China's Yongle Bell
One of the most awesome tones of any bell ever made. A classic achievement of a
great culture. The 46.5ton bell is covered with over 227,000 characters of
Buddhist scriptures. Located in Beijing.
TexHenge Great Bell
As a tribute to the Yongle Bell of China, we are making the Great Bell slightly
smaller, about 42tons. The Great Bell is not a religious bell, but will be used
as a lucky bell for weddings, parties and meetings.
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Great Bell
The TexHenge Great Bell is a tribute to the
"Yongle Bell" in China, and is the main exhibit in our Asian Center that
features the cultures of Asia. The largest ringing bell in the world weighs
90tons and is located in Myanmar (Burma).
The Yongle Bell is the largest
ringing bell in China. It is over 22ft (6.75m) tall and almost 11ft (3.3m) in
diameter and weighs 46.5tons. Its enormous sound ranges from 22-800Hz and can be peaked at 120dB, which has been heard 50 miles away in the quiet of night.
We could easily build a bell much bigger than the
Yongle Bell with modern methods. However, the 600 year old bell has a bold,
distinctive note that is simply awesome, and we want our Great Bell to be
similar.
As a tribute, the Great Bell will be
21ft (6.5m) tall and 10.5ft (3.2m) in diameter and will weigh about 42tons. Therefore it will be just slightly smaller than the Yongle bell, and should give us a beautiful, massive tone in the 28-920Hz range, which out of courtesy to everyone's ears will be rung at a softer level. It should produce an awesome low note heard for two miles, and tolerable for people standing even close by.
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