Two carillons
The Cathedral of Our Lady used to have two carillons: the church carillon and the city carillon, also known as the 'fairground carillon'. They hung one above the other, and one or the other carillon was played depending on the occasion.
In 1751, the city carillonneur at the time, Joannes de Gruijtters, had the city carillon extended with three small bells cast by Joris Dumery. For the bells to make a sound, a new keyboard with three additional keys was also needed. The church carillon also received a new keyboard, 16 years later.
Titelpagina De Gruijtters Beiaardboek: 194 Stukjes Voor Carillon
Titelpagina De Gruijtters Beiaardboek: 194 Stukjes Voor Carillon
Special instrument
In 2012, Flanders recognised the 18th-century hand and foot keyboard as a masterpiece, with good reason. First, the keyboard has stood the test of time and is superbly preserved. With the exception of a few keys and the lectern, the instrument is more or less complete. No less important is the link to the city carillonneur of the time: Joannes De Gruijtters. De Gruijtters wrote numerous compositions for the carillon. One of his manuscripts, whose title page you see here, contains no less than 194 compositions. Today, these give a good idea of what the sound of the city was back in the day.
Keyboard for 40 bells
The keyboard itself is very understated, it has hardly any ornamentation. The two holes at the top show that the lectern stood across the full width of the keyboard. The lectern may have been a wooden board with metal pegs inserted into the holes.
The keyboard has 40 keys, although some keys are missing. From 1751 to 1912, 40 bells therefore hung in the tower. From left to right, the keys correspond to C, D, E and F. The keyboard then becomes chromatic (F#, G, G#, A, etc.). Historic keyboards did not have C# or E♭. One reason for this may be that these notes are not used much, and bells for these notes cost a lot of money. Today the E♭ does hang in the carillon, but it still doesn't have a C#.
Part of the museum is dedicated to the carillon. The historic keyboard stands alongside other collection pieces, including the Orida alarm bell and other historic bells.
Flemish masterpiece
The hand and foot keyboard is one of our masterpieces and is on the Flemish Masterpiece List.
