Russia's famous Tsar-Kolokol is the largest bell in the world, of course, but it is broken. Apart from that, if you inspect our list of bells larger than 1,000 puds (36,000 lbs, or about 18 metric tons or more), you'll probably be surprised to see that the world's biggest working bells are not in Russia, but in Burma, Korea, and Japan. Another is under water, but there has lately been some talk of trying to locate and raise it. Yet another was lost in World War II. Only then, sixth or seventh down the list, do we find Trinity-Sergius Lavra's "Tsarsky Kolokol", or "Royal Bell".

One day we hope to tell more about Asia's fascinating bells, but it's interesting to compare what we've been able to learn so far, with the Russian giant:

Dhammazedi Bell, largest bell on the planet


Mingun Bell, the largest ringing bell in the world


Tsar Bell-III, the third-largest bell on earth


The Great Sunken Bell of Dhammazedi



Burmese chronicles relate that King Dhammazedi, 9th of the Mon kings of Burma (now known as Myanmar), who reigned at Hanthawaddy (Bago) from 1464 onward, had ordered a census of households in his kingdom sometime around the year 1480. However, his over-zealous ministers not only counted the households; they also taxed them— thus obtaining some 180,000 vis (293.4 metric, or about 600 US tons) of copper. King Dhammazedi was not pleased and so, to allay his wrath, the ministers proposed to have the copper cast into a bell. That was how the biggest bell in history came to be. The chronicles also note that the date chosen for the casting of the Bell, 5 February 1484, was astrologically inappropriate and that the Bell had an unpleasant sound.

He presented the bell to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon (then known as Dagon). According to texts of the time, the bell metal included silver and gold as well as copper and tin. The bell is also said to have been encrusted with emeralds and sapphires. In view of the opulence of the pagoda itself, the story is likely true. The bell itself was said to be twelve cubits high and eight cubits wide. Another, smaller bell of 500 vis (about 5/6 of a ton) was cast at the same time and also offered to the Buddha.

A century later, in 1583, Venetian gem merchant named Gasparo Balbi visited ancient Dagon and described the Shwedagon Pagoda at length. He wrote, "I found in a fair hall a very large bell which we measured, and found to be seven paces and three hand breadths and it is full of letters from the top to the bottom, so near together that one touches the other, but there was no Nation that could understand them."

By 1530 the Mon kings were in decline and in 1535 Lower Burma had become subject to Upper Burma. At the same time, European traders and adventurers had begun to make contacts in Lower Burma. So in the 1590s, with the authority of the rulers in Upper Burma, a Portuguese adventurer, Filipe de Brito y Nicote, set up a new trading post at Syriam and by 1600 had extended his power across the river to Dagon and the surrounding countryside.

Thus in 1608 De Brito removed the Dhammazedi bell from the Shwedagon Paaoda, rolled it down the hill to a raft in the Pazundaung Creek and had it hauled by elephants to the river. The the bell and raft were lashed to his flagship for the journey across the river to Thanlyn (Syrian) to be melted down and made into ships cannons.

However, at the confluence of the Bago and Yangon Rivers off what is now known as Monkey Point, the raft broke up and the bell went to the bottom, taking Filipe de Brito's ship with it— justly, we think. The Portugeuse suffered for their bungled looting, too— their entire garrison was killed in an attack by angry Burmese, and records suggest the Portuguese leader died a slow death on bamboo stakes.

All accounts of the history of Rangoon insist that Dhammazedi's bell was never recovered and until the late 1800's the top of it could still be seen above water at low tide. Some witnesses today tell of being rowed out to the bell site by their elders to watch the water eddy over the top of the submerged bell. The river isn't especially deep, (40 feet), but at the bottom there is 40 feet more of mud. The bell is somewhere in the mud.

A smaller bell, known as the Bodawpaya, was also taken from the Shwedagon Pagoda by British Prize Agents in 1826 and lost in the river. However, it was abandoned by the British and recovered by the local inhabitants and returned to the pagoda.

There are other great bells on view on the Shwedagon, but they are much later than Balbi"s time.

