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Róbert Slíž

  • Bellfounder
  • Rožňava, Slovakia
  • Rising Star
Róbert Slíž Bellfounder
Contact
Slovak, English, Hungarian
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+421 911555339
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A medieval craft

  • • Róbert is a self-taught, one-of-a-kind bell maker
  • • He only uses medieval techniques
  • • Each bell is unique and takes months to complete

"My grandfather used to maintain the bells in the municipal belfry in Plešivec," says Róbert Slíž. "After visiting the tower of St. Elizabeth in Košice at the age of 12, I became more interested in bells than ever, and at 15, I decided to try and make my first bell". In 2013, Róbert started to produce his first casting mould based on medieval technology. The biggest problem was finding the right recipe for the clay blend so it wouldn’t crack, a process that took about three years of experimentation. During that time Róbert and his father built a small workshop in the area of Krásnohorská Dlhá Lúka, and in November 2015 he successfully cast his first bells.

Read the full interview

Works

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False bell

This beeswax piece is a mould, also called a 'false bell', which was created for the production of a bronze bell for a castle in Filakovo. Beeswax moulds are intended for the application of decoration during the last part of the casting process.

Diameter 28 cm

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Bronze bell for a chapel

This small bell was handcrafted in bronze for a wooden church in Horná Mariková-Ráztokaa. It was richly adorned in a baroque style with patterns used during the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe. Róbert has reproduced a relief portrait of Saint Joseph.

Diameter 36 cm

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Replica of an 18th century bell

Róbert modelled this bronze bell on one from the 18th century and faithfully reproduced the original decoration. It was created according to ancient bellfounding techniques, essentially unchanged since the 12th century.

Diameter 14 cm

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Carillon of a reformed church in Hajdúnánás, Hungary

This set of 16 tuned carillon bells is intended to be used for performing hundreds of melodies. It was created according to ancient bellfounding techniques, essentially unchanged since the 12th century.

cm

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Eugénie bell

The Eugénie Bell was cast in bronze on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of the last French Empress, Eugénie de Montijo. It was placed in the imperial crypt of the Church of Saint Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, United Kingdom, where the Empress, her husband Napoleon III and their sons are buried.

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