*Location:

   Lower belfry, south tower
   Palace
   Mafra, Lisboa, Portugal
   LL: N 38.93669, W 9.32695

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Carillonist:

   (None)

   Abel Chaves
   Francisco Gato
   Ana Elias
   Sara Elias

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   (None - tower closed)

*Remarks:

   Old bells by Willem Witlockx (Antwerp);
   van Aerschodt replaced one bell,
   which was relocated to tne north tower.
   Restoration/expansion followed the
   Witlockx profiles.
   Also 4 swinging bells in middle belfry,
   cast in Portugal, plus 3 clock bells
   in upper belfry; hour bell estimated
   at 10 1/2 tonnes.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 53 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is F  in the bass octave
   Keyboard range:     G C   /    G G 24
   Transposition is down 2 semitone(s), i.e., from C to A#
   There is one missing bass semitone
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The instrument was enlarged in 1986
     with  7 bells made by Eijsbouts        
   Prior history:
     In 1948,  1 bells were recast or replaced
       with bells made by vanAerschodt    
       (1 bells were added in and/or remain from that work.)
     In 1730, the instrument was begun with 47 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (46 bells remain from that work.)
   Auxiliary mechanisms: M     
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2024

Description of the palace, with photos

Waymarking page, with 2 photos of the building

Set of photos of the Convent of Mafra, with several different perspectives of the bell towers.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
(The work by vanAerschodt being unclear, it is not yet indexed.)
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 European traditional carillons by pitch (weight).
Ranking among all European traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all European traditional carillons by year of completion.

Where the bass bell of this carillon ranks among all great bells in Europe.

Index to all traditional carillons in Portugal.

Index to all tower bell instruments in Portugal.

   This page was built from the database on  1-Aug-25
   based on textual data last updated on 2025/07/26
   and on technical data last updated on 2025/07/26