Apolda
About Apolda
Apolda cast bells for two and a half centuries, and sent more than twenty thousand of them into the world — including the largest in Cologne Cathedral. The foundries are gone, the museum that explains them is not, and the town has two further claims that nobody expects: a car marque and a breed of dog.
Sights in Apolda
Auenstraße 11, 99510 Apolda
The museum is the town's own, and its subject is what the town did: bells, and textiles.
Apolda in depth
Where the bells came from, 1722 to 1910
The trade begins in 1722, when Johann Christoph Rose had a casting hut built in what is now the Glockengießerstraße. In 1759 the foundry passed to Johann Georg Ulrich, who came from a Hessian line of bell founders; a grandson opened a second works in 1826, and in 1876 Franz Friedrich August Schilling took one of them over by marrying into the family. The output is the striking part: 1,260 bells between 1826 and 1876, more than five thousand again by 1910, and over twenty thousand in all leaving this small town for the world.
The Decke Pitter, 1923
The largest bell in Cologne Cathedral was cast in Apolda in 1923 — the Decke Pitter, the fat Peter, which is the bell Cologne rings for the great feasts. The Ulrich foundry also cast the peal of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden.
How it ended, 1948 to 1988
The Ulrich foundry closed in 1948. The Schilling works kept going until 1988, by then mostly making carillons. What survives is the museum: founded in 1952, it sets out the cultural history of the bell from the beginnings to the present in five departments — a subject that sounds narrow until you stand in front of the objects and realise that a bell is the largest thing most towns ever commissioned.
Cars, dogs and knitting
Between 1904 and 1928 the firm of Ruppe und Sohn — from 1912 the Apollo-Werke AG — built cars here under the names Piccolo and Apollo. The Doberman is an Apolda dog: Friedrich Louis Dobermann, a townsman who lived from 1834 to 1894, bred it. And the knitting trade is older than either: an inheritance-rent register of 1593 lists a "David der Strickermann", which the town reads as evidence that hand-knitting was already a profession here.
Questions visitors ask
- What is Apolda known for?
- Apolda is known as the bell town: it cast bells for two and a half centuries, sending more than twenty thousand of them into the world, including the largest in Cologne Cathedral. It also gave its name to the Doberman and built cars under the names Piccolo and Apollo.
- How many bells were cast in Apolda?
- Over twenty thousand in all, including 1,260 between 1826 and 1876 and more than five thousand again by 1910.
- What is the Decke Pitter?
- The largest bell in Cologne Cathedral, cast in Apolda in 1923 — the bell Cologne rings for its great feasts. The Ulrich foundry also cast the peal of Dresden's Kreuzkirche.
- Can you visit the bell museum in Apolda?
- The Glockenmuseum, founded in 1952, sets out the cultural history of the bell in five departments, on the Glockengießerstraße where the first foundry stood from 1722.
- What is Apolda's connection to the Doberman?
- Friedrich Louis Dobermann, a townsman who lived from 1834 to 1894, bred the dog in Apolda.
Quick Information
Northeast
Highlights & Attractions
Historical Significance
Two and a half centuries of bell founding, from 1722 to the closure of the last works in 1988, with over 20,000 bells cast for churches around the world.
In the history of Apolda
In Weimar's history
From 27 September to 14 October 1808 Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I met in Erfurt with the princes of the Rhine Confederation — and on 6 October the congress came to Weimar.
The hare hunt of 7 October 1808 was held on the dukes' old hunting ground near Apolda.
Stay and eat nearby
Where to stay
Jenaer Straße 37, 99510 Apolda
The house is in the town, which is where its guests are going.
Where to eat
Apothekergäßchen 1, Apolda
In the Apothekergäßchen, a lane in the middle of the town.
Jenaer Straße 2, Apolda
The restaurant belongs to the Hotel am Schloß, in the town.
Interesting reads
Historical figures
1749–1832 • writer • statesman • naturalist
1759–1805 • writer • poet • historian
1739–1807 • duchess • regent • patron • composer
1883–1969 • architect • founder and director of the Bauhaus • teacher
Historic sites
Frauenplan 1, 99423 Weimar
Platz der Demokratie 1, 99423 Weimar
Stéphane-Hessel-Platz 1, 99423 Weimar
Buchenwald, 99427 Weimar