Grassmayr Bells Museum (Innsbruck)

 museum, interesting place

The Grassmayr bell foundry can look back on more than 400 years of experience, tradition and history, which is really considerable. In 1599 AD Bartlme Grassmayr casted his first bell and since then this expert knowledge is kept as a secret. Today in more than 100 states bells which have been produced in the Grassmayr bell foundry can be heard. And still today the bells are casted according to traditional handicraft methods. The Grassmayr bell foundry is where not only bells are produced, but also restaured. The largest bell that has been casted in the bell foundry weighs 10 tons and sounds every day at 5 pm in Telfs/Mösern in North Tyrol. The so-called “Friedensglocke” (peace bell) sounds for “peaceful neighbourhood and peace in the Alps”. In the bell foundry there is also a museum that is really worth to be visited, as it is a combination of museum and bell foundry. The sound room of the museum is a real acoustic experience, as the bells of the Grassmayr bell foundry makes sound several tones in its complex structure. The larger bells produce up to 50 partial tones which you can all make out. The concept of the Grassmayr Bells Museum has also been awarded: the Austrian federal ministry of culture has awarded the Austrian Museum Prize to the museum. Additionally the Austrian television ORF has awarded the Maecenas Prize. If you would like to visit the Grassmayr Bells Museum we recommend you to arrange enough time, so to speak at least one hour!