List of heaviest bells
Wikimedia list article
Following is a list of the heaviest bells known to have been cast, and the period of time during which they held that title.
Heaviest functioning bell in the world
The title of heaviest functioning bell in the world has been held chronologically by:
The Great Bell of Dhammazedi, Myanmar
At approximately 300 tons, the Great Bell of Dhammazedi is the largest bell to have existed in recorded history. Cast in 1484 by King Dhammazedi of Mon, this bell was located at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar). The bell was said to be twelve cubits (6.276 m) high and eight cubits (4.184 m) wide.
The Great Bell of Dhammazedi remained at the Shwedagon Pagoda as the heaviest functioning bell in the world until 1608. That year, Portuguese warlord and mercenary Philip de Brito removed it and attempted to carry it by a specially constructed raft down the Yangon River to his stronghold of Thanlyin (later known as Syriam). However, the ship carrying the bell sank at the confluence of the Yangon and Bago rivers. The Dhammazedi Bell remains buried to this day at that location, possibly well-preserved, beneath some 8 metres (26 ft) of sediment. Numerous attempts have been made to locate and recover the bell, thus far without success.
So while the Great Bell of Dhammazedi might indeed be the heaviest bell in the world, it must be disqualified from consideration as such, until it has been recovered and restored to a functional status.
“List of heaviest bells” enters the record as wikimedia list article. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what List, heaviest and bells can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“List of heaviest bells” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, List, heaviest and bells provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4306639. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1484 and 1608.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “List of heaviest bells”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow List of heaviest bells primary sources, List of heaviest bells archive and List research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “List of heaviest bells”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “List of heaviest bells” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.