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Ceremony to Mark Transfer of Bells from Harvard to Russia

WHO:	Officials of Harvard University, the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, and the Link of Times Foundation
WHAT:	A ceremony marking the return to Russia of 17 sacred bells, rescued from destruction by Stalinists and donated to Harvard in 1930
WHEN:	Tuesday, July 8, from 12 noon to 2:30 p.m.
WHERE:	Outside Lowell House, at the intersection of Holyoke and Winthrop streets in Cambridge

A July 8 ceremony will mark formal transfer of 17 historic bells from Harvard University to the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, seat of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the gift of 17 newly cast bells from the Link of Times Foundation to Harvard.

The Danilov Bells, rescued from Stalinist efforts to eradicate Russia's religious artifacts and donated to Harvard, have hung since 1930 in the tower of Harvard's Lowell House. They are to be exchanged this summer with new bells cast at a Russian foundry under terms agreed to in 2003 by Harvard and the Russian Orthodox Church.

The ceremony will start at noon with the lowering by crane of a large bell from the Lowell House tower. It will join other Danilov Bells and replacement bells on the ground, where Father Superior Alexey of the Danilov Monastery will lead a prayer for the bell exchange.

Representatives of Harvard, the Danilov Monastery, and the Link of Times Foundation, which is funding the bells exchange, will then offer remarks. At approximately 2 p.m., it is expected that one of the Danilov Bells will be rung at ground level.

For more information on this summer's transfer of the Danilov Bells, see http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/05.29/01-lowellbells.html.