Bell

The bell of the Voss family – the best-known Szczecin bellmakers, was purchased for the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin by Antykwariat Pomorski in 2002. The Voss family – Carl Voss and his son Ernst, cast bells in Szczecin (then Stettin) between 1828 and 1928, which brought them fame on the German market and beyond – they exported their products to America and Australia. In addition to bells, they also made candelabras, chandeliers and ship fittings. After World War I, the company saw decline. In 1928, the Voss family cast 500 more bells, but on July of 1929, they shut down production after casting the bell no. 3418. The economic turmoil caused by the outbreak of World War II prevented running bell production on a larger scale. Despite this, the company continued to manufacture its products without interruption until 1955. Very few bells have survived from the Szczecin period. Most of them were melted down during World War I. This fate was also met by the largest of the bells produced by Voss in 1917 – the Castle Church bell cast in 1890, which weighed 6.6 tonnes.

Anna Lew-Machniak