campanile

 

(kămpənē'lē, Ital. kämpänē'lā) , Italian form of bell tower, constructed chiefly during the Middle Ages. Built in connection with a church or a town hall, it served as a belfry and watch tower and often functioned as a civic or commemorative monument. The campanile generally stands as a detached unit. At the top is the bell platform, where the main architectural emphasis, generally a group of arched openings, is concentrated. Originating in the 6th cent., the campaniles were the earliest church towers in Europe and were generally circular in shape; examples of this type remain at Ravenna. Beginning with the 8th cent., the square plan became most common, being constructed in all parts of Italy. The Lombardy section produced the richest development of the campanile. Brick is the material most used, often combined with stone for the cornices and string courses, the latter surrounding the tower at each story level in the Roman examples. The celebrated campanile of Florence, known as Giotto's campanile (1334), is entirely faced in marble and ornamented with sculptures. Also of marble is the leaning tower at Pisa.

St Mark's campanile, Venice, Italy

The campanile at Iowa State University with a 50-bell carillon, Ames, Iowa

Sather Tower at University of California, Berkeley with a 61-bell carillon

St Urban Tower in Košice, Slovakia

The campanile of Old South Church, in Boston rises to 264 ft (80 m).

LSU's Memorial Tower in Baton Rouge

The 252-ft (76.8 m) high Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The Leaning Tower of Nevyansk.

A campanile – pronounced /kæmpəˈni:leɪ/ – is, especially in Italy, a free-standing bell tower, often adjacent to a church or cathedral. The word derives from the Italian campanile, from campana (bell).

The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Other notable examples include St Mark's Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice. Campaniles outside of Italy are often modeled after St Mark's.

At the beginning of the nineteen eighties the theme Campanile was revised by H. R. Hiegel and Florian Mausbach.

After a spectacular design by architect H.R. Hiegel dating from the year 1983, in 1990 Helmut Jahn built the Frankfurt Messeturm.

Modern campaniles often contain carillons, a musical instrument traditionally comprised of at least 23 large bells which are sounded by cables, chains, or cords connected to a keyboard. These can be found at some college and university campuses. In modern construction, rather than using heavy bells the sound may be produced by the striking of small metal rods whose vibrations are amplified electronically and sounded through loudspeakers.

List of campaniles

This is a list of campaniles found on Wikipedia:

Australia

• National Carillon, Canberra, ACT (50 m; 53 bells)
• Swan Bells, Perth, Western Australia (82.5 m; 18 bells)

Canada

• The Peace Tower, part of the Canadian Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, is equipped with a 53-bell carillon
• Ladner Clock Tower broadcasts the carillon of the University of British Columbia (40 m (131 ft); originally 330 bronze bars, now fully digital)

Germany

• The 84-m high Roter Turm (de) in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt is, with 76 bells, the world's largest carillon in a campanile.

Ireland

• University of Dublin, Trinity College.

Italy

• St Mark's Campanile, Venice (100 m)
• Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pisa
• Giotto's Bell Tower, Florence

New Zealand

• The National War Memorial Carillon, Wellington. 50.6 m; 74 bells.[1]

Slovakia

• St Urban Tower, Košice

South Africa

• Port Elizabeth (Erected to commemorate the landing of the 1820 Settlers)

United Kingdom

• The Clock Tower, commonly referred to as Big Ben, of the Palace of Westminster
• The Trent Building of the University of Nottingham
• The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower at the University of Birmingham
• The Queen's Tower at Imperial College London
• The Trafford Centre's Barton Square Tower

United States

Alabama

• Denny Chimes, the campanile/carillon at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. 110 ft (33.5 m) tall with 25 bronze bells played from 2 keyboards or roll player mechanism.

California

• Sather Tower, "The Campanile" and carillon of the University of California, Berkeley, is 307 ft (93.6 m) tall and has 61 bells. It was the subject of The Campanile Movie.
• Carillon Tower, "The Bell Tower" at the University of California, Riverside is 161 ft (49.1 m) tall with 48 bells and was dedicated to the University in 1966.
• Storke Tower at the University of California, Santa Barbara is 175 ft (53.3 m) tall with 61 bells.
• The California Tower at Balboa Park (San Diego, California) is 198 ft (60.4 m) tall and has a 100-bell symphonic carillon. It was built in 1914 for the 1915-1916 Pan-American Expo.

