Bellfounding in the context of "Carillon"

The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell today is located across the street from Independence Hall in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park.

The bell was commissioned in 1752 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from the London-based firm Lester and Pack, later renamed the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof". The bell first cracked when rung after its arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose surnames appear on the bell. In its early years, the bell was used to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens to public meetings and proclamations. It is likely that the Liberty Bell was among the bells in Philadelphia to ring on July 8, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was first read to the public, although no contemporary account of the ringing exists.

Geert van Wou (1440, Hintham—December 1527, Kampen) was a well-known Dutch bellfounder. He is best known today for the Maria Gloriosa (1497) of Erfurt Cathedral. The son of a bellfounder, he is considered one of the most important bellfounders of the Middle Ages, though records suggest he participated in other casting.

The most famous bells for the cathedrals include those in Erfurt (Maria Gloriosa, e, 1497), Braunschweig (1502), Naumburg (1502), Utrecht (7 bells on F, 1505/06), and the St. Michael's Church in Kampen (1493/96) and that of today's new tower in Kampen (1481–83). A Van Wou bell also hangs in Zeerijp (1500) and another there by him was recast in 1955 by van Bergen because of a crack in the bell foundry. He cast two other bells (of 1493) hanging in the Lamberti Church in Munster. In Eernewoude also a Van Wou-bell from the year 1500. For St. Michaelis and St. Nicolai in Lüneburg he also poured bells (two in St. Michaelis, one in St. Nicolai, 1491) and for St. Mary in Stendal and the St. Mary's Cathedral in Hamburg (1487, the bell "Celsa", which since 1804 is now in the St. Nicholas Church (Hamburg- Altengamme depends)). Another bell hangs in the minster Mildam roads in the church of St. Gudula. Cast in 1492, the Regina Bell of Osnabrück Cathedral, already cast in 1485, is now in the tower of Holy Cross Church at Osnabrück. The Grote Kerk, Haarlem in Haarlem houses another van Wou bell, the Roelant cast in 1503, weighing in at almost 5000 kg.