The World’s Largest Bell – At Bottom Of River In Burma?

I have really enjoyed learning more about Burma, its history and what is happening there now. One thing that I find especially fascinating is that there are so many tales to be told, some of which seem like fiction but are true.

This one struck me today.

RANGOON—After several failed attempts to salvage the world’s largest bell which currently rests at the bottom of a Rangoon river, a new project is likely to be launched at the end of the year with the help of a Singaporean company…..The bell is believed to have lain at the bottom of the muddy confluence of the Bago and Rangoon rivers for four centuries. A colonial governor of Syriam apparently looted it from the Shwedagon Pagoda in 1612 to be melted down and made into cannons. Historical records say the bell fell from a raft and sank into the water on its way across the city.

How great is that. Only in Burma I suspect would you still have a story like this because the bell isn’t hidden away somewhere, it’s in a river, right in the middle of the capitol city. Just perfect.

Here are a couple of photos from Burma and its historical sites -one of which I think is the river in Rangoon, but am not sure. All taken by my father in the 1950s.