Birth of a Bell | Handcrafting the Mold for a Saarburg Bell 1991 Part 1

Bell casting in Germany dates back to the eighth century. The Mabilon art and bell foundry was established by Urban Mabilon in 1770 in the historic center of Saarburg, south of Trier. From here, bells were shipped across Germany and beyond. This film was shot in 1991. Even today, bellfounding remains a craft rather than a high-tech industrial process. In this film, you’ll see the lengthy procedure, made up of many distinct stages.
In a months-long process, the molders at the Mabilon bell foundry in Saarburg create a three-part bell mold from clay, which they model according to a template. The bell mold consists of the core, the false bell (the casting model), the mantle, and the crown.

Original source material: Saarburg 1991 – 53 min. Shooting/Editing/Commentary: Alois Döring; Editor: Ulrich Roters (IWF). Author: Alois Döring. Das LVR-Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte. CC 4.0. Das Handwerk Der Oberbergischen Pflastersteinhauer
   / @alltagskulturenimrheinland  

Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

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