Bell tower facts for kids

A bell tower (also belfry or campanile) is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. They are usually built at a height that allows the sound to be heard at some distance.

There are different ways to make the bells in a bell tower ring. In many cases, the bell is rung by pulling on a rope that is joined to the bell, making it swing on a hinge and the clapper hit the bell. Another way is to use a keyboard called a carillon. Sometimes, the bells are controlled by a clock mechanism or a computer. This lets them ring at certain times without the need for a human to do it.

History

There are no examples of bell towers in antiquity. The first to use a bell tower in a church was Paulinus of Nola, about the start of the 5th century. Bell towers in Italy have almost always been plain vertical towers not attached to a building (Italian: campanile). From the beginning, bell towers in northern Europe have been attached to churches. They were known of in England at least by the time of Bede. When Hilda, Abbess of Whitby died (680 AD), a nun reported hearing the sound of a bell. Bell towers are repeatedly mentioned during the 8th century. One was the campanile of St. Peter's Basilica at Rome.

Bernini's bell towers

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was Pope Urban XIII's choice to design and build twin bell towers on the front of St. Peter's. His first tower shifted and large cracks appeared. Work on the second tower stopped. Bernini was blamed and called incompetent. When Pope Urban died in 1644 it was not decided what to do about the tower disaster. It was a major setback for Bernini's career and for the future of church bell towers. It was later discovered the ground under the towers was not stable. The towers were torn down. Bernini went on to have an otherwise brilliant career.

Images for kids

• 

  Bell tower of the former monastery in Dürnstein, Lower Austria

• 

  Ivan The Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin in Moscow, built in 1508

• 

  The Santo Tomás parish church in Haro, La Rioja has an exconjuratory for weather prayers in its bell tower

• 

  Shafer Tower at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana

• 

  Elizabeth Tower, London completed in 1859; better known as Big Ben.

• 

  Spasskaya Tower, Moscow Kremlin, built in 1491, is one of the oldest in Europe.

• 

  The Leaning Tower of Pisa, campanile of the Duomo di Pisa, Italy.

• 

  St Mark's Campanile, Venice.

• 

  Bell tower in the Muuga village of the Vinni Parish, Lääne-Viru County, Estonia

• 

  Bell tower of the monastery of St. Peter and Paul, in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

• 

  Bell tower of Teruel Cathedral, at Teruel, (Spain).

• 

  Old Belfry of Tōdai-ji, Japan (752, rebuilt 1200)

• 

  An Irish round tower, bell tower, at Glendalough, Ireland, c. 900 AD

• 

  Primitive bell tower at Katúň, Slovakia (≈12th century)

• 

  The Domtoren, bell tower of the St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, Netherlands (13th century)

• 

  Separate bell tower at Feock Church, Cornwall (13th century)

• 

  Inside the belfry of St Medard & St Gildard's, in Little Bytham in Lincolnshire, England (13th century)

• 

  Beijing Bell Tower (1272, reconstructed 1420, 1800)

• 

  Campanile at the University of Northern Iowa (1927)

• 

  Bell Tower of Xi'an (1384)

• 

  Belfry of Aalst, Belgium (1460)

• 

  The belfry of Surb Zoravor church in Yerevan, Armenia (1693)

• 

  Great Lavra Bell Tower of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine (1745)

• 

  Bell tower at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (1797)

• 

  Belfry of Bruges, Belgium (1240) (modified 1480s, 1820)

• 

  Bell Tower, Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania) (1894)

• 

  Sather Tower (more commonly known as "The Campanile"), Berkeley, CA (1914)

• 

  Belfry of Lille, France (1921)

• 

  The Singing Tower at Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, FL (1929)

• 

  Main Building (University of Texas at Austin), Austin, TX (1937)

• 

  Rainbow Tower, Niagara Falls, Canada (1947)

• 

  The Campanile at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (1950)

• 

  Campanile at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., paid for by the Knights of Columbus; known as "The Knight's Tower". (1959)

• 

  The bell tower at University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA (1960s)

• 

  The Addleshaw Tower of Chester Cathedral, England (1973–74)

• 

  Brigham Young University Centennial Carillon Tower, Provo, Utah (1975)

• 

  'Swan Bells', Perth, Western Australia (2000)

See also

In Spanish: Torre campanario para niños