Bell tower - Definition and Overview

The Belltower at University of California, Riverside, a center piece of the campus at UC Riverside.

A bell tower is a tower containing one or more bells, typically found on a church.

The bell is rung to signify the time, or for special events such as weddings and funerals. Bell towers are now rarely constructed and existing towers are kept primarily for their historic value.

Bell towers may also contain carillons, a musical instrument traditionally comprised of 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.

A free standing bell tower may be referred to by its Italian name, campanile.

External link

The Campanile at the University of California, Berkeley (http://www.berkeley.edu/visitors/campanile.html)