STORY:
Peace Bell Starts Journey To New Home

World's largest bell to ring in Kentucky on New Year's Eve

The folks the Millennium Monument Center in Newport Kentucky are cheering the news that their long awaited 33-ton World Peace Bell is on its last leg of its long journey. The Associated Press says the bell is now on a barge headed up river from New Orleans after it's long journey from Nantes France where it was cast December 11.

The huge steel yoke and frame and the striker will remain in place as the bell is brought up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers in the next three weeks. It will stop at 11 cities along the way before arriving at Newport, just outside the city of Cincinnati.

The huge bronze bell, which is 11 feet across at the base and thought to be the largest free-swinging bell in the world will be on a display in a 54-foot-tall glass and steel structure that should be completed by October.

The ringing on New Year's Eve will be telecast around the world and will include participants from all nations and beliefs, according to a press statement from the Millennium Monument Corporation. Native performances in native garb will take place for the ringing of the bell in each part of the world. Organizers say the ringing is designed to bring a message of freedom and peace to all nations, all religions and all people as the New Millennium begins.

The ceremonies will begin on the morning of New Year's Eve to coincide with the start of the New Year in the Pacific. When the New Year is rung in for the Eastern part of the United States there will be an even more elaborate ceremony, followed by a special ringing of the bell and a New Year's fireworks display.

The Millennium Monument World Peace Bell will make its home in a special pavilion at the front of The Millennium Monument. The Monument, which is still in final planning stages, will be about 1,000 feet in height and topped by observation towers at two levels. It will contain Millennium Experience exhibits based on LIFE Magazine's 100 most important events and issues of the last 1,000 years, a Family Interactive Center and a "Space Shot" thrill ride within the core of the tower.

Source: Millennium Monument Corporation / AP

DATE: 7/06/99

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