The last time that the simultaneous ringing of all the bells could be heard in Matthias Church was when Pope Benedict XVI was elected. Just like in earlier decades, unisonance was weak.  Instead of the complete pentatonic scale, only three chimes could be heard from the immense bells - the one that weighs 3200 kilogrammes, named after Saint Charles, the 800-kilogramme one called the Holy Trinity, and the small Anna bell, weighing a mere 80 kilogrammes. A huge, 4500-kilogramme bell, another one weighing 2200 kilogrammes, and a smaller, 1500-kilogramme one, all made of bronze, have been missing since the Second World War. Now they shall be replaced thanks to a call for tender submitted to the Norwegian Fund in 2006, where 85% of the 374,000-Euro (approximately 100 million Forints) development fund was won.

The earlier bells had all been made in Hungary, the smallest of them in László Szlezák's bell foundry. The story of how the foundry in Angyalföld survived the Rákosi-era is an interesting one. In 1951, it was taken into public ownership, but the craftsman restarted the foundry in Őrbottyán, under the name of one of his colleagues. The family has been operating the foundry for three generations now. Miklós Gombos, the present owner, is the grandson of Szlezák, and this is the last bell foundry in the country. The new bells of Matthias Church will, however, be made in Passau, Germany, and not here. The Perner foundry was lucky, for after the Second World War, it was situated within the American zone, and not the Soviet one. And now, in all the basilicas in Hungary, Perner-bells are replacing the huge destroyed Szlezák ones. The Hungarian company needs investors in order to be able to produce 40-50-tonne bells once again.

In the course of the reconstruction of Matthias Church, the bells will be placed on two levels instead of the present single level, and a scaffolding made of oakwood will replace the metal belfry made in 1909, says Balázs Mátéffy, head of the church's cultural center, to our paper. The delicate tower could not support the horizontal pressure arising when the bells toll, for in European bells it is not the clapper that moves, but the waist itself.  That is why counter-weights must be used, and that is why the belfry must be replaced.

The bells will be on display for thirty days outside Matthias Church during autumn, before the heavy metal structures are lifted into the tower. In the meantime, noon will be signalled everyday on the Hungarian national televison channel by the sound of the present Saint Charles Bell, even though it is only rung on Sundays, in order to spare those working on the restoration of the church tower. By the end of summer, its original sound will disappear for ever, for the sound of the bell, which was cast in 1891, will be get a deeper tone in Passau. And that is how the six bells of Matthias Church will once again have a perfect major pentatonic sound.