AALST : BELGIUM

*Location:

   Stadhuis/Halle/Belfort
   Grote Markt at Kattestraat
   Aalst (Alost), Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium
   LL: N 50.93851, E 4.03854
Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Carillonist:

   Kristiaan Van Ingelgem
   -and-
   Petro de Smedt

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Earliest bells by Jan Zeelstman (1460),
   Medart Waghevens (1539), Jacob
   Waghevens (1545), Peter vanden Ghein
   (1591), all of Mechelen, and Hendrik
   Lefebvre of Antwerp (1666).  Second
   carillon cast 1715-17 by Joannes Pauwels
   of Gent.  Third carillon by Joris
   Dumery; partly destroyed by fire in 1879;
   Andreas van Aerschodt of Leuven then
   replaced 4 basses and 17 trebles.
   Causard added 3 bells, and carillonist
   Karel De Mette added 4 more.  Nine
   bells from this assortment survive in
   various places.
   New bells by Horacantus-Eijsbouts.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 52 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is G  in the middle octave
   Keyboard range:     C C 49/    G G 23
   Transposition is nil (concert pitch)
   There are two missing bass semitones
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The whole instrument was installed in 1958
     with bells made by Eijsbouts    
   Prior history:
     In 1925, the instrument was enlarged to 45 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was unknown
     In 1896, the instrument was enlarged to 41 bells
       by Causard     
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
     In 1880, some bells were recast or replaced
       with bells made by vanAerschodt
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell (excluding sub-bourdon) was G  in the middle octave
       Keyboard range was: (G) C C   /(G) C G   
       Transposition was up  7 semitone(s), i.e., from C to G 
       There were two missing bass semitones
     In 1750, a complete instrument of 38 bells was installed
       with bells made by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Keyboard range was: (G) C D   /    ----  
     In 1717, a complete instrument of 40 bells was installed
       with bells made by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was D  in the middle octave
       Keyboard range was:     G C   /    ----  
     In 1666, a complete instrument of 21 bells was installed
       with bells made by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was unknown
   Auxiliary mechanisms: E     
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2012
*Links:

Descriptive article (in Dutch, with tower photo) from the VBV (Vlaamse Beiaard Vereniging)

Page in Dutch with 2 photos of the bell tower and others of the building - all clickable for much larger versions.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the third phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the fourth phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the van Aerschodt bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the fifth phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Causard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the sixth phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Eijsbouts bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all Belgian traditional carillons by pitch (weight).
Ranking among all Belgian traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all Belgian traditional carillons by year of completion.

Index to all traditional carillons in BE.

Index to all tower bell instruments in BE/Oost-Vlaanderen.

*Status:
   This page was built from the database on 14-Oct-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2012/09/06
   and on technical data last updated on 2012/09/06
*Photos:

(none available)

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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