Prague

About 90 percent of bells in Bohemia and Moravia was confiscated 80 years ago and most still have not been replaced.

“The aim of the Bell #9801 initiative was to replace thousands of silenced bells with a new powerful voice. “The photos of the cemetery of bells in Maniny send chills down the spine. He said that he had been thinking about some way to address the forgotten history of the lost Czech bells for some time. The bell then had to cool before the mold could be opened The bell was then cleaned and polished. A full-size wax model of the bell had to be made as the basis of a unique brick and concrete mold that could only be used once. This was symbolic, as the confiscated bells were removed from Prague on boats. The inscription on the bell, in Czech, says: “I speak with the voice of a thousand bells silenced by war.” Petr Grassmayr, the current owner, said the bell was a symbol of peace, 80 years after bells were destroyed for war. The bell, which weighs a symbolic 9,801 kilograms, was cast in Innsbruck, Austria, by the Grassmayr Bell Foundry, which has been in operation since 1599. The concert is part of Prague Sounds and is being staged as part of the Czech Republic’s EU presidency. Only a few dozen of the 9,801 bells were returned after the war, as most had been destroyed. A new bell was unveiled yesterday on a pontoon in the Vltava river at Smetanovo nábřeží.