King Singu, had a 24.6 metric (50 US)-ton bronze bell, 2.1 m high and 2.0 m wide at the mouth, cast and offered to the Shwedagon on 17 January 1779. Known as the Mahagandha Bell, it can be found today on the northwest side of the main pagoda platform. The British pillaged the pagoda during their 1824 to 1826 wartime occupation and tried to carry the bell to Calcutta, but fell victim to the same fate as de Brito: this bell, too, sank into the river.

The British failed in several attempts to raise it. The Myanmars said they would raise the bell on the condition it would be returned to its original resting place in the pagoda, and the British, thinking nothing would come out of the attempt, agreed. But the Myanmars had an ingenious plan. Divers tied countless bamboo poles underneath the bell and floated it to the surface. The undertaking helped to instill the Myanmars with nationalism during the years of British occupation.

The other bell, 42.5 metric (85 US) tons in weight, 4.3 m high and 2.2 m wide at the mouth, was cast and donated by King Tharrawaddy on 19 February 1843. It is known as the Mahatissada and is located at the northeast corner of the pagoda enclosure.

Dhammazedi's Bell To Be Recovered?
Mike Hatcher

The Burmese government has asked an English marine biologist / archaeologist / adventurer (you know the type) named Mike Hatcher and his team to raise the bell; they want to see it restored to the Pagoda. Hatcher has agreed to undertake the project, which has involvement from Japanese, Australian and American companies. Richard Gere, a committed and active supporter of Buddhist ideals, is involved in raising funds. The project would undoubtedly inspire curiosity at an international level. The German film company which will be shooting the expedition says, "Should the salvage operation succeed, the reaction in the Buddhist world would be comparable to finding the Holy Grail in the Christian West."

One of Burma's most sacred religious relics, it is believed that its restoration in the pagoda will bring good fortune back to Myanmar. Certainly, recovery of King Dhammazedi"s Bell— the offering of a devout king and his people to one of Myanmar"s most sacred shrines— would restore a lost heritage to the Myanmar people. In more ways than one, in fact´ for the bell"s inscription would provide valuable material for historical and linguistic scholarship.

The project is not without its opponents: Some pro-democracy campaigners say the salvage operation might be misconstrued as an endorsement by the international community of Myanmar's military dictatorship, and should wait until talks with the regime have progressed or until such time as a democratic government is in place.

One of seven salvage projects forecast for Mike Hatcher and his team in 2001, Mike's team was slated to begin the search for the precise location of the Dhammazedi Bell in March that year. After a flurry of excitement stirred up by BBC's announcement of the project, however, it apparently did not get off the ground, perhaps (we speculate) due to complications involved in his discovery in June 2000 of a huge sunken wreck in Indonesian waters, with the largest collection of porcelain ever found.

If the project ever does go forward, divers will use personal mounted sonar with night vision goggles and copper sulphate detectors to locate the bell, since the mud around all that bronze would have a high concentration of copper sulphate. About nine months after the survey they expect to lift the Bell from the river. To do this, they will have to build a small version of a North Sea Oil platform in the muddy rapids of the confluence of two rivers, and assemble a large crane to lift the bell out of the water. Once it is lifted, they will construct a railway to transport it uphill about half a mile to the Shwedagon Pagoda. This final operation will take about four months.

The Great Mingun Bell



King Dhammazedi's bell may or may not be lost forever, but even if it is, the world's largest accessible and ringing bell is still not in Russia.

That title is owned by Burma's Mingun Bell, which rings near the city of Sagaing, at the Mingun pagoda, some 11 km (7 miles) upriver from Mandalay, in the center of Burma, on the opposite bank of the Ayeyarwaddy and accessible only by river. A 45-minute boat trip to Mingun is very pleasant with plenty of life on the river to see.

This bell was cast by King Bodawpaya on 28 April 1808 and is about 13 feet tall. It weighs 55555 peik-thar, or 90.55 metric tons (about 200 US tons). (Peik-thar are a traditional unit of weight equalling 3.6 lbs (1.63 kg)— that's what the five characters that look like 9's on the side of the bell in the picture to the right mean.)

The pagoda itself was the main jewel in the crown of an ambitious building campaign sponsored by King Bodawpaya (ruled 1782-1819). The largest brick temple in Asia, its outline broods over the western bank of the Irrawaddy River from the hamlet of Mingun. Its base is 256 feet square and it rises some 150 feet. It is now viewed as little more than a curiosity, enhanced by dramatic fissures in its wall created by an earthquake in 1839-- visitors can even climb to the top by a modern stairway mounted on the most ruined corner fo the monument, though no access to the summit existed originally.

