Bells

This thesis is about the bells as a culture artefacts. It is divided into four parts. The first part is historica1. It begins with the developement of the bells in the ancient times and continues through the period of the middle ages to the beginning of the bell founding as a craft. It continues with the developement of the bell founding in Bohemia to the present days. The second part treats the technique of the bell manufacturing. It also includes the brief technical description of the bell accessories. The third part treats the bell as a musical instrument and iť s sound. The last fourth part is about legends and stories concerning the bells. This work also mentions well known and famous bells in our country and abroad. The next subject is about orchestral bells which have a little tradition in Czech republic but in the other parts ofthe world is considered as a top ofthe bell founding. The research objective of this work is to show the bell as a multicultural artefact with iť s own history and to describe the bell founding as an original craft. It was very respectful in the past but nowadays it looses iť s importance. One possibility of the future developement in the world are orhcestral bells. Leť shope that this tendence will set up in our country