Originally published in the May/June 2024 issue of DUTCH the Magazine
Were there a soundtrack for the Dutch capital covering the Golden Age to the 21st century, it might feature the percussion of horses hooves, the rumble of carriages on cobblestones, a chorus of clanging trams humming along overhead electricity lines, and the clear notes of bells emanating from church steeples. Four sets of bells, or carillons, have hung in Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk, Westerkerk, Zuiderkerk and Munttoren since French brothers Pieter and François Hemony cast them in the mid-17th century.
Played by invisible carillonneurs – musicians perched in small rooms above the city – carillons have become an integral part of urban symphonies performed throughout the Netherlands. Housed in bell towers, they feature at least 23 bells that ring when played on a keyboard. Each key, or baton, is linked to a bell with a different pitch. Although bells were cast as early as the 15th century, they could not be finely tuned until the Hemony brothers made carillons a sophisticated instrument on which trained carillonneurs could play virtually any musical composition.
For Whom the Bells Toll
Rembrandt surely heard the bells of the Westertoren as he walked from his home in the Jordaan to the artists’ guild in the Waag. Monet would have registered their sound as he painted Amsterdam’s Zuiderkerk, standing at the end of the Groenburgwal. Hiding in an attic at Prinsengracht 263, Anne Frank could see the Westertoren’s blue imperial crown through a hole in the side of her family’s secret annex. She loved hearing the bells, calling them “reassuring, especially at night.”
For the teen who became the world’s most famous diarist, the notes emanating from the tower adjacent to the Westerkerk were a melodious constant that provided a soothing connection to the city where she and her family hid from the Nazis for two years.
Set just a stone’s throw from where Golden Age merchants once worshipped, the Frank’s hideout was within easy earshot of chimes that signaled the striking of the tower clock several times an hour. The incessant clanging kept most of Otto Frank’s family up at night, but not Anne, his youngest daughter.
In the book that became a classic after her death, the Jewish girl from Germany who vented her frustrations in a diary she called “Kitty” wrote of their recurrent tolls: “Father, Mother and Margot still can’t get used to the chiming of the Westertoren clock, which tells us the time every quarter of an hour. Not me, I liked it from the start,” she mused in her July 11, 1942 diary entry.
A year later, the bells of the Westertoren fell silent. Anne speculates they were seized for what she sarcastically calls “factory use” in her diary. She fears they’ve been confiscated by the occupying Germans, as many bells were during World War II, to be melted down into weapons. While Anne’s voice was silenced at Bergen-Belsen in 1945 – just shy of her 16th birthday – the Westertoren bells tolled again before the 1947 publication of The Diary of Anne Frank in the Netherlands. A bronze statue of Anne by Dutch sculptor Mari Andriessen was placed in front of the Westerkerk in 1977, in the presence of Auschwitz survivor Otto Frank.
The Ouwe Wester, Pearl of the Jordaan
Long before the Franks arrived in Amsterdam, the 278-foot-high Westertoren dominated the city’s western skyline. In the 17th century, when the Dutch East India Company was busy transforming the