The centuries-old clock from the Magnus Church in Anloo is being restored. For this purpose, the bell was lifted from the church tower and prepared for transport to Austria.
Normally the bell sounds around lunch time during the week. Primary school students have been coming to ring the bell at 12 noon for 70 years. The bell is also rung manually on Saturday afternoons and before a church service or funeral. But now it will be quiet for a while.
The almost 300 year old clock has never been restored. That is desperately needed, says clock expert Ralf van Veghel. For example, the broken clapper eye must be replaced, holes must be welded shut and the place where the clapper and bell wall meet must be thickened. If the latter is not done, the clock can break faster.
The 1,000 kilo bell was lifted from the church tower using a crane. To do this, a column first had to be removed from the side. This was previously demolished when the clock was removed from the tower during the Second World War. Then the Germans collected bells to use the bronze for weapons and bullets. The clock suffered damage at the time, but was not melted down. In December 1945 the clock was found in Hamburg.
Now all damage is repaired and the clock starts traveling again. Refurbishing a clock is specialist work. The Grassmayr bell foundry is located in Austria and has been making bells for over 400 years. At this foundry in Innsbruck they examine the material of the clock so that they can use the same composition for the restoration. The bell is then heated to 450 degrees for welding. It then takes a week to cool before the next damage can be addressed.
At the same time, a new bell chair is being made in the Netherlands. That is the scaffolding where the clock hangs.
The restoration will cost between 50 and 70 thousand euros and will take several months, says monument consultant Barry Gepken. “It’s a lot of work, but this is still one of my favorite projects because it concerns one of the oldest churches in Drenthe.” Because the Magnus Church is a national monument, the restoration is paid for by both the municipality and the government.
The intention is to have it back in place around the clock in the summer. “But we always have to wait and see how long exactly it will take. With the restoration of monuments you always encounter surprises.”