Colorado

• Daniels & Fisher Tower, popularly the D & F Tower in downtown Denver, was, at 330 feet (100.5 m), the third-tallest structure in the United States and the tallest west of the Mississippi River when completed in 1910.

Florida

• Century Tower, at the University of Florida in Gainesville, is 157 ft (47.9 m) tall and has a cast-bell carillon with 61 bells.
• The Campanile, at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Florida, has a 43 cast-bell carillon.

Georgia

• Kessler Campanile at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta was built for the 1996 Olympic Games and is 80 ft (24.4 m) tall.

Indiana

• Brandt Campanile, at Valparaiso University near the Chapel of the Resurrection and the Christopher Center for Library and Information Resources, is a chime standing 143 ft (43.6 m) high with 12 bells.
• Shafer Tower, a campanile and carillon in the central campus of Ball State University, standing at 150 feet in height.

Iowa

• The Campanile and carillon at Iowa State University (110 ft (33.5 m); 50 bells).
• The Campanile at the University of Northern Iowa.

Kansas

• The World War II Memorial Carillon and Campanile at the University of Kansas (120 ft (36.6 m); 53 bells)

Louisiana

• Louisiana State University World War One Memorial Bell Tower (Memorial Tower)
  • Also known as the Campanile, this 175-ft (53.3 m) structure was built in 1923 and dedicated in 1926 as a memorial to Louisianans who died in WWI. On the rotunda walls are bronze plaques bearing the names of those to whom the tower is dedicated. (The names of the black soldiers were recently added.) Chimes ring every quarter hour. The cornerstone in front of the tower was excavated from the ruins of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy in Pineville (LSU's first incarnation), one half describes the history, while the other half is inscribed with the names of the first board of supervisors and faculty.
  • The plaza area in front of Memorial Tower has served as a place of both ceremony and celebration. The University’s annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony takes place on the plaza and attracts many visitors to the area. In addition, Student Government holds the formal installation for its new President and Vice President each spring. There are also several traditions attached to it, especially kissing in the plaza at midnight on Valentine's Day.

Massachusetts

• Campanile next to City Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts, a part of the Municipal Group, the city's neoclassical government center.
• Campanile of Old South Church in Boston, a 246-ft (75 m) Venetian-Gothic bell tower by Charles Amos Cummings.
• Campanile Pilgrim Monument, Provincetown, Massachusetts, a 252-ft (76.8 m) granite tower by Charles Amos Cummings.
• The Stockbridge Congregational Church has a bell tower, also know as the Children's Chime.[2]
• The Karam Campanile at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, in the middle of campus

Michigan

• Burton Tower at the University of Michigan (212 ft, 64.6 m; 55 bells)
• Lurie Tower at the University of Michigan (167 ft, 50.9 m; 60 bells)
• Beaumont Tower at Michigan State University (105 ft, 32 m; 49 bells)

Oregon

• Campanile at Oregon State University (68 ft, 20.7 m tall; 5 bells)

South Dakota

• Coughlin Campanile at South Dakota State University(167 ft, 50.9 m). The tower's chimes cover three octaves and can be "played" manually from an organ.

Texas

• Albritton Bell Tower, Texas A&M University, College Station (138 ft, 42.1 m; 49 bells).
• Murchison Memorial Tower, the campanile at Trinity University, San Antonio (166 ft, 50.6 m; 4 bells).

Vermont

• Adams Bell Tower, Norwich University, Northfield (47 bells).[3]

Wisconsin

• Carillon Tower at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison (featuring 56 bells and weekly concerts).

Other uses

Campanile is also the name of the Palo Alto High School newspaper, and the Rice University yearbook.

See also

• Belfry
• Carillon
• Clock tower

External links

• Giotto's Bell tower, Florence virtual reality movie and pictures

• H.R. Hiegel's design
• Sather Tower at University of California, Berkeley
• The Campanile at Berkeley from the UC Berkeley Wiki
• An article from the University of Alabama Crimson White about the day-to-day operation of the schools Campanile
• Ladner Clock Tower at UBC
• More about the Ladner Clock Tower at UBC

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