The Grassmayr Bell Foundry is a maker of

church bells A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and ...

founded more than 400 years ago in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The business was founded by Bartlmä Grassmayr in Habichen, a hamlet in the municipality of Oetz. At present, the company is Austria's oldest family-run business and one of the largest bell manufacturers in the world, having supplied bells for eight

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

s in more than 100 countries on every continent.

History

Bartlmä Grassmayr founded the company in 1599 in Habichen with the casting of his first bells after an eight-year journey; the company is probably the first bell foundry in

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. He learned the art of

bellfounding Bellfounding is the casting and tuning of large bronze bells in a foundry for use such as in churches, clock towers and public buildings, either to signify the time or an event, or as a musical carillon or chime. Large bells are made by casting ...

from the

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...

bell founder Joan von Teer. On 29 March 1595, it was acquired by his father, Hansen Grassmayr and was initially used for the casting of "harbors", the precursor of today's cooking pots. On 16 May 1601 Bartlmä's son Johann Grassmayr (died 4 April 1683 in

Wilten Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a pop ...

) was born. He continued the family business for many years. He completed the bell foundry apprenticeship with his uncle Jakob Veit Grassmayr in Feldkirch and spent several years as a wandering bell founder. With the improvement of the transportation system in the country, the company relocated its headquarters to Innsbruck in 1836, where the foundry remains today. Further enterprises were then opened in Feldkirch and

Brixen Brixen (, ; it, Bressanone ; lld, Porsenù or ) is a town in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography First mentioned in 901, Brixen is the third largest city and oldest town in the province, and the artistic an ...

. At present, Johannes Grassmayr of the 14th generation manages the business.

Traditional and modern symbols

At least one source has identified the symbols Grassmayr uses as maker's marks on their bells. These include sage leaves,

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

s and the

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon ( Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and ...

. A modern addition is the

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

Notable work

*The oldest bell in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, cast in 1635, is a Grassmayr product. *The six bells of the Romanian People's Salvation Cathedral were cast by Grassmayr. The largest measured 3.3 meters high by 3.3 meters wide and weighed 25 tons. *The

Innsbruck Cathedral Innsbruck Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of St. James (german: Dom zu St. Jakob), is an eighteenth-century Baroque architecture, Baroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Innsbruck in the city of Innsbruck, Austria, dedicated to t ...

's ''Mariahilfglocke'', the second-largest bell in Tyrol, was cast by Grassmayr in 1846. Seven other bells in the cathedral are also Grassmayr-made. *The world's largest tubular bell was cast by Grassmayr for the city of

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwe ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in 2015 as part of its preparations for becoming European Capital of Culture in 2017. The bell is 7.5 meters in length, 80 centimeters in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid f ...

and weighs 3 tons. It is rung every time a baby is born in the city. *A 15-ton bell was cast by Grassmayr in 2012 for the

Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, el, Πατριαρχεῖον Ἱεροσολύμων, ''Patriarcheîon Hierosolýmōn;'' he, הפטריארכיה היוונית-אורתודוקסית של ירושלים; ar, كنيسة الرو� ...

monastery in

Mount Tabor Mount Tabor ( he, הר תבור) (Har Tavor) is located in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, west of the Sea of Galilee. In the Hebrew Bible (Joshua, Judges), Mount Tabor is the site of the Battle of Mount Tabo ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Measuring almost 3 meters in diameter, the bell was transported by Gebrüder Weiss to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

and from there it was sent by ship to Israel. *Grassmayr cast the 10-ton Mösern Peace Bell on the occasion of the

Association of the Alpine States The Association of Alpine States (Arge Alp, german: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Alpenländer, it, Comunita di Lavoro Regioni Alpine) is an association of 10 states, provinces, and cantons of Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. The members are, fr ...

25th anniversary. It is the largest swinging bell in the

Alpine states The term Alpine states or Alpine countries refers to the territory of eight countries associated with the Alpine region, as defined by the Alpine Convention of 1991: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia, and Switzerl ...

area. It is rung daily at 5:00 in the afternoon. *Grassmayr cast a 100-kilogram bell on the occasion of

Pope Francis's visit to the Philippines Pope Francis made a pastoral and state visit to the Philippines from January 15 to 19, 2015. He was the third pontiff to visit the Philippines and the first in the 21st century and 3rd millennium, after Paul VI in 1970 and John Paul II in 1981 and ...

in 2015. A 24-bell

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoni ...

was also completed for the Baclaran Church that same year.

References

{{Authority control 1599 establishments Bell foundries Carillon makers Companies based in Innsbruck