*Location:

   Lowell House
   Harvard University
   Holyoke Place
   Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
   LL: N 42.37112, W 71.11822

   Danilov Monastery
   Moskva (Moscow), USSR (now Russia)

Site locator map

*Player:

   The Lowell House Ringing Society
     (The Klappermeisters)
   c/o Ben Rapoport, Head Bell Ringer
   E: rapoport@fas.harvard.edu

*Contact:

   Master of Lowell House
   Harvard University
   Cambridge, MA  02138
   T: 617-493-1600
   E: dianaeck@fas.harvard.edu,
      daustin@fas.harvard.edu
   - or -
   Lowell House Building Manager
   E: sammonds@fas.harvard.edu

*Schedule:

   Sundays 1300; Third Monday 1830;
   Commencement; annual (May) playing
   of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture".
   Silent 2016-18 during renovation of
   Lowell House

*Remarks:

   Zvon, with pitches approximately
   G0,A,C,D,D#,G1,C,G2,A,C,D,D#,F,G3,A,B,C.
   Original bells cast 1790-1890; an 18th
   bell was at the Harvard Business
   School; all were part of what was once
   perhaps as many as 34 bells in the
   Danilov Monastery, and were rescued
   from the Bolsheviks by an American
   businessman.  Rung here for the last
   time at Commencement in June 2008, then
   taken down for return to the Danilov
   Monastery in exchange for an equivalent
   set of new bells cast in 2007 by Vera
   LLC, Voronezh, Russia, gift of a
   Russian businessman.  Practice on set
   of 6 (or more) bells in basement of
   20 Prescott Street building.

*Technical data:

   Zvon of 17 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is G  in the bass octave
   Transposition is not applicable
   Keyboard range:     ZVON  /    NONE  
   The arrangement of tones and/or semitones
     is non-standard; see Remarks above.
   There is a non-identical practice console
   All bells were replaced in 2008
     by the maker cited in Remarks above
   Prior history:
     In 1930, a complete instrument was installed
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2018

Additional information on the technical history of this instrument can be found in a database printout.

The Lowell House Website has two tower photos on the home page, and presents two recently-added (c.2006?) slideshows about the bells.  Unfortunately, the slideshow photos (very good but very large!) are not captioned; they appear to include a visit to zvons and bell towers in Russia.

A background article on Lowell House mentions the bells and includes a photo of the tower and another among the bells.

A news article (23 May 2023) about ringing of bells for Harvard commencement opens with a large photo of the bass bell of the zvon being rung.

A Harvard Magazine article gives a brief history of the zvon and the plan to swap these historic bells for new bells.  (Agreement was reached in September 2006.)

"The Harvard Crimson" article on the planned return, with photo of the bass bell being rung by hand.

An illustrated news article about "Harvard's Russian Bells Return Home"
The same article with accompanying audio track

Page of photos of the replacement bells for Harvard, at the ceremony of blessing outside the Danilov tower, wherein hang the gathered substitute bells used there for 20 years.

A tower photo

Since the original instrument was by an assortment of founders, there is no foundry index entry for it.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all North American chimes by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American chimes by year of completion.

Where the bass bell of this zvon ranks among other great bells in North America

Index to all zvons in the USA.

Index to all tower bell instruments in MA.

   This page was built from the database on 31-Dec-18
   based on textual data last updated on 2018/12/10
   and on technical data last updated on 2008/06/30