Anyone closing a church should think about the bells soon enough

Around ten years ago, Sebastian Wamsiedler 's gaze lingered on a picture that stayed with him: He saw a demolished church tower in the newspaper - with a broken bell in the centre. "Obviously nobody had thought about the bells," the bell expert thought to himself. This was a turning point for him. He wanted to prevent bells from simply being melted down when churches were closed.

Even as a teenager, Wamsiedler was interested in the special sound of bells. The mixture of music, architecture and history fascinated the Salzgitter native. He attended the College of Church Music in Regensburg and Halle (Saale) and trained as a bell expert. Today, the 44-year-old is a freelancer, travelling from diocese to diocese and from regional church to regional church to repair, tune and maintain bells. His mission in life is to "preserve the bell as a cultural asset".

In his job, he has to deal with church closures time and again. His biggest concern is that the bells are simply stored somewhere or melted down. "With the right care, the bells can live for several hundred years," says Wamsiedler. They are far too good to simply give them up because a church is being demolished or a new owner is bothered by the bells in the tower.

As used organs are often sold to other parishes or private individuals, Wamsiedler and his colleague Matthias Braun thought to themselves: "Perhaps bells can also be sold on." The two bell experts decided to set up a sales platform for used church bells. The bell exchange was born. However, they were initially met with scepticism. "Nobody could imagine that there were any buyers for used church bells," the expert recalls. But he and his colleague persisted. As soon as they heard about a church closure, they got in touch with the congregation. "We asked if they already knew what was going to happen to their bells."

It was also important to build trust with the parishes, regional churches and dioceses. "After all, the bells are a liturgical instrument that enjoys a special protected status," explains the 44-year-old. He and his colleague don't want to give the impression that they only want to earn money with the historic sounding bodies. "Our aim is to take bells to where they are still needed," says Wamsiedler.

When parishes want to sell their bells, the Bell Exchange first scrutinises them closely: technical and musical data is collected and photos are taken. If everything fits, a purchase offer is posted on the website. The bells remain in the possession of the respective parish until an offer is made. "We don't buy any bells ourselves," emphasises Wamsiedler. The decision as to whom to sell to also remains with the parish. The task of the bell exchange is to find suitable matches - both musically and architecturally, the new home must fit the bell. Wamsiedler and Braun also take care of the price negotiations and the organisation of dismantling and transport.

However, a lot of time can pass before a bell reaches its new home. During this time, the bells should ideally still be hanging in the church. There they are stored warm and dry and interested parties can view them on site. This is why Wamsiedler appeals to people to think about the bells at an early stage when churches are being closed. After all, if it is only realised a few weeks before the church is demolished that a place for the bells still needs to be found, it is usually already too late. "Unfortunately, bells are regularly forgotten and then remain silent in the bell towers or are melted down," says the 44-year-old.

Bells are sold across national borders

But who actually buys an old church bell? "Our market is clearly parishes," says the bell exchange founder. Over the past ten years, the Bell Exchange has brokered the heavy instruments across Europe. "From Iceland to Spain, from the Benelux countries to the Ukraine," Wamsiedler lists. Individual bells even went to India, Ghana or Nigeria. However, a number of the large instruments would also remain in Germany, where there are still bell losses from the Second World War.

Many bronze bells were melted down at that time. In the eastern German states in particular, no new bells have been purchased to this day. In the post-war period, many municipalities replaced their losses with cheaper iron models, which are now rusting and need to be replaced. "The parishes then consider what they can afford," says Wamsiedler. New bells are expensive - they can quickly cost tens of thousands of euros. According to Wamsiedler, used bells are often 50 to 60 per cent cheaper.

The Bell Exchange faces particular challenges when it comes to international brokerage. This is because the profession of bell expert does not exist in many countries. The two men then try to find out from afar what kind of bells the parishes are looking for and which ones would even fit into their places of worship. "We then do our best from Germany with lots of photos, videos and measurements, which the parishes carry out under supervision," says Wamsiedler.

In the meantime, the Bell Exchange has a large file of searching churches waiting for an offer. It can take two to three years before a suitable bell is found. All the greater the joy on all sides when a placement is successful. "It is a consolation for the communities that give up their bells to give them a second life," says Wamsiedler.

He and his colleague receive pictures and videos from the buyer parishes after almost every sale. He remembers a sale in Slovenia: A large marquee was erected in front of a church in the middle of a mountain. The bells came decorated with flowers on a horse-drawn cart. The whole congregation was gathered and the bishop blessed the bells from Germany. "It's really nice to be able to witness stories like this," he says with a smile.

Every bell that is passed on is a small consolation for the Catholic Warmsiedler. Because every closed church makes him sad. He doesn't believe that anything can be done about this development. "I can only make sure that at least some of the churches that are important to us don't just gather dust in the depot - but continue to be used by people who enjoy them," says Wamsiedler. In this way, he hopes to be a small building block in the great task of dealing responsibly with the heritage of churches.