Cultural asset or unnecessary din? Bell ringing polarises opinion

In Hochdorf, a municipality in canton Lucerne in central Switzerland, the church bell now tolls for a shorter duration, though other parishes continue to stick to tradition. Switzerland is home to between 12,000 and 15,000 church bells, many of which still ring at quarter-hour intervals in Catholic cantons. This practice has become a source of irritation for some, including 86-year-old Margrit Mederlet-Muri, who lives near the church in Hochdorf. “You can’t stand outside in summer. You can’t even have a conversation anymore,” she says. As a result, she contacted the church council to ask them to reduce the bell ringing. Her request sparked a heated debate in the village and letters to local newspapers. “Everyone who lives near a church knows that church bells toll,” wrote one reader of the Seetaler Boten. A contributor to the Luzerner Zeitung argued that bells are unnecessary, at least at night. “People who aren’t disturbed because they’re asleep don’t care about the chimes during ...