Fonderie Paccard, Bell foundry and museum in Sevrier, France
Fonderie Paccard is a bell foundry and museum in Sevrier, near Annecy. Its workshop casts bells and carillons, and the museum displays bells such as those in the photograph: bronze bells with greenish patina hanging from a black metal frame, one bearing an inscription and a wall behind reading "Chantent et sonn" and "PACCARD auto". The site also has an auditorium with a carillon.
Antoine Paccard founded the workshop in 1796 by casting a bell for a local church, establishing the start of a lasting family enterprise. Over more than two centuries, the workshop produced over 120,000 bells, becoming a renowned foundry across France and beyond.
The foundry's carillons include the 70-bell tour Yolande in Chambéry, the 68-bell carillon at the University of California, Berkeley, and the 62-bell carillon of Douai's town hall belfry. In 1950 the US government ordered 57 exact replicas of the Liberty Bell; in July 1951 one was given to Annecy, installed in the Basilica of Saint-Joseph-des-Fins. The museum, renamed musée Paccard in 2004, has a café-tearoom, "Au Paccard Gourmand", and an auditorium with a carillon.
Visitors can watch the production process from start to finish, from mold making to pouring molten metal, giving a clear view of how the craft works. It helps to allow plenty of time for a visit since the workshop is spread out and there is much to explore.
In 1891 the workshop cast La Savoyarde, which was the largest bell in France at that time and still hangs in the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur in Paris. This massive bell, weighing 18,835 kilograms, remains a rare achievement in bell-casting and visitors can learn about it through historical records and documentation.
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