Today I'm introducing the bells of the Protestant Holy Cross Church in Meuselwitz (near Reichenbach/Ol.). 0:00 - Photo gallery with exterior shot 2:21 - Bell 3 4:04 - Bell 2 5:35 - Bell 1 7:05 - Full bells Meuselwitz is a town of 200 people in the central district of Görlitz, a few kilometers north of Reichenbach/Ol., to which it has belonged since 1994. In 1346, a church in Meuselwitz was first mentioned in the Meissen diocese registers. It was subordinate to the archpriest's seat of Reichenbach. In 1525, the Reformation was introduced; the church and the town became Protestant. Nevertheless, the town and the church were under the patronage of the St. Marienthal monastery until 1866. The church that is in the town today was built in 1855-1856 after the old church had become dilapidated and too small. The building was inspected and inaugurated in 1857. Inside, the eye is drawn directly to the magnificently decorated apse. The altarpiece with an oil painting of the Emmaus disciples recognizing Jesus breaking bread is the eye-catcher. The pulpit without color dates from 1680 and is probably from the previous church. There are reliefs of the four evangelists on the pulpit. The origin of the wooden figure of Moses under the pulpit cannot be clearly proven; either it comes from the previous building or is a rescue of a war refugee from the Second World War. The organ, which was built by the organ builder Michael Menger from Paulinzella, dates from 1857, as does the rest of the furnishings. It was extensively restored in 2003. Since 1993, fundamental renovations have been carried out on the church building, including the restoration of the altar in 2019. Until 1856, the Meuselwitz church had two medieval bells. These were replaced this year by a triple chime from the Gruhl foundry. The two larger bells were melted down during the First World War. The replacement bells cast in 1921 were also destroyed in the Second World War. Since 1955, the surviving Gruhl bell from 1856 has been supplemented by two larger chilled cast iron bells, which form a Te Deum motif with the bronze bell. While the iron bells do their job on cranked steel yokes, the bronze bell still hangs on the original wooden yoke with the original clapper in the wooden bell frame from 1856. In 1993, the bell frame was renovated and the controls for the clock and chime were replaced, for which the clock mechanism from 1909 was sold. The bells: Motif: a'-c''-d'' (Tedeum) Inscriptions and decorations on the bells are listed in the video. Bell 1 / chilled cast iron / a' / 1955 / Schilling & Lattermann, Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz (No. 1738/64) / 1125 mm Bell 2 / chilled cast iron / c'' / 1955 / Schilling & Lattermann, Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz / 930 mm Bell 3 / bronze / d'' / 1856 / Ernst Friedrich (I.) Gruhl, Kleinwelka / 628 mm About the recording: • All recordings of the church and bells were taken separately on December 28th, 2023. I would like to thank Ms. Mühle for making the recording possible and for her support, as well as Pastor Wiesener for putting me in touch. Sources: • own pictures, own sighting • Website of the KG: https://www.ev-kirche-reichenbach-meu... • Wikipedia article about the place • "The bells of Upper Lusatia" in the Niederlausitzer Magazin 1906, p.106f. (Author of the file: H. Kairies)