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Vienna’s Pummerin returns home

Austria's biggest and heaviest church bell named Pummerin weighs 21,383 kg and has been hanging in the North Tower since 1957. St. Stephan’s "old" Pummerin of 1711 plummeted to the ground when the Cathedral was set ablaze in 1945.

In 1951 our "new" Pummerin was cast in part of the old one’s metal in St. Florian and returned to Vienna in 1952; it was a present of the federal state of Upper Austria to St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Easter Sunday (between ca. 11:50 and 12:10am)

Whit Sunday (between ca. 11:45 and 12:00am)

Corpus Christi - to signal the beginning (9:30am) and the end (11:30am) of the procession

Commemorative Service of the Cathedral’s Consecration celebrated on April 23rd (ca. between 7:20 and 7:30pm)

All Souls' Day (ca. 5:45pm)

Christmas Eve (11:55pm)

Boxing Day (ca. between 11:50 and 12:10am)

New Year’s Eve at Midnight St. Stephen’s Pummerin rings in the New Year; this is perhaps its most important function.

It also signals the election and death of the pope as well as the induction and death of the archbishop.

The original Pummerin was cast in 1711 by J. Achamer in Vienna out of metal from Turkish guns captured in 1683 after the 2nd Turkish Siege of Vienna had been raised. Originally called “Josephinian Bell”, it was soon popularly known as “Pummerin”. Installed in the South Tower, it weighed 22,511 kg.  During the 2nd World War a fire destroyed it on 12 April 1945.

The “new” Pummerin, a gift of the province of Upper Austria, was cast at the St. Florian bell foundry on 5 September 1951, after an initial failure, out of metal from the original Pummerin. Its diameter of 3.14 m, 2.94 m height and 21.383 kg weight makes it next to the one in Cologne’s Cathedral the second largest one in Western Europe and the fifth largest in the world. It is adorned with reliefs (scenes from the battle of Vienna 1683 and the fire of 1945). On 27 April 1952 it was rung for the first time; in 1953 an electric bell ringer was installed; since October 1957 it has hung in the North Tower.

Channel: Filmarchiv
Categories: Events, Personalities, Wienerisch

Weiterführende Links:

• Die Pummerin
• Die Pummerin wiki
• Stephanskirche