City Carillon

*Location:

   O.L.V. Hemelvaartkerk
   (Assumption of Our Lady)
   Markt
   Zottegem (Sotteghem),
     Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium
   LL: N 50.86917, E 3.81076

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Carillonist:

   Paul Hoste
   E: hostepaul/@/ telenet DOTbe

*Contact:

   Zottegem Dienst Kultuur
   Markt 1
   9620 Zottegem
   T 09 364 64 61   F: 09 364 64 79
   E: cultuur@zottegem.be

*Schedule:

   Thursday 1800-1845 (summer), 1700-1745
   (winter); Saturday 1515-1600

*Remarks:

   Oldest bells by Joris (Gregorius)
   duMery, who also supplied the drum.
   Expansion of 1925 was 4 large bells by
   Omer Michaux plus 4 small by local
   founder Karel de Mette.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 49 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is D# in the middle octave
   Keyboard range:     G D 44/    C G   
   Transposition is up  3 semitone(s), i.e., from C to D#
   There are two missing bass semitones
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The instrument was enlarged in 1963
     with 35 bells made by Petit & Fritsen
   Prior history:
     In 1925, the instrument was enlarged to 37 bells
       by Michaux     
       (1 bells were added in and/or remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell (excluding sub-bourdon) was C  in the treble octave
       Keyboard range was: (FG)C C   /(FG)C F 18
       Transposition was up one octave
     In 1925, the instrument was enlarged to 33 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was unknown
     In 1867, the instrument was enlarged to 29 bells
       by vanAerschodt
       (2 bells were added in and/or remain from that work.)
     In 1750, the instrument was begun with 20 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (11 bells remain from that work.)
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2013

A city page (in Dutch) has a tiny picture of the building plus a long history of it.  Another city page (in Dutch) has a tiny picture of the cupola on the bell tower, plus a history of the carillon.

Wikipedia photo of the church, from the north; two larger versions are available.

Flickr photo of the church, from the northwest

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 the vanAerschodt 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 Michaux bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Petit & Fritsen 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.

   This page was built from the database on 14-Oct-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2012/03/09
   and on technical data last updated on 2020/07/23