The Mingun is Asia's, and indeed, the world's, largest bell. Cast by Bodawpaya to complemlent the huge pagoda, it stands in its original location some 50 yeards to the northeast of the pagoda. The pagoda is still considered unfinished, since it is without a tower, but historians believe King Bodawpaya may have intended to sacrifice height for girth from the very beginning, and thus it may have been considered finished by the king himself. Pagodas were built to venerate sacred objects interred beneath them-- in fact, the word "pagoda" derives from *dagaba* (relic chamber), a term adopted into English after it was encountered in Buddhist Sri Lanka.

The Tsar-Kolokol III



The world's largest bell is the Tsar Bell III (Tsar-Kolokol) in Moscow. It is called Tsar Kolokol "III" because it was cast three times, and more metal was added each time. The present incarnation was cast in 1733-35, and weighs about 400,000 pounds (180 tons).

Resting at the foot of the Ivan Velekij Bell Tower, the bell is a mute testimony to the grand days of the Romanov Dynasty— and to the weakness of all human endeavor. Tsarina Anna I commissioned the bell in 1734, fulfilling the dream of her grandfather, Tsar Alexei. At 6.14 meters high and 6.6 meters in diameter, it was to be the biggest and clearest sounding bell in the world.

The casting of this enormous bell was performed by a team of nearly 200 craftsmen under the supervision of Ivan Motorin and his son Mikhail, who cast many of Russia's other great bells.

Their crowning achievement was destined only for tragedy, however. During the great fire of 1737 it still lay in its casting pit, and burning timber from the structure above it fell into the pit. Bronze has a relatively low melting point, so the question was whether to let it burn and risk melting it, or to pour water on it and risk cracking it by cooling it too fast. The latter risk was chosen and, as feared, because of uneven cooling, the red-hot bronze did crack and a chunk weighing 11.5 tons broke off. This chunk alone weighs more than most bells in the world.

The broken Tsar Bell remained in the earth for almost 100 more years after that, until the architect Auguste Montferrand raised it in 1836 and placed it on its present granite pedestal. The surface of the bell is finely worked in relief with decorative patterns, embossed pictures, and inscriptions.

Sadly, two hundred tons of silence are all that remain. For a time, the bell served as a chapel. There has apparently been some talk of recasting it. Some Old Believers are of the opinion that this would be a bad sign, as this bell is slated to ring Blagovest on Judgment Day!
Tsar Cannon

Cannons and bells have always had a curious relationship— bells are melted down to make cannons in times of war, and cannons are melted town to make bells in times of peace. So we ought to mention that just outside the Kremlin's Cathedral Square where the Tsar-Kolokol sits, you also find the stunningly huge cannon pictured at the right. The Tsar Cannon, built in 1586, is considered the largest cannon in the world, sixteen feet long, weighing 85,000 pounds, with a caliber of 890 mm. Tsar Theodore I, Ivan the Terrible's son, commissioned master bronze craftsman Andrei Chekov to cast the giant bronze weapon to better protect the Kremlin.

The Tsar Cannon is thus quite a bit older than the Tsar Bell. The gun carriage and the cannon balls lying nearby are decorative, for the cannon itself was designed to fire not cannon balls but grapeshot. However, in actuality, it proved to be impractical to use.



http://www.russianbells.com/interest/biggest.html

WOW! cool topic!

do have more informations about Great Mingun Bell?

The liberty bell

The Mingun Bell

Whenever the name Mingun is memtioned it is made in connection with Pahtodawgyi and the Great Mingun Bell built by the longest reigning monarch of the Konbaung dynasty King Bodawpaya (1782-1819). In fact, any mention of Mingun would be incomplete without mentioning the two other great deeds. King Bodawpaya's four Great noble deeds also known as the Great Four: the Great Pagoda, the Great Bell, the Great Lake and the Great Lion. All these Great Fours are located in Mingun 19 miles from Sagaing and situated at the west bank of Ayeyarwaddy.


