Bells from Palma Cathedral going to Germany

In a few weeks, the dome of the steeple of Palma Cathedral will need to be dismounted. At almost 50 meters high, work will be performed to remove the bells. Five of them – named na Picarol, la Prima, la Martines, n’Antonia and n’Eloi – will be taken to the Lachenmeyer restoration workshop in Nordlinger in Germany. The other bells – na Barbara, la Mitya, la Nova (or na Piza) and the Tercia will be restored here in Mallorca.  From May until September, therefore, the city will be without the sounds that have governed life in Palma for centuries.
The work, which will require the use of an enormous and powerful telescopic crane, is part of a broader restoration scheme that will also include part of the steeple and the cloister and which will run to a cost of 1.6 million euros.  According to Enric Taltavull, the Palma Cathedral architect, the bells are some of the most important in Spain, and the aim of the restoration is to insure that the bells’ original sounds and chime are reproduced as faithfully as possible and that the Catherdral itself is returned to it’s original state.
As Taltavull and the surveyor, Bartomeu Bennassar, have explained, the bells have been subjected to various changes, such as the addition in the 1950s of an iron yoke. This will be removed and a wooden one, in keeping with the original, will replace it. Meanwhile, the bells’ system of electrification will be upgraded to one controlled by computer.
The most famous of the bells – n’Eloi, which rings during Corpus Christi, when a new pope is elected and when there is a death of the Bishop. The bells weights a mighty 4,700 kilos.