The Tatev bells (1302 and 1304)

The Tatev bells are the oldest surviving bells in Armenia. They were cast in the workshops of old Kapan from Kapan copper, commissioned by the metropolitan of the region, the historian Stepanos Orbelian.

In 1969, during excavations at Tatev Monastery, two bells dated 1302 and 1304 were found on the floor of the three-tier bell tower destroyed by the earthquake of 1931. Each bell weighs 250–300 kg and is 65 cm high, 80 cm in diameter and 5 cm thick.

The image shows two photographs side by side: an old black-and-white one on the left and a recent colour one on the right. The bells bear Armenian inscriptions in capital letters and ornamental bands.