Metalworkers have successfully cast the world’s biggest bronze drum at
the private workshop of artisan Le Van Bay in the central province of
Thanh Hoa’s Thieu Hoa district.
The drum weighs
eight tones, measures two metres in height and has a surface diameter of
2.7m. It bears the decorative patterns of Ngoc Lu bronze drum, which
belong to the Dong Son civilisation (700BC-AD100).
The casting process took leading artisan Le Van Bay and his team of
assistants from Thieu Hoa district’s Che Dong village two months, from
carving the mould to preparing its copper.
It will
likely be completed by early November and exhibited at the locality
before being displayed in front of the new National Assembly House in
Hanoi.
The world’s current biggest bronze drum, cast in China, has a surface of 1.8m in diameter.
Artisan Le Van Bay also cast the biggest bronze drum in Southeast Asia
in 2009. The drum is 1.51 metres tall and wieighs 739 kilograms.-VNA