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Largest Swinging Bell in the USA

Largest Swinging Bell in the USA

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  • Address: 425 York Street, Newport, KY 41071

This Big Bell has symbolized world peace for 15 years in Newport, Kentucky

The World Peace Bell is found in Newport, a small Kentucky city just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.

This amazing Big Thing To See in the USA is a former World Record holder that was, until a few years ago, the Biggest Bell in the World!

Cast in 1998 and dedicated on 12/31/1999, it is one of over 20 Peace Bells located around the globe. Weighing in at 73,381 pounds (that’s almost 37 Big Tons), it’s 12 feet wide and made from copper (80%) and tin (20%). It rang – for you music students, in the note of “A” – for the 1st time in America as the year 2000 began. The sound was heard as far as 25 miles away!

This Big Bell is inscribed to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and marked with engravings representing the important events from the years 1000 to 1999!

Photos by Jere Keys (above) and Jason Meredith (above-right)

This Giant Symbol of America’s hope for a peaceful future was cast at a ship propeller foundry in Nantes, France, on December 11, 1998, which was the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The bellfounders involved were Pierre Paccard, his sons Philippe and Cyril, and Miguel Lopez.

The French held a public ceremony and rang the bell 3 months later. It was then shipped across the Atlantic to New Orleans, and then up the mighty Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. It reached Newport on August 1. This Big Bell is now rung every day at 11:55am local time. (Why? So its sound doesn’t drown out other local bells at 12:00. Really!)

The World Peace Bell is linked to a museum by a bridge, and the entire Millennium Monument is easy to visit if you find yourself near Cincinnati or in Northern Kentucky! Just drive your rental car over to The World Peace Bell Center, 425 York Street, Newport, KY 41071.

BigBell-JereKeys

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