The Wishing Bell

The bell was cast in 1646 by the court master of King Wladyslaw IV and was intended for the bell tower on the building of the Jesuit college in the city of Jaroslaw. Possibly, due to the presence of cracks in the body during the casting process and flaws in the design, the bronze bell could not be used to create sound. It never reached the city of Jaroslaw, as it sounded incorrectly during the final rehearsal. Maltreated, stored in various places, it finally found its way into the collections of the National Museum, and in 1972, it found its way here to Kanonia. The bell is associated with a beautiful legend.

Renowned throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a bell-founder named Daniel, who had a beautiful daughter, Marynia. Raised alone by her father after her mother's early death, Daniel poured all his love into Marynia, striving to provide her with the best life possible. A master of his craft, Daniel's services were in high demand, leading him to hire a young man named Hans, eager but not particularly sharp, dreaming of fame and fortune. Hans, struggling in his work and envious of Marynia's love for Kajetan, a shoemaker's apprentice, plotted to marry her in hopes of gaining her father's knowledge and wealth.

However, Marynia loved Kajetan, and Daniel supported their relationship. Meanwhile, Daniel received a significant commission from the Jesuits to create a bell for a church, incorporating a secret formula into the alloy to give the bell a singing soul. When Marynia rejected Hans, he, in jealousy, sabotaged Daniel's workshop by adding tin to the bell's alloy and poisoned Kajetan's beer, leading to Kajetan's death after three days of suffering. The bell, when first rung, produced a beautiful but final sound before shattering.

Devastated, Marynia spent her remaining days in a convent, and both she and Kajetan were buried in the churchyard. As for Hans, he was found dead in the Vistula River three weeks later, his fate, whether suicide or retribution from Kajetan's spirit, remains unknown.

The broken bell was pieced together and placed at the burial site of the trio, now a square by the Kanonia, which served as a cemetery at that time. Legend has it that on the night of October 31st, if one listens to the bell, they can hear the voices of the protagonists, and any intentions whispered to them will be carried straight to heaven.

The height of the bell is 127 cm, the width is 135 cm.

On the bell, there are two lines of inscriptions in Latin.

The first inscription: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us 1646.

Below it, the second inscription: Praise him with sounding cymbals, let every spirit praise the Lord. This is a fragment of Psalm 150 from the Holy Scripture.

Below the inscriptions, a coat carved with garlands of plants. Below the garlands, bas-reliefs. Placed symmetrically. On one side of the coat, the figure of the Resurrected Christ. Below him, a shield with four coats of arms. On the other side of the coat, images of the Crucified Christ, the Virgin Mary with the Child, and Saint John the Baptist, along with the letters ISSI VE MM. Below them, an oval cartouche framed by a wreath. On the cartouche, a text in German: Made with God's help by Daniel Thyma.

Below the cartouche, a large inscription in Latin: In Warsaw. (Information about the place of bell casting.)