Felczyński, a family of Polish bellfounders from Kalush (Stanisławowskie Voivodeship, currently Ukraine) and Przemyśl. Its first representative was Michał I (*1788 Poznań, †1883 Kalush), founder of a bell foundry in Kalush (1808), which was later taken over by his son Michał II (*1806 Kalush, †1850 Kalush) and grandson Franciszek (*1828 Kalush, †1923 Kalush). Until 1939, the bell foundry “Bracia Felczyńscy, odlewnia Dzwonów w Kałuszu” (from 1920 also with a branch in Przemyśl) was run by four sons of Franciszek: Ludwik (*1874 Kalush, †1957 Przemyśl), who in 1937 founded his own bell foundry in Przemyśl; Michał III (*1878 Kalush, †1937 Kalush), and, after his death, his son Eugeniusz (*1915, †1977 Przemyśl); Jan (*1887 Kalush, †1948 Przemyśl) and Kajetan (*1889 Kalush, †1955 Przemyśl). After World War II, until 1955, the company based in Przemyśl was run jointly by the brothers Ludwik, Jan and Kajetan together with their nephew Eugeniusz. In 1956, Eugeniusz opened the “Odlewnia dzwonów Eugeniusz Felczyński Przemyśl-Ostrów,” which from his death until 2004 was run by his wife Waleria (*1918 Wieliczka) together with their son Janusz (*1951 Przemyśl). Since 2005, the “Odlewnia Dzwonów Janusz Felczyński” has been run by Janusz Felczyński and his son Maciej. Jan’s two sons, Wacław (*1923 Kalush) and Tadeusz (*1930 Kalush), founded an artistic bell foundry in Taciszew near Gliwice. The second bell foundry, currently operating in Przemyśl, was founded (1950) by Jan (*1899 Kalush, †1979 Przemyśl), who came from another branch of the Felczyński family, and was run by his son Adolf (*1925 Kalush). Today, the Olszewski family continues the foundry tradition.
The first Great Gold Medal recorded in the Felczyński family chronicle was received by the Felczyński brothers’ company in 1909 at the Ecclesiastical Exhibition in Lviv. The interwar period was a period of great growth for the company. During that time, in addition to a large sales market, the company won numerous domestic and foreign medals, including the Gold Medal at the Economic Exhibition in Stryi (1919), the Grand Prix at the International Exhibition in Paris (1927) and Liège (1928), the Great Gold Medal at the General National Exhibition in Poznań (1929). In 1939, four bells covered with sculptures related to the history of Poland, coming from the workshop of X. Dunikowski, were cast in the Kaluga foundry. Sent to the International Exhibition in New York, they are still located in the USA in the Church of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in Stanford (Connecticut). In 1944, the occupiers confiscated, among other things, the company’s 6,500 kg bell, intended for the Lublin Cathedral. After the war, the company was no less successful. It manufactured bells for the whole of Poland and also fulfilled foreign orders. In 1973, Eugeniusz Felczyński’s foundry produced a ship bell for the “Dar Pomorza;” in 1975 – two bells for the church on Kahlenberg near Vienna; in 1979 – a bell for the “Polska 80” exhibition in Düsseldorf. The bell donated in Krakow in 1979 to Pope John Paul II and the “Jubilee” bell, which received the Gold Medal at the Exhibition in the Arsenal halls in Warsaw (1979), also come from this company.
The bell “Gratia Dei,” weighing 6200 kg, comes from the Jan and Adolf Felczyński foundry, installed in 1970 in the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Gdańsk. After Jan Felczyński’s death, the workshop made, among others, the 9500 kg Władysław bell for the church of the Blessed Wacław of Gielniów in Warsaw (2000), as well as the Saint John Paul II bell for the Royal Cathedral on Wawel Hill (2014). The foundry received Gold Medals at the Poznań Fair, the Gold Medal for Polish Crafts at the Fair in Florence (1961), a special blessing from Pope Paul VI (1975), and the honorary title of Master of Artistic Crafts (1977).
The Felczyński bell foundries in Kałusz, Przemyśl and Taciszewo have produced approx. 20,000 bells and deliver their products to many countries.
