BILBAO : SPAIN

*Location:

   Basilica de la Madre de Dios de Begoña
   Calle Virgen de Begoña
     at Calle Elizalde
   Bilbao, Vizcaya, Spain
   LL: N 43.25879, W 2.91442

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*Player:

   (unknown)

*Contact:

   Basilica de Begoña
   Calle Virgen de Begoña, 38
   48006 Bilbao s Vizcaya
   T: 94/412 70 91
   E: sacristia /@/ basilicadebegona DOTcom

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Bass about 1 ton.
   Also reported as 23 bells.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 24 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is F  in the middle octave
   Transposition is unknown
   Keyboard range:     ----  /    ----  
   The whole instrument was installed in unknown year
     with bells made by Rüetschi    
   Year of latest technical information source is 2007

*Links:

The Basilica Website (English version, roughly translated from Euskara [Basque]) has an architectural drawing of the facade and tower.  The History page mentions the carillon and its restoration.

A city tourism page (English version) has a small photo of the building and its surroundings.

A tourist page has a photo of the building and tower.

A huge page of photos of churches in Bilbao begins with one of the Basilica's tower.

A Yahoo Travel page has a small photo of the tower and unusual facade.

Another photo from a similar perspective

A side view of the facade shows clearly the wide but shallow shape of the tower.

A photo of the building from the hill above the old town

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Rüetschi 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.

Index to all tower bell instruments in Spain.

*Status:

   This page was built from the database on 14-Nov-07
   based on textual data last updated on 2007/11/02
   and on technical data last updated on 2007/11/01

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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