The Korean Bell of Friendship (more commonly called Korean Friendship Bell) is a massive

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

housed in a stone pavilion in Angel's Gate Park, in the San Pedro neighborhood of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Located at the corner of Gaffey and 37th Streets, the section of the park is alternatively called the "Korean–American Peace Park" and occupies part of the former Upper Reservation of

Fort MacArthur Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army installation in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California (now the port community of Los Angeles). A small section remains in military use by the United States Air Force as a housing and administrative annex ...

Description

It is modeled after the Divine Bell of

King Seongdeok the Great of Silla Seongdeok Daewang (reigned 702–737) was the thirty-third king of the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla. He was the second son of King Sinmun, and the younger brother of King Hyoso. In 704 Seongdeok married Lady Baeso 陪昭夫人 (Queen S ...

(also known as the Emille Bell), cast in 771 for Bongdeok Temple and now located at the National Museum of

Gyeongju Gyeongju ( ko, 경주, ), historically known as ''Seorabeol'' ( ko, 서라벌, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, ...

. It was designated National Treasure of Korea number 29 in 1962. The Emille Bell is the largest bell ever cast in Korean history; both are among the largest bells in the world. The bell is made of over seventeen tons of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

and tin, with

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow t ...

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

, and

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ea ...

added to the

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductili ...

for tone quality. It has a circumference of , diameter of , average thickness of , and a height of . The exterior surface is richly decorated in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

, featuring four pairs of figures. Each pair includes a "Goddess of Liberty" (bearing some resemblance to the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

) and a ''Seonnyeo'', or Korean spirit figure, holding the South Korean national symbol: a

Taegeuk ''Taegeuk'' (, ) is a Korean term cognate with the Chinese term '' Taiji'' ( Wade-Giles spelling: ''T'ai-chi''), meaning "supreme ultimate", although it can also be translated as "great polarity / duality". The symbol was chosen for the desig ...

symbol, a branch of rose of Sharon, a branch of laurel, and a dove. Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro

History

The bell was presented by the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n government to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to celebrate the bicentennial of the U.S. and to symbolize friendship between the two countries. The effort was coordinated by

Philip Ahn Philip Ahn (born Pillip Ahn (), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was an American actor and activist of Korean descent. With over 180 film and television credits between 1935 and 1978, he was one of the most recognizable and prolific Asi ...

, a

Korean American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian America ...

actor. It was dedicated on October 3, 1976, and declared

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cult ...

No. 187 on May 3, 1978. The bell is struck 13 times on the first Saturday of each month at 11:30 AM. Beginning in 2010, the bell has been ceremonially struck five times a year: # Dec 31:

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

# Jan 13: Korean American Day # Jul 4:

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

# Aug 15: Korean Liberation Day # Sep 17:

Constitution Day Constitution Day is a holiday to honour the constitution of a country. Constitution Day is often celebrated on the anniversary of the signing, promulgation or adoption of the constitution, or in some cases, to commemorate the change to constitut ...

It was also rung on September 11, 2002, to commemorate the first anniversary of the

September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. The bell does not have a clapper; instead, it is sounded by striking it with a large wooden log. The pavilion that houses the bell, known as the Belfry of Friendship, was built by South Korean craftsmen over a period of ten months. Its design is

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

. It is axially symmetric, consisting of a hipped (a.k.a. "pyramidal") roof supported by twelve columns representing the

Korean zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remai ...

, each column guarded by a carved animal. The color patterning along the bell's pavilion is known in Korean as '' dancheong''. In 2013, the bell received a full restoration to remove accumulated rust and graffiti tagging, and access to the bell and the pavilion was restricted from September through December. The City of Los Angeles rededicated the Bell during a public ceremony on January 10, 2014, after the Korean

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is a central government agency responsible for the areas of tourism, culture, art, religion, and sports. It has two vice ministers, three assistant ministers, one commission, and ...

contributed more than to hire bell masters for the restoration. Access to the Bell was closed for more than a year following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, reopening in May 2021. file:Korean Friendship Bell panorama.JPG , Panorama including the belfry file:Korean FriendshipBell ArtWork.JPG , '' Dancheong'' decoration File:Koreanfriendshipbell.JPG , Belfry and plaza File:Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro, CA.jpg , Korean Liberation Day ceremonies (2019) file:Korean Friendship Bell Roof - Los Angeles.JPG , Roof of belfry File:Korean Bell of Frienship, San Pedro CA - 36525552234.jpg , Bell and striker File:Korean Bell of Frienship, San Pedro CA - 36525512584.jpg , Relief detail

Popular culture

The Korean Friendship Bell is featured in films, television shows, and video games including: * (1995) ''

The Usual Suspects ''The Usual Suspects'' is a 1995 neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwait ...

'', as the location of the jewel exchange during the opening scenes. * (2002) Bollywood movie

Kaante ''Kaante'' () is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language action-thriller film directed by Sanjay Gupta, written by Milap Zaveri, and starring an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Kumar Gaurav, Sunil Shetty, Lucky Ali, Mahesh Manjrek ...

shows one of the characters (Andy) walking with his kid in the park, with the belfry in background. * (1996) American TV series ''Profiler'' features the bell and its pavilion in the Season 1 episode "Unholy Alliance." * (2013) A similar pavilion is included in the "Little Seoul" area of Los Santos, a fictional recreation of Los Angeles for the game ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and the fifteenth in ...

''. * (2015)

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent r ...

used this location to film the music video for the song "

Music to Watch Boys To "Music to Watch Boys To" is a song by American singer Lana Del Rey from her fourth studio album ''Honeymoon'' (2015). It was written by Del Rey and Rick Nowels. It was released as the second single from ''Honeymoon'' on September 11, 2015, via di ...

" as has the South Korean rapper Zico.

References

External links

SanPedro.net: Korean Bell of Friendship and Bell Pavilion
– ''panoramic photograph and facts''.

– ''photograph of U.S. and South Korean officials ringing the bell in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

on June 29, 1976; in "Stars and Stripes" newspaper. {{LAHMC Korean-American culture in Los Angeles Individual bells in the United States Korean art Buildings and structures in Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments San Pedro, Los Angeles Buildings and structures completed in 1976

Description

History

Popular culture

See also

References

External links