The Paccard family has owned and operated the Paccard Bell Foundry for eight generations. Worldwide operations are directed by Philippe Paccard, working closely with his wife Anne. His brother Cyril and son Thomas, both engineers, are involved in the structural design and electronic harmonics of the Ars Sonora.
Paccard Family Facts
In the late 1990s, the Paccard Bell Foundry created the Ars Sonora concept.
- The company manufactures bronze bells much the same way as it did in 1796 when it made its first bell, which is still in use today.
- Paccard has manufactured about 125,000 bells since the company’s founding.
- One of Paccard’s most famous bells is “La Savoyarde,” an 18,835-pound bell at the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris.
- 57 replicas of the “Liberty Bell” were commissioned in 1950 by the United States government.
- Paccard’s “World Peace Bell” in Newport, KY, is the world’s largest swinging bell at 75,837 pounds.
The Ars Sonora’s bells are being manufactured at the Paccard Bell Foundry in the picturesque town of Annecy, France, known as the “Venice of the Alps.”