A bell made of an alloy of seven metals and decorated with four magical inscriptions is called the “Alchemical Bell”. The Habsburg emperor Rudolf II was known as one of the most famous patrons of art and science. During his 36-year reign, he amassed unimaginable treasures behind the walls of Prague Castle.
His legendary Kunstkammer, contained exclusive, strange, rare and magical objects. The emperor was fond of magic, alchemy, astrology and Kabbalah. Alchemists and magicians from all over the world came to Prague around 1600. At that time, the Prague jeweler Hans de Bull created two mysterious magical “Alchemical Bells” for the emperor’s collection.
The Alchemical bell was made of seven metals and was used to summon spirits, in addition it contains a mysterious cipher on the inside.
The master cast both bells from an alloy of seven metals associated with the heavenly bodies depicted on the mantle: gold (the sun), silver (the moon), copper (Venus), iron (Mars), lead (Saturn), tin (Jupiter) and mercury (Mercury).
Such a sevenfold alloy was described by the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus as Electrum.
As part of an elaborate ritual, the ringing of the Elektrum bell could bestow wisdom and power on its owner. Emperor Rudolph II admired the philosophy of Paracelsus, and De Bull’s bell was a welcome addition to the imperial Kunstkammer.
The master cast both bells from an alloy of seven metals associated with the heavenly bodies depicted on the mantle: gold (sun), silver (moon), copper (Venus), iron (Mars), lead (Saturn), tin (Jupiter) and mercury (Mercury).
Such a sevenfold alloy was described by the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus as Electrum.
As part of an elaborate ritual, the ringing of the Elektrum bell could bestow wisdom and power on its owner. Emperor Rudolph II admired the philosophy of Paracelsus, and De Bull’s bell was a welcome addition to the imperial Kunstkammer.
A total of four different scripts can be distinguished on this artifact. In the trapezoidal margins above the heads of the deities are letters reminiscent of Syriac, the language of ancient Syria. The letters on the handle of the bell above the planetary symbols resemble Arabic. The iron clapper is decorated with Hebrew letters, which are also difficult to make out.
Surprisingly, the Greek inscription on the inside of the mantle is perfectly transcribed:
θιδαγΗ θιβ κιδιγ ιαθδεγι ιαεθιθ δαιΗΗ κδειθειζ Ηθιδαγι ΗΗεθθιζ θιδαγγ Ηθι β κκβει ζειΗθιιει ζιδαιβειγ ζιδιθειγ θιβ κιδ δειζεζιθΗθιΗ
So far, however, all attempts to make sense of these 163 letters have failed: the “words” consisting of ten different Greek letters are difficult to pronounce.
It is tempting to speculate that the spiral-shaped text contains some kind of incantation, perhaps invoking the supernatural beings described by Paracelsus.