Nine years after the accession to the throne, King Bodawpaya handed over his royal responsibilities to his son the Crown Prince and left the capital to oversee the construction of the Great Pagoda in Mingun. The foundation of the Great Pagoda Pahtodawgyi was laid on BE 1152, 5th day of the waxing moon of Tapodwe (9 January 1791). The pagoda if completed would have risen to the height of 500 feet, the largest one in the whole country and probably the highest in the world. It was left unfinished when Bodawpaya died in 1819. It is the biggest brick pile in the world, the bottom terrace being a square of 450 feet, the basement on which the domical superstructure would rest.


For maximum safety, layers upon layers of brickwork were used internally instead of scaffolding. In order for the brickwork to be symmetrical and smooth, a central pillar 44 feet in circumference was erected to serve as a reference point. Big iron rings were used to reinforce the structure. According to archaeologist U Aung Thaw, the world's first use of the piling system was employed at the Great Pagoda. However after 10 years of construction, the structure only reached a height of 162 feet. The Pagoda was immense and could not be completed. The Great Pagoda collapsed in the two earthquakes of 1836 and 1956. Fergusson wrote:


Even in its state of ruin, the Great Pagoda of Mingun was a massive imposing structure of brickwork. Since the Pyramids of the ancient Egyptian Kings, structures of such huge dimensions have never been attempted anywhere in the world. The great 19th century brick pagoda, a good work of one of the Myanmar Kings, is indeed a rarity.


Overlooking the Ayeyarwaddy river in front of the eastern face of the Pagoda, two Great Lions, each standing 95 feet in height, were constructed in 1793. Eight hundred thousand bricks were reportedly used for the purpose. The Great Lake measuring 420 feet in width and 31.8 feet in depth was also constructed. However, the Great Lions and the Great Lake do not seem to have received much of King Bodawpaya's attention.


Bodawpaya's best remembered noble deed is the donation of the Great Bell, the Mingun Bell. Bells are known in Myanmar culture as an omnipresent feature of religious affairs. Evidence of bell casting dates back as early as the Pyu Period and throughout the ages, donation of bells to pagodas, shrines, Buddhist ordination halls (Simas) and monasteries have become a tradition. On every htee of a pagoda the tiny bells made of gold, silver and bronze are hung there to tinkle with the wind. In addition to the delight of the bigger bells ringing in solemn melody, the tinkling of the tiny one at the htee provide a rare pleasure. Myanmar Buddhists have a ritual of striking a bell after saying prayers to call on others within hearing to share the merit arising out of their good deeds. Bells usually have inscriptions as to the name of the donor, the time of donation and the reason for donation. This custom of inscribing on bells has become a source of primary historical evidence invaluable for researchers.


Bodawpaya assigned the task of casting the great Mingun Bell to the Chief of the Metal Works, Nanda Kyaw Swa. The King himself moved to a temporary place on the middle island a short distance to the east of Mingun to supervise the casting of the Bell personally. A mould of clay was first made, smoothed out and then waxed. Elaborate designs were etched on the waxwork and more clay was applied before casting the bronze. The amount of wax used for the Bell reportedly amounted to 45,330 viss.


The casting of the Bell began on the night of 29th April 1808. Bronze weighing 65,877 viss was used in casting the bell. On the girder the Bell were inscribed the words "Cast on 23 March 1810 in the 28th year of the royal reign", indicating a work period of nearly 2 years.


To achieve a pleasant ringing sound the Bell was cast with an alloy of five metals in the ancient Myanmar tradition: gold, silver, bronze, iron and lead. The total expenditure for the Bell amounted to 0.65 million (658,726) Kyats.


The Bell weighs 55,555.55 viss (90.52 tons). The weight varies according to different sources





Myanmar has a tradition of using mnemonic expression to facilitate memorizing weight. In the expression "Min Phyu Hman Hman Pyaw", used to denote the weight of the Bell, the Myanmar consonants 'M', 'Ph', 'Hm' and 'P' all stand for Thursday, which in turn represents the number 5, yields five 5s, the weight of the Bell in viss.


As for the dimensions of the Bell, the outer diameter of the rim of the bell comes to 16 feet and 3 inches. The height of the Bell is 12 feet on the exterior and 11½ feet in the interior. The outside circumference at the rim is 50.75 feet. The Bell is 6 inches to 12 inches thick and stands 20.7 feet high from the rim to the top.


