Spotlight On:
Dominican Republic
Bells resound to call and to remember on the
vibrant isle of Quisqueya.
“The night is as clear as the sound of a bell.”
JULIA ALVAREZ
Image: View at night of the belfry at the Catedral Primada de América in Santo Domingo – the first Catholic cathedral in North America.
Conflict & Calm
Bells have resounded over the Dominican Republic through times of Spanish colonization, foreign occupations, dictatorships, and finally independence. As each era gave way to the next, so too did the people’s relationship with bells. What was once a tocsin of religious oppression became, in time, a rallying cry for hope, democracy, and social justice.
Hear bells weep for the war’s martyrs.
Video: Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez, leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, recites his poem, “Lloran las Viejas Campanas” (The Old Bells Weep), recalling the suffering of the Dominican Civil War.
A Mark of Independence
The National Bell Festival is honored to fund the restoration of the 1868 Don Sebastian Pichardo Contreras Bell, riddled with bullet holes from a 1914 coup d’état, for installation at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at the City College of New York. Details to come.
Image: The Don Sebastian Pichardo Contreras Bell, then hung at the St. James the Apostle Cathedral in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, was caught in the crossfire between troops loyal to President José Bordas Valdez and rebels led by General Desiderio Arias Álvarez.
Mission Bells
Establishing a rhythm centered on the church
Spanish missionaries who came to the Dominican Republic during the early colonial period brought bells with them as a practical tool for communication, a powerful expression of their faith, and a symbol of the subjugation of the indigenous Taíno people. Over time, these bells became lasting cultural and historical artifacts, representing the spread of Christianity, the influence of European traditions, and the role of the church in shaping early Dominican society across newly-founded settlements.
Image: A church with a single bell in its belfry, built in the missionary style, rises from a hilltop in Baoruco Province, Dominican Republic.
Notable Bells
Sentinels in bronze hang in testament to centuries of history.
Lost Bells of the Catedral Primada de América
Lost Bells of the Catedral Primada de América
English privateer Sir Francis Drake absconded with the cathedral’s four tower bells during his 1586 invasion and sack of the city.
National Pantheon Bells
National Pantheon Bells
Built as a Jesuit church in the 18th century, the National Pantheon serves as the final resting place of honored citizens beneath a belfry of two paired bells.
Carillon at the Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of Altagracia
Carillon at the Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of Altagracia
An electric-automatic carillon of 45 Paccard bells installed in 1977 resounds above the monumental, modernist architecture.
Campanile of the Palacio Consistorial
Campanile of the Palacio Consistorial
The Palacio Consistorial in Santo Domingo was the first European-style city hall in the Americas, replete with a neoclassical bell tower.
