PIETERMARITZBURG : S AFRICA

*Location:

   City Hall Tower
   Commercial Road at Church Street 
   Pietermaritzburg, 
     KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
   LL: S 29.60154, E 30.37943

Site locator map  or 
City locator maps and gazetteer page
Also see our own Map Use Hints.

*Player:

   (unknown)

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Bells cast 1896-99, installed by 1901;
   added semitones are flat 7th and 
   sharp 4th.  Replaces a 5-bell clock 
   chime from same foundry, cast 1892,
   installed 1893 and destroyed by fire 
   in 1898.

*Technical data:

   Mechanical-automatic chime of 12 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is D# in the middle octave
   Transposition is not applicable
   Keyboard range:     ----  /    ----  
   There are two added semitones
   The whole instrument was installed in 1899
     with bells made by Gillett & Johnston
   Year of latest technical information source is 2005

*Links:

A city Website includes a description of the city hall and its bells - see "fact file" / "city map"; also "fact file" / "historical sites"; also "fact file" / "about pmb" / "historical landmarks".

A realtor's Website has a page about about local art and architecture which offers an excellent tower photo.

Another history with photo (click to enlarge)

More photos of the building and tower

Another tower photo

Yet another tower photo

Unrelated to the bells, but perhaps also of interest, is a page about the famed pipe organ in the City Hall, from a Website about organ cases.

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Gillett & Johnston bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all chimes in this region by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all chimes in this region by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all chimes in this region by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in South Africa (ZA).

*Status:

   This page was built from the database on 19-Sep-07
   based on textual data last updated on 2007/09/14
   and on technical data last updated on 2005/07/03

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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