Located between Antwerp and Brussels, the former capital of the Low Countries tends to be neglected, in favour of Bruges or Ghent. A visit to Mechelen demonstrates that it’s yet another secret that we Belgians have kept very well to ourselves.
St Rumbold (St Rombout in Dutch) is the patron saint of Mechelen. Not much is known for certain of the 8th century saint. He’s usually believed to have died in 775, but when examining remains assumed to be his, they could be dated in the late 6th or first half of the 7th century. He’s believed to have stayed only 10 years in Mechelen, during which time he made a deep impression. His seemingly limitless resources led robbers to believe in a treasure of St Rumbold, and they kidnapped him. He was martyred but died virtually pennyless.
The tower was constructed between 1452 and 1520 as part of the cathedral. Since 1999, the tower is on the UNESCO heritage list. If is also a belfry and contains 2 carillons of 49 bells. The oldest bells date from the 15th century. The heaviest bell weighs 9 tons. A second carillon was added much more recently, in 1981.
Carillon playing was pretty much invented in Mechelen. Since 1922, Mechelen has the Royal Carillon School, offering a 6 year program. The school has over 500 graduates.
The Russian word for carillon is ‘malinoviy zvon‘ meaning ‘bell-ringing from Malines’. It was introduced by Czar Peter the First (The Great) who visited Mechelen (Malines) when in Holland and often listened to carillon playing. However, since Mechelen (Malines) is not well known in Russia, and phonetically the word malines is close to малина (raspberry), Russians may tell you that carillon playing has something to do with raspberries (thanks to my colleague Vadim for this story!).
With its height of 97 meters, the tower is a landmark for Mechelen which has otherwise few high-rise buildings. The tower is unfinished - it was planned to be 167 meters, but for unclear reasons, only 7 meters of the 77 meter spire were completed, then construction stopped for unclear reasons. Some towers in the region had recently collapsed, and it could be that the builders had insufficient confidence in the stability of the tower foundations.
At first, climbing the 538 steps of a tower might not sound too appealing. But the tower is a vertical museum in 5 rooms, topped by a panoramic view. On the way up, you pass the crane room, the forge, the bell, carillon and clock rooms. When so inclined, you can obseve the inner mechanics of the clock and carillons, or just listen to them playing a tune.
Each room takes you another 100 steps or so towards to top, where you can enjoy a panoramic view on the incredible flatness of Flanders. On a clear day, it is said, you could see the Atomium of Brussels or the Port of Antwerp. During our visit, a haze caused by the low autumn sun created a more mysterious landscape for us.
