Bell of King Seongdeok

35°49′46.47″N 129°13′40.54″E / 35.8295750°N 129.2279278°E / 35.8295750; 129.2279278

Bell of King Seongdeok
National Treasure of Korea No.29: The Bell of King Seongdeok.
Korean name
Hangul	성덕대왕신종
Hanja	聖德大王神鍾
Revised Romanization	Seongdeok Daewang Sinjong
McCune–Reischauer	Sŏngdŏk Taewang Sinjong
Other name
Hangul	에밀레종
Hanja	에밀레鍾
Revised Romanization	Emille Jong
McCune–Reischauer	Emille Chong

The Bell of King Seongdeok (Korean: 성덕대왕신종) is a large bronze bell, the largest extant bell in Korea. The full Korean name means "Sacred (or Divine) Bell of King Seongdeok the Great." It was also known as the Emille Bell (에밀레종), after a legend about its casting, and as the Bell of Bongdeoksa Temple, where it was first housed.

The bell was commissioned by King Gyeongdeok to honor his father, King Seongdeok. However, King Gyeongdeok never lived to see the casting of the bell, as he died in 765 A.D. The bell was finally cast in 771 A.D., during the reign of Gyeongdeok's son, King Hyegong.

Now stored in the National Museum of Gyeongju, the bell was designated as the 29th national treasure of Korea on December 12, 1962. It measures 3.75 meters (12.3 ft) high, 2.27 meters (7.4 ft) in diameter at the lip, and 12 to 25 centimeters (4.7 to 9.8 in) in wall thickness. The Gyeongju National Museum weighed it in 1997, and found that its weight was 18.9 tons.^[1]