In the past, several famous generations of shepherds and horse-herders from the Strapáň clan, the renowned Kostúrovec family, were born in Podkonice, a small village below the Panský diel. The nicknames in Podkonice characterized both the external and character traits of a person. Shepherd Ján Kostúr Strapáň (1919 – 1992), the father of Jaroslav Kostúr (1956), was well-known not only in Podkonice but also in the wider area. Folk songs were even sung about him, and his surname was proudly used by subsequent generations. It was he who laid the foundation for the production of forged metal bells in Podkonice.

He learned the trade of bell-making from bell-maker Alfonz Vosko in Moštenica. In 1958, Ján Kostúr left shepherding and joined the Švermové ironworks in Podbrezová. However, bells remained a part of his life, and all the tools he brought from Moštenica still have an honorable place in the family workshop. Tens of thousands of bells passed through his hands.

Jaroslav Kostúr, a graduate of a mechanical engineering school in Brezno and a long-time employee of the state-owned company Lesy SR Slovenská Ľupča, actively started to focus on bell-making in the early 1990s (1994). The bell-making technique was ingrained in him alongside his father – even as a boy, he would pull the bellows or rasp the sheets, so much of it stuck with him. The only thing missing was practice. The opportunity to gain experience presented itself to him right after his father’s death in 1992 when his father left an unfinished contract for shepherd Auxta in Brezno. Jaroslav Kostúr completed it – fine-tuned the bells, polished them, and took them to Brezno. He exchanged them for baskets. And he thought to himself that he might slowly try his hand at bell-making.

Due to the decline of sheep farming and shepherding in Slovakia and the lack of interest from shepherds in metal bells, Jaroslav Kostúr turned to ÚĽUV for help in 1994. Thanks to this, he managed to overcome a quiet period and still devotes himself to bell-making today, as traditional shepherding is experiencing a renaissance in our country.

Jaroslav Kostúr creates bells using cold and hot sheet metal shaping technology. Although he doesn’t sign them, as he says, he can recognize them by their sound. To this day, he has produced thousands of bells. He helps tune the bells with the heligonska after his father, which, by the way, he plays excellently, as well as a set of his own bells arranged in a scale. He fine-tunes each bell so that the tones do not “screech” in it.

Traditional forged metal bells were made in four types – a whole and three-quarter bell for sheep, a half bell for yearlings, and a small bell for lambs. However, today he adapts his craftsmanship not only to the shepherds’ requirements but also to the needs of the present time, where the originally utilitarian item also gains an aesthetic dimension. He also applies techniques such as metal blackening and engraving in the production process. Or he creates elaborate bell chimes covering the entire scale of voices. One such bell chime is included in the equipment of the folk group Vysoká in Podkonice, and Jaroslav Kostúr’s daughters Katarína and Lenka play on it.

He was awarded the title of Master of Folk Artistic Production in 2011 for his traditional forged metal bell creations.

Source: Krištofová, V .: Nie je zvonec ako zvonec. In: Remeslo, umenie, dizajn. 13, 2012, no. 4, p. 12 – 14.