The Celle Glockenspiel

With rotating figures, depicting important personalities from Celle’s history

The Glockenspiel in Celle rang out for the first time on July 28th, 1973. The idea had previously emanated, however, from an established jeweller in Celle, by the name of C.A.W. Schnell, in 1842. In August 1974, it was eventually made possible, through the support of the Celle town council and administration, to put the rotating figures of the Glockenspiel into operation. After the jewellery shop closed, Celle town council assumed responsibility for the Glockenspiel and it has been enjoyed, since 2010, on the west façade of the building which corners Zöllnerstrasse and Poststrasse.

Each year, the rotating figures of the Glockenspiel are "put into hibernation" and taken out of operation to protect them during the winter months.

THE FIGURES

The figures are carved from wood and represent personalities of historical importance in Celle. The entire system weighs 570 kg with 16 bronze bells and the five figures in their cabinet. These figures you see are:

Duke Otto the Strict (1266-1330)

On the day of Pentecost 1292, Duke Otto the Strict granted town privileges to Celle and encouraged the resettlement of the citizens of the old town to the new town. In 1301 he granted Celle with its own town charter, set out in Low German language.

Duke Ernst the Confessor (1497-1546)

After his academic years in Wittenberg, he ruled together with his brother Otto until 1527. He became one of the most steadfast Protestant princes and signed the Augsburg Confession together with his brother Franz in 1530, through which the Reformation also found its way to Celle. In 1530 he began the expansion of the town.

Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark (1751-1775)

A sister of King George III. She married King Christian VII of Denmark in 1766 and divorced him in 1772, after an affair with the doctor and Danish Minister of State Johann Friedrich Struensee. She lived as an exile in Celle Castle from 1772 to 1775. The monument in the French Garden commemorates the Queen, whose bones were laid to rest in the royal crypt of the Celle’s Church of St. Mary.

Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty - Poet - (1748-1776)

Although Hölty only spent his youth at the Celle High School, he is nevertheless an integral part of the Celle’s history. Hölty was one of the co-founders of the Göttingen Hainbund. His melancholy and sentimental poems are characterised by a fine lyrical sensitivity.

Hermann Löns - the Heath Poet - (1866-1914)

On his walks through the Lüneburg heath, Löns often came to the old ducal town of Celle, where he always felt at home. Löns in particular is known as the poet of the Lüneburg Heath.  He observed animal and plant life as a hunter and artist, capturing what he saw through his atmospheric pictures and through his animal and hunting stories, which are both cheerful and profound. His poems are similar to folk songs and set to music, were widely spread. Löns fell at Reims, in World War I on September 26th, 1914.