*Location:

   Waagtoren
   Waagplein at Houttil
   Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
   LL: N 52.63135, E 4.75007

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Carillonist:

   Christiaan Winter
   E: christiaan.winter@planet.nl

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   Thu 1830-1930, Sat 1200-1300; for the
   Friday cheesemarket, 1030-1100 and
   1130-1200.

*Remarks:

   Original chime by Jacob Waghevens of
   Mechelen, 1540s; 7 added by others,
   with baton keyboard, before all were
   replaced by Melchior de Haze
   (see also ALKMAAR - STJ).
   Addicks supplied two small Taylor bells
   in 1929 (F2,A#2) from their stock
   carillon (so probably dated 1928).
   2 other old bells in the tower.
   Action in the belfry is a mixture of
   broek and directed cranks.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 47 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is D# in the middle octave
   Keyboard range:     C C   /    ----  
   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 1968
     with 38 bells made by Eijsbouts    
   Prior history:
     In 1929, some bells were recast or replaced
       with bells made by Taylor      
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
     In 1688, the instrument was begun with 35 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (9 bells remain from that work.)
     In 1___, the instrument was enlarged to 18 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was unknown
     In 154_, the instrument was begun with 11 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1973

A page about the carillon has three photos of the tower.

The English Wikipedia article about the tower has a long section about the carillon, animation, etc.

A Waymarking page for these bells has 5 photos of the building.
"Also hanging in the top of the tower is a condemned de Haze bell from nearby St.Laurens Church (Grote Kerk, or Great Church), which serves only as decoration today.
In the room beneath the clockwork hangs the "gate bell", cast by Henrick Wegewaert of Kampen in 1616, with an average diameter of 124 cm.  Originally, it was used as a signal to indicate that the city gates were about to be closed for the night, or opened in the morning."

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 unknown bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the third phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the de Haze bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the fourth phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Taylor bellfoundry, 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 Netherlands traditional carillons by pitch (weight).
Ranking among all Netherlands traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all Netherlands traditional carillons by year of completion.

Index to all traditional carillons in Netherlands.

Index to all tower bell instruments in NL/Noord-Holland.

   This page was built from the database on 14-Oct-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2020/07/05
   and on technical data last updated on 2020/07/05