (Cardinal 3.5 t, Urban 3 t, Wacław 1 t, Stanisław 6 t).

The belfry is an element of key importance in the complex of the Vilnius Archcathedral Basilica and the Higher and Lower Castles, as well as one of the main vertical landmarks of the Old Town of Vilnius, which has become a symbol of the city. As a heritage object, the building is acclaimed for its volume, décor elements and authentic constructions. The 13th century tower originally was part of the defensive wall. Its ground floor has survived almost in its entirety. It is one of the oldest and best-preserved brickwork structures in Lithuania. In Lithuania, the appearance of large bells is related to the name of Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas. The master K.S. Skobeltas cast the first large bell for this ruler in the second half of the 14th century. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, bells and cannons were most often cast in weapon foundries by the same masters. Sigismund Augustus established such a foundry in the territory of the Lower Castle in the 16th century. From the 16th century onwards, bells began to be cast in Varniai, Kaunas and Nesvizh as well. In 2002, six large bells were consecrated in the Vilnius Cathedral Square and installed in the belfry. It was a gift from the Archdiocese of Cologne to the Vilnius Cathedral and the city. As a token of gratitude to Archbishop of Cologne Joachim Meisner (1933-2017), the largest bell was given the name of Saint Joachim. In 2002, the bells were cast in one of the largest foundries of Germany, “Petit und Edelbrock” in Westphalia, which is in operation since the second half of the 18th century. The clock of the belfry of the Vilnius Cathedral is the oldest and most important clock in the capital of Lithuania. It was installed in this tower in 1672. It is presumed that the mechanism of the clock was produced in Germany, but the name of the master is unknown. The date 1803 incised on the forged frame bears witness to the last significant repair of the clock, supervised by the elder of the Vilnius clock makers’ guild Juozapas Bergmanas. When the clock tower of the Vilnius Town Hall collapsed in the late 19th century, this mechanism became the city’s main clock.

Bell research in Poland has grown in importance in recent years. A number of new ventures and research approaches show that Polish campanology is attracting increasing interest. However, this does not change the fact that new research challenges still exist. These include above all field inventories focused on the study of the state of preservation and losses. It is worth pointing out that in Poland, a complete inventory of World War II losses has not yet been carried out. Another problem is the study of technical, and musical aspects. This article is a voice in the discussion of the knotty problems of Polish campanological research on the margins of the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Sigismund Bell of Krakow.

Twenty elements of the wooden structure inside the Sigismund Tower and the Sigismund Bell Bed were selected for dendrochronological studies. All analysed the constructional elements made of oak wood. Twelve elements with the sapwood layer retained were sampled with a Pressler increment borer, whereas analysis of the remaining eight elements, with more or less legible cross-sections, was based on macrophotographs. Absolute dating was carried out on the basis of standard chronologies developed for oaks from southern Poland. The dating results of samples from the bell suspension structure, with the last, underbark rings retained, allowed to conclude that the trees for its construction were felled during vegetation breaks in a few consecutive seasons, from 1515/16 to 1519/20 AD. Assuming that the wood from the structure analysed was used without prolonged seasoning, which in principle is the rule, it could be stated that it was erected in 1520 AD from wood accumulated over three successive seasons. The exceptions are some beams with notches difficult to explain from the point of view of their functional purpose, which were dated to the first half of the 15th century. These elements should be interpreted as re-used, probably coming from the previous structure, completely dismantled in 1520 AD.