Bell tower

From Free net encyclopedia

A bell tower or belfry is a tower containing one or more bells, typically found on a church. The word "belfry" often refers to a bell tower attached to a building. In the Middle Ages, cities sometimes kept their important documents in belfries.

The bell is rung to signify the time, or for special events such as weddings and funerals. Bell towers are now rarely constructed and existing towers are kept primarily for their historic value.

Belfries occur in England, in the western provinces of Flanders, and in the north of France along the Belgian border. Bruges, Ypres, Ghent, Lille, Tournai and Douai have famous examples. There is also a belfry in the Dutch town Sluis.

Bell towers may also contain carillons, a musical instrument traditionally comprised of large bells which are sounded by cables, chains, or cords connected to a keyboard. These can be found at some college and university campuses and many churches in Europe. In modern construction, rather than using heavy bells the sound may be produced by the striking of small metal rods whose vibrations are amplified electronically and sounded through loudspeakers.

In 1999 thirty-two Belgian belfries were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. In 2005 this list was extended with one Belgian and twenty-three French belfries and is since known as Belfries of Belgium and France.

The word belfry comes from Old French berfrei which is derived from Germanic bergan "to protect" and frithuz "peace"; that is, it was originally a watch tower providing protection against hostile incursions. Since Middle English speakers thought berfrei had something to do with bells, they altered it to belfry, an interesting example of the effect of Folk etymology.

A free standing bell tower may be referred to by its Italian name, campanile.

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Image gallery

Ivan The Great Bell Tower	Belfry of Aalst	Boulogne Belfry	Belfry of Bruges
Belfry of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra	Dumaguete Belfry	Belfry of Ghent	Belfry of Lille
Belfry of Mons (The tower left of the church)	Belfry of Ypres	The "Storke Tower" at University of California, Santa Barbara	The bell tower at University of California, Riverside