After a century of silence, historic bells will ring again at Halifax City Hall
Global News
Two massive bells were expected to be reinstalled today inside the clock tower at Halifax City Hall -- including one that was likely damaged by the Halifax Explosion in 1917.
Silenced for more than a century, two massive bells were expected to be reinstalled today inside the clock tower at Halifax City Hall — including one that was likely damaged by the Halifax Explosion in 1917.
The Victorian-style building was built between 1887 and 1890, and the clock in the seven-storey tower was added in 1904.
At least one of the bronze bells being restored was installed some time during that period and is believed to have been damaged when the city was rocked by a massive explosion caused by the collision of two wartime ships in the harbour on Dec. 6, 1917.
It remains unclear when the bells were removed from the tower, but the city says it was likely within two decades of the explosion.
Since 1995, a recording of the bells inside Big Ben — the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster in London — has been piped through loudspeakers to mimic the sound of the original bells.
The reinstalled bells will be rung by an automated system every quarter-hour.
“These historic bells will sound the same as they did over a hundred years ago, and might sound differently than the electronic bells that played (the) recording,” the city said in a statement.
The two clock faces on either side of the tower were replaced in 1999.