Korean Friendship Bell in the Mist
by Donna Greene
Title
Korean Friendship Bell in the Mist
Artist
Donna Greene
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
During a visit to California I stopped to visit the Koren Friendship Bell. It was a very rainy, foggy day so it was completely in the mist. But I thought this shadowy image was amazing.
The Korean Bell of Friendship is a massive bronze bell housed in a stone pavilion in Angel's Gate Park, in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It occupies part of the former Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur.
The bell was presented by the Republic of Korea to the American people to celebrate the bicentennial of the United States and to symbolize friendship between the two nations. It was dedicated on October 3, 1976 and declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1978.
It is modeled after the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok the Great of Silla in 771 for Bongdeok Temple; both are among the largest bells in the world. The bell is made of over 17 tons of copper and tin, with gold, nickel, lead, and phosphorus added to the alloy for tone quality. It has a diameter of 7� feet, average thickness of 8 inches, and a height of 12 feet. The exterior surface is richly decorated in relief, featuring four pairs of figures. Each pair includes a "Goddess of Liberty" and an Seonyeo or Korean spirit figure holding a Korean national symbol: a Taegeuk symbol, a branch of rose of Sharon, a branch of laurel, and a dove.
Beginning in 2010, the bell is struck five times a year: on New Year's Eve, Korean American Day, the national independence day of the United States; Korean Liberation Day and every September in celebration of Constitution Week. It was also rung on September 11, 2002 to commemorate the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The bell does not have a clapper; instead, it is sounded by striking it with a large wooden log.
The pavilion which houses the bell was built by Korean craftsmen over a period of ten months. Its design is traditional. It is axially symmetric, consisting of a hipped roof supported by twelve columns representing
Uploaded
December 9th, 2012
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