*Location:

   Vaskikello (Brassbellstore) Bell Museum
   Highway E75 (Jyvåskylåntie)
     at Highway 27 (Vaskellontie)
   Pyhäsalmi, Oulun Lääni, Finland
   LL: N 63.71352, E 25.91826

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Contact:

   Lassi and Kaisa Rönkkö
   Vaskikello
   Vaskikellontie 420
   FIN-86800 Pyhäsalmi
   T: +358 8 780 780   F: +358 8 780 188
   E: info/@/vaskikello DOTfi

*Remarks:

   A collection of more than 1500 bells
   of all kinds, including the various
   other instruments listed here;
   may include three more chimes.
   It began in 1973 with a single bell to
   fit the newly-adopted name of the
   roadhouse/restaurant, and "just grew."
   Also here is a foundry where small
   bronze bells are cast.

*Technical data:

   Chime-sized instrument with action described in Remarks above of  8 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is unknown
   Transposition is unknown
   Keyboard range:     NONE  /    NONE  
   The arrangement of tones and semitones is unknown.
   Work was done (as described in Remarks above) in ****
     by the maker cited in Remarks above
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2004

The Website of this combination restaurant, gas station and museum (text in Finnish only; formerly there was English, Esperanto and German also) has photos of the building and of the small bells produced by the on-site foundry.

Google StreetView of the property from the highway intersection; travel left or right for other views of this collection.  There are also spot views.

Video (4:55, made from photos) of both outdoor and indoor parts of the collection.

Photos and description (text in Esperanto)

A visitor's photos of many of the bells (text in Finnish)

Another visitor's photos (text in German)

A visitor's photos (very large page) - #1= large bell shed; #2= Perner automatic chime in foreground, telephone shelter in left background, oriental bell in right background; #3= bell shed near entrance, with two sets of steel bells; #4= Szabados automatic chime; #5= large steel bells in shed; #6= previous highway sign bell (now demoted) for advertising on the restaurant (compare to the present gold-leaf-covered bell on the splash page of the Vaskikello Website).
  There's a story about the telephone shelter (the two bright orange bells at an angle).  Some time after they had been put up, a German tourist discovered that the bells had come from his own parish church.  Disturbed about their present use, he took a photo of them back to his parish priest.  The priest examined the photo and then said, "Obviously these people have a direct telephone to Heaven; so it's OK!"

From a visitor's gallery:
the largest bell shed, with the great bell on the second level, chime actions at the right end;
another photo of the same area;
small bells displayed between glass panes in the restaurant windows;
the shed over the entrance driveway, with sets of 5, 3 and 2 cast steel bells, painted for protection against rust;
a large bronze bell;
a large oriental bell.

Where one bell of this collection ranks among all great bells in Europe.

Index to all tower bell instruments in Finland.

   This page was built from the database on 26-Mar-20
   based on textual data last updated on 2020/03/21
   and on technical data last updated on 2006/04/12