The giant Bell was cast on an island in the middle of the Ayeyarwady River to the east of Mingun. The transportation from the island across the river to Mingun was challenging. Thus the King ordered anyone who had any idea how to go about it to be brought into his royal presence. After questioning the experts personally, and failing to obtain a practical plan for the project. King Bodawpaya issued a royal order dated 17 September 1808 which stated:


Casting the Royal Big Bell is successfully completed and it weighs 200,000 (viss)/ 730,000 lbs/ 331,120 kg; to move it to the west bank of Ayeyarwaddy river would not be easy and it seems that no one could suggest how it could be done; send Amyauk Wun - officer of Cannons, to Yangon (Rangoon) to ask Myo Wun - Town Officer, Hanthawaddy (Pegu) to get anyone there either native or foreign, sailor or engineer who knows any mechanical device in loading and unloading heavy things on or off the (sea going) ships; if such a man were found, Hanthawaddy Town Officer shall bring him here (immediately).


The King sent the Amyauk wun (Minister of the Artilleries) to Yangon with orders for the Hanthawady Myowun to seek and recruit anyone skilled in handling heavy loads, boats and machinery.


Before moving the Great Bell to Mingun a 36-foot canal, big enough for two Karaweik Barges was dug under the Bell. The canal was big enough to be called a Raft Creek. In 1811, the King ordered the immediate preparation of a heavily decorated barge for the Bell.


Upon completion of all the work including the construction and preparation of the double-hulled barge under the Bell, it was necessary to wait for the rainy season when the river water would rise high enough to fill up the Raft Creek, raising the barge which in turn floated upon the waters with the Great Bell on it. It was a time for celebration and the King himself led the happy occasion together with golden barges, boats, and ships that filled up the whole expanse of the river. A flotilla surrounded the Royal Barge bearing the Bell and made their way down westward to the site of the Bell. The festivities were held for days, and the King and the Queen, the Princes and Princesses, Royal Grandsons and Granddaughters, Ministers and the general public joined this happy occasion. Metal casters, carpenters, Ponnas (brahmins), technicians and even labourers who handled the tongs were rewarded with an abundance of cash and coins, cloths and accessories.


A commemoration record of the Great Bell was inscribed and preserved on palm leaf and parabaik manuscripts which constitute invaluable historical evidence, the most important of which are the biographical glimpses of King Bodawpaya, the prevailing religious and social conditions of the time and Bodawpaya's achievements to foster friendly relations with Assam, Manipur, Ceylon, Calcutta, Bengal, Thailand, Lin Zin, England and China. As a consequence of the friendly and good relation with China, Bodawphaya received the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha from China. The record also mentioned Bodawpaya's effort to cleanse the Buddhist Order and how he resolved the problem of split and controversy among the monks.


The Great Mingun Bell is hung to the north of the Pahtodawgyi on the low circular terrace from a 3-piece wooden beam covered with a metal plate. The beam rests on two brick pillars which are reinforced with two teak posts inside. In the 1838 earthquake, approximately 18 pounds of metal fell off from the bottom of the Bell, while the Bell itself required buttressing with big wooden posts. The bell did not swing free any more as the supports were so much shaken by the earthquake. In 1904 a Scot from the Ayeyarwady Flotilla Company replaced the wooden posts with iron ones. The Great Bell is the world's biggest hanging bell, as well as the world's biggest bell that rings. In conclusion I quote Scott O' Connor wrote:


The Big Bell at Mingun ... it emits a deep, musical, prolonged vibration on being struck with a light wooden post. When one first hears this sound issuing from amongst the trees, one pauses to wonder what it can be, for it is no single note, but a deep tremor which fills the air and one can almost feel the contact of the waves as they come floating as they come in visibly along. It is indeed a great majestic voice, that is heard only in its faint whisperings.

Ni Ni Myint

http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/Perspective/pers.../8-2001/min.htm


Mingun Bell Pavilion




The Bell itself






Mingun Pagoda - world's largest but unfinished pagoda

THX!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell

Marvelous.

I'd hate to be the bell ringer ...assuming the sounds of these bells must be great :p.