Visit the Tellin bell museum
- Coffee reception from 9 a.m. - rdv place du Chat-Botté
*Departure, by coach, at 9:30 am, to Tellin for the Bell Museum.
11 am: Visit to the bell museum and the old foundry.
“Through the theme of time, the Tellin-Fonderie asbl aims to introduce you to the various stages in bell-making. In the heart of the former Causard-Slégers foundry, you'll be able to admire the clay molds used to make bells, as well as remarkable church clocks.
The sounds of our carillon will take young and old on a journey back to the ancestral days of the bell founders, as you discover how cowhair and horse dung became indispensable to these craftsmen”.
1 p.m. : surprise lunch and one drink per participant.
1:45pm: bell workshops.
For older children:
We'll be asking ourselves when and why the carillon is going to ring. The results of this workshop will be communicated to Pavel Tchikov so that he can create compositions in keeping with the chosen moments and events.
For the little ones:
A technical wax-molding workshop is offered, and children leave with their molds. Observation and discussion around the making of the bells (where the wax comes from, discovery of the world of bees, etc.).
- A drawing workshop on bell decorations:
- What decorations can be found on bells? And why?
- What inscriptions can be found on bells? Why or why not?
The aim is to create new designs for the new bells in the carillon project.
Return at 5 p.m. ("place du Chat-Botté")
All free, but registration is required!
“The history of Tellin, a village between Lesse and Lhomme, is closely linked to the art of bell making.
Bells have existed since Antiquity. The Chinese were already making them two thousand years before our era. The first Christians used them as a symbol of calling, rallying and communication. According to tradition, Saint Paulin (353-431), bishop of Nole (Italy, Campania), introduced the use of bells into the Church.
At first, bells were melted on site, near churches and monasteries, by itinerant founders known as saintiers, because of the effigies of saints that decorated their bells. The means of communication did not allow for the transportation of large loads. What's more, the octroi payable at town entrances and bridge crossings added to the cost of the bells. It was therefore the founders who had to travel. The main foundry dynasties (Joris, Perrin, Gaulard, Causard,...) came from villages in Bassigny, Haute-Marne, in French Lorraine.”
“Around 1806, a fire ravaged the village of Tellin. In 1821, the church was burnt down again, along with three-quarters of the houses. It was rebuilt in 1829. A bell weighing 806 pounds ¾ was cast at the foot of the steeple in 1832 by Charles Causard. All the founders were linked in one way or another by family ties. Charles Causard learned the trade from his uncle, Joseph Perrin.
In Belgium, the liberal system favored trade and abolished the duties and taxes inherited from the old structures; roads were more comfortable. Foundrymen settled down and foundries multiplied. In Tellin, Charles Causard met Lucienne Slégers, whom he married in 1834. In 1832, he decided to build a permanent foundry in an iron parts workshop. Circumstances favored Charles Causard's move to Tellin. An important post office facilitated mail exchanges. In addition, the village is home to numerous small businesses: an iron foundry, hemp cloth weavers, brickmakers, clog makers, a farriery, etc. Clay, wood, charcoal and lead are also found here...
From Charles Causard to Georges II Slégers, from 1832 to 1970, four generations of master foundrymen succeeded one another at the head of the family business. Thanks to its location on the stagecoach route between France and Germany, the foundry enjoyed a remarkable economic boom, aided by the need to rebuild the religious heritage destroyed during the French Revolution, and by the increase in the number of parishes and churches in response to calls from the Vatican to mark the century with a massive, visible Church presence.
Thousands of bells were cast in the Val des Cloches workshop. They are now found in Canada, Colombia, Korea, etc. Most of the surrounding villages ring Tellin's bells”.
Bell workshop: bell decorations
The museum visit allowed everyone to familiarize themselves with the world of bells, and more specifically, bell ringing. We learned how bells were made through a period film, but also thanks to a visit to the foundry workshop accompanied by a passionate guide. We learned how the decorations on the bells were made, the different ways of ringing them, and a whole range about the life of bells.
We were welcomed by Olivier Baudri, the bell ringer who will install the bells on the COBRALO carillon. He bought the foundry building to preserve this exceptional heritage, and he also joined us for the “bell workshop.” The purpose of our visit was to familiarize ourselves with these bronze instruments and their design in order to think about the decorations for the bells of the future carillon. To this end, with Stéphanie (facilitator at the non-profit organization Philocité), we first thought about what could represent the identity of the Cité-jardin neighborhood. We passed around the microphone and each of us took turns sharing an idea or a feeling. Everyone had a chance to express themselves. Next, we formed groups in which each member drew an element of the design in order to fuel the discussion and give initial shape to the future designs for COBRALO bells.
You can see and listen to the results below.
Here are the elements that were proposed to decorate the bells:
- Flowers and fruits from the apple and cherry trees that line the streets of the neighborhood.
- The map and names of the streets, most of which are named after animals from Jean de la Fontaine's fables: weasel, hedgehog, etc.
- The representation of the multiculturalism of the plateau of living together, through flags or a farandole of people holding hands.
- The garden city, beautiful and wooded on the edge of the city and the countryside, close to the village.
- The little stream “Linkebeek” that marks the boundary of COBRALO's territory.
- The unique U-shape of Place du Chat-Botté and its old swimming pool, which brought people together and provided refreshment or served as a skating rink depending on the season.
- Dates: 1953 (creation of the Garden City), 2016-2017: creation of the carillon
- Family names, the initials of the participants, the footprints of the neighborhood's residents.
- The Cobralienne logo, the representation of the sculpture of the “parrot playing the flute.”