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!colspan=2 bgcolor=#987890|Specifications

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| Weight:

| 66,000 lb (30,000 kg)

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| Diameter:

| 12 feet (3.7 m)

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| Material:

| 80% copper, 20% tin

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| Yoke:

| 16,512 pounds (7,490 kg)

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| Clapper:

| 6,878 pounds (3,120 kg)

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| Location:

| Newport, Kentucky, United States

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| Casting Date:

| December 11, 1998

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| Musical note:

| A

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thumb|right|245px|World Peace Bell

The World Peace Bell is an international, commemorative bell that ceremonially opened the twenty-first century at 1 January 2000 (00:00:00 EST) with its first swing. It is a secular bell not associated with any single group, but all mankind collectively. As such, its founding was a collaborative, international civic operation (executed under the auspices of organizations in the United States and France).

Its widely-broadcast dedication took place on December 31, 1999, in the bell's permanent home of Newport, Kentucky (Greater Cincinnati) in the hours preceding its inaugural swing. In keeping with its secular theme of world peace, the bell features an inscription invoking the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and engravings marking important events from the past thousand years.

It is a traditional, Western-style swing bell. The Peace Bell weighs 30,000 kg (66,000 lb) and boasts a width of 3.7 m (12 feet) wide. Until 2006, it was the largest, functional swinging bell ever successfully produced.

Though it is the largest bell dedicated to peace internationally, it is not a part of the Japanese peace bell program, which has installed over twenty Eastern-style temple bells across the globe.

History

The plan in 1997 was to cast the bell near Newport, Kentucky, in an on-site foundry. The bell would have hung in a Millennium Monument tower to open on New Year's Eve 1999, with an 85-bell carillon featuring this bell as its largest. At first the bell was called "The Millennium Bell." Later the plans were reduced to a smaller tower for the bell with an accompanying museum.

The Verdin Company managed the project on the U.S. side on behalf of the Millennium Monument Company. On August 1, 2024, workers and equipment removed the bell and trucked it to a temporary location. City leaders hope to find a suitable site on the riverfront to permanently install the bell at a later date.

See also

  • Japanese Peace Bell
  • Korean Bell of Friendship

Notes

  • YouTube video of the peacebell in action
  • In Honor of the Peace Bell and Newport, Kentucky. Congressional Record: August 5, 1999 (Extension of Remarks) Page E1798. DOCIC:crau99pt2-86.
  • City of Newport, Kentucky
  • Paccard Foundry (in French)