MAFRA - S : PORTUGAL

*Location:

   Lower belfry, south tower
   Palace
   Mafra, Lisboa, Portugal
   LL: N 38.93, W 9.33

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*Player:

   (None)

   Abel Chaves
   Francisco Gato
   Ana Elias
   Sara Elias

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   (None - tower closed)

*Remarks:

   Old bells by Willem Witlockx (Antwerp)
   & van Aerschodt.
   Restoration/expansion followed the
   Witlockx profiles.
   Also 4 swinging bells in middle belfry,
   cast in Portugal, plus 3 clock bells
   in upper belfry; hour bell estimated
   at 10 1/2 tonnes.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 53 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is F  in the bass octave
   Transposition is down 2 semitone(s)
   Keyboard range:     C C 49/    G G 24
   There is one missing bass semitone
   The instrument was enlarged in 1986
     with  7 bells made by Eijsbouts   
   Prior history:
     In 1730, the instrument was begun with 47 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (46 bells remain from that work.)
   Year of latest technical information source is 2006

Additional information on the technical history of this instrument can be found in a database printout.

*Links:

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
(The work by vanAerschodt being unclear, it is not yet indexed.)
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Eijsbouts bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Where the bass bell of this carillon ranks among all great bells in Europe.

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 traditional carillons in Portugal.

Index to all tower bell instruments in Portugal.

*Status:

   This page was built from the database on 15-Jun-07
   based on textual data last updated on 2007/06/14
   and on technical data last updated on 2007/06/14

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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