*Location:

   St.Bartholomeustoren
   Basiliek van het Heilig Sacrament
   Markt
   Meerssen, Limburg, Netherlands
   LL: N 50.88376, E 5.75492

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Contact:

   Parochie-cluster Meersen
   Markt 17A
   6231 LR Meersen
   T: 043-3642255
   E: sss.meijgaarden@hotmail.com
   - or -
   Parochiesecretariaat
   Achter de Basiliek
   Markt 21
   Meerssen
   T: 043-3648178
   - or -
   Francine Heynan, Secrateris
   Vrienden van de Basiliek Meerssen
   Houthemerweg 35
   6231 KS Meerssen
   T: 043-3647884
   E: info/@/vriendenbasiliekmeerssen .nl

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   StMartholomeuskerk became a minor
   basilica in 1938.
   Original church bells and 1941 carillon
   stolen in WW II; afterwards replaced
   with 3 swinging bells and 29 fixed
   bells.  5 trebles added in 2007.

*Technical data:

   Electric-automatic carillon of 34 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is G  in the middle octave
   Transposition is not applicable
   Keyboard range:     NONE  /    NONE  
   There are two missing bass semitones
   The instrument was enlarged in 2007
     with  5 bells made by an unknown maker
   Prior history:
     In 1949, the instrument was begun with 29 bells
       by vanBergen   
     In 1941, a complete instrument of 32 bells was installed
       with bells made by Eijsbouts   
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was C  in the treble octave
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1976

The Dutch Wikipedia article about this building has a paragraph about the bells.

The Wikimedia Commons category for this building has many photos, some of which can be enlarged to view details of the two belfries in the crossing spire.

The parish Website has a page devoted to this church, with a large photo of it.

The Website of the Friends of the Basilica has large photos as the backgrounds for all pages.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Eijsbouts bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the vanBergen bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of unknown bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.

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

Index to all tower bell instruments in NL/Limburg.

   This page was built from the database on  5-Nov-23
   based on textual data last updated on 2019/09/29
   and on technical data last updated on 1992/07/07