08/06/2025
🔔 When weapons turn into voice — a Bell of Freedom is born
On June 5, 2025, in the very heart of Prague, at the Church of the Most Holy Saviour near Charles Bridge, a new bell was unveiled — cast from destroyed Russian weapons used against Ukraine.
The ceremony took place in the presence of:
👑 Queen Máxima
🇨🇿 Czech President Petr Pavel
💠 First Lady Eva Pavlová
Though the bell now sings, its voice carries something much deeper — memory, resistance, and dignity.
🕯 A bell after 109 years of silence
The original bell at this site was cast by Karel Bellmann in 1852. It rang until 1916, when it was taken by the army during WWI and melted down for war needs — like many church bells across Prague.
Now history turns the other way:
From war — to harmony.
From destruction — to remembrance.
🤝 A symbol of international solidarity
Initiated by Dutch Ambassador Daan F. Huisinga, in partnership with Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Zvarych and Prague’s bellringers’ guild Sanctus Castulus, led by Ondřej Boháč.
The bell was cast by Joost Eijsbouts in Asten, Netherlands, on May 13, 2025, using fragments of artillery shells and a Russian S-300 missile found in Ukraine.
🔩 In its heart — a missile.
🧱 In its body — artillery steel.
📖 On its surface — words engraved in Dutch, Czech, and Ukrainian.
🔹 "Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
(Galatians 5:1)
🔹 "Cast from the wreckage of weapons during the harsh time of Russian aggression against Ukraine,
— as a symbol of friendship between the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.
I call for peace and freedom."
The bell's surface is covered with rows of small crosses in memory of those who lost their lives in Ukraine.
This is more than just bronze.
It is our response. It is our dignity.
It is our voice, cast from what tried to silence us.
—Prague, June 2025
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