The Carillon in Berlin-Tiergarten is located in a freestanding

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

next to the

House of World Cultures The Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), in English House of the World's Cultures, in Berlin is Germany's Performing arts center, national center for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary arts, with a special focus on non-E ...

(), near the Chancellery in the northeastern part of Berlin's central Tiergarten park. It contains a large, manually played concert

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

, comprising 68 bells weighing a total of connected to a keyboard spanning 5 and a half fully chromatic

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

s; the largest bell weighs . The carillonneur sits in a playing cabin in the middle of the bells and plays with his fists and feet on a baton-and-pedal keyboard. The purely mechanical action makes it possible to play all dynamic gradations, from very soft to very loud. The carillon was given to the city by

Daimler-Benz AG The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...

under CEO

Edzard Reuter Edzard Hans Wilhelm Reuter (born 16 February 1928) was the CEO of Daimler-Benz from 1987 to 1995. Edzard Reuter was born in Berlin, his father was the popular social democratic politician and mayor of Berlin from 1948 to 1953, Ernst Reuter. H ...

in 1987 on the occasion of Berlin's 750th birthday. It was cast by Royal Dutch foundry Eijsbouts according to the specifications of carillonneur Jeffrey Bossin. It is one of the largest instruments of its kind in Europe and approximately the fourth largest (by number of bells) in the world. Berlin carillonneur Jeffrey Bossin plays concerts on the carillon every Sunday at 3:00 p.m. from the beginning of May until the end of September and on the more important national holidays (2:00 p.m. in December); the programs include music written for the carillon and arrangements of classical works and popular songs. Tours of the carillon tower, including a unique view of Berlin and its government buildings, are offered at the end of the concerts. The carillonneur guides groups through the tower and (in English and German) answers questions, explains the special features of the instrument, and recounts the history of the carillon in Berlin from its beginnings under the first king of Prussia to the

reunification of Germany German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

. He demonstrates the instrument's playing technique and plays a carillon piece for his guests.

External links

The Carillon in Berlin-Tiergarten

Video of Jeffrey Bossin playing the carillon
{{coord, 52, 31, 04, N, 13, 22, 02, E, region:DE-BE_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title 1987 establishments in Germany Towers in Berlin Carillons Towers completed in 1987 Tourist attractions in Berlin Tiergarten (park)

See also

External links