World Peace Bell
The World Peace Bell, also called Millennium bell was cast on 11 December 1998 in France by the bell foundry Paccard. The bell hangs today in Newport, Kentucky. It weighs 33,285 kg and has a lower diameter of 3.70 m. The bell is suspended from a bent steel yoke. Due to the atypical offset, which shifts the axis of rotation in the center of gravity of the bell, the bell does not oscillate in the classical sense, but tilts about the axis of rotation.
If it is rung, she beats 12 times per minute; every beat is heard in good weather up to about 40 km away.
The largest on straight yoke swinging freely ringing bell in the world is St. Peter Bell in the Cologne Cathedral.
Project planning and production
Original plan was first in the summer of 1997 to make the bell in Newport, Kentucky, and to build a foundry there. Furthermore, the construction of a Millennium Monument was planned, in which the bell should hang together with a Carillon. Later, these plans were discarded and built a small bell tower with a museum instead.
After casting of the bell by Paccard in the " Altantikgießerei " ( " Fonderie de l' Atlantique " ) by Joël Archer in Nantes, pouring huge ship propeller and has a corresponding furnace, it was then taken by ship across the Atlantic. They arrived in New Orleans and was loaded onto a barge on the Mississippi River and then the Ohio River went up during the summer of 1999. Many intermediate stations were placed along the rivers for special celebrations before she arrived in Newport, Kentucky.
The bell was inaugurated on 31 December 1999 and rung for the first time with the dawn of the year 2000. It is rung on special occasions and every day at noon.