Anger over church clock

“24-hour chimes – we are purified!”

To whom the hour strikes - Mathias V. and his girlfriend find the quarter-hourly chime of the church clock too much, especially at night.(Bild: Heinz Stephan Tesarek)

"We understand sacred ringing during the day." But when Mathias V. and his girlfriend moved into the apartment right next to the church in Gerasdorf, they had a rude awakening - literally: The bells continued to ring at night - every quarter of an hour and every hour on the hour. However, the couple fell on deaf ears with the vicar. 

"More and more often, you hear people complaining about the continuous ringing throughout the night - we're definitely one of them!" Mathias V. and his partner have been desperate since they moved into their new apartment in Gerasdorf directly opposite the church. The shock came on the very first night, they say: "The tower clock chimes every quarter of an hour, even after 10 pm. There are four chimes every full hour - plus another chime for the number of hours," says the annoyed 48-year-old, who has a total of 15 chimes ringing in his ears in the hour up to 5 a.m. alone.

"Front runner in sacred ringing" 
When we viewed the apartment, we expected to hear ringing, "even though we think the priest is generally exaggerating the amount of sacred ringing. We used to live near a church, but this is clearly the 'top ringer' here," says Mathias. 

To whom the hour strikes - Mathias V. and his girlfriend find the quarter-hourly chimes of the church clock too much, especially at night.(Bild: Heinz Stephan Tesarek)

The lack of sleep and the powerlessness in the face of the church superiors that nothing will change is really wearing on the nerves of the two Gerasdorf residents: "It's already got to the point of burn-out," reports Mathias. But moving out is still out of the question for the couple.

That may have been appropriate in rural areas in the past. But nowadays, ringing the bell every quarter of an hour is no longer in keeping with the times.

Kirchen-Anrainer Mathias V. aus Gerasdorf

Parish priest and parish council are against "night-time silence"
"When we got in touch with the neighbors, they first became aware that we could do something about it together," explains Mathias. The result: negative. The parish cites the tradition associated with sacred ringing. In addition, the people must have been aware in advance - i.e. before moving into the apartment - that the sound of bells is also associated with the proximity of the church. 

There was also no response from the "Krone" to attempts to contact the parish - the reason: contact was made outside of opening hours. A message left on the answering machine could only have been responded to afterwards.