A bell partly made from weapons used in the war in Ukraine will soon ring in the heart of Prague.

Cast by the renowned Dutch foundry Royal Eijsbouts, the bell will be installed in the Church of the Most Holy Savior and consecrated during a special ceremony on Thursday, June 5.

Both the Czech presidential couple and the Dutch royal couple are expected to attend.

The bell, 69 centimeters in diameter and weighing over 220 kilograms, cost approximately CZK 550,000. It is already completed and currently housed at the Royal Eijsbouts factory in the Netherlands, awaiting its transport to Prague next week.

The idea behind the bell is deeply symbolic. Its material — recycled fragments of artillery shells, rockets, and other weaponry used during the Russian invasion of Ukraine — was collected in Ukraine and brought to the Netherlands in February with the help of the Ukrainian embassy.

This wasn’t a routine project. Using war metal presented technical challenges, particularly in predicting how it would affect the bell’s sound quality and casting properties.

The bell is more than a musical instrument. It’s a diplomatic symbol, designed to reinforce the solidarity between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands in their support for Ukraine. The inscriptions on the bell appear in Dutch, Czech, and Ukrainian, and a biblical quote graces its upper rim.

It has been 109 years since the Church of the Most Holy Savior last had a bell. Prague — like many European cities — lost numerous bells during the First and Second World Wars, as metal was requisitioned for the arms industry. “Bells were taken, melted down, and turned into cannons or ammunition,” explained a spokesperson from the Dutch embassy. “Now, we are reversing that history.”

The initiative is being led by the Sanctus Castulus association, a Czech group devoted to returning lost bells to their rightful places. They previously helped restore bells to Prague’s Churches of St. Haštal and St. Havel.

More than half the funding for the bell came from engineering firm Huisman Czech Republic, based in the Frýdek-Místek region. Other key sponsors include NN Life Insurance, the Dutch Embassy in Prague, and the transport company Voerman.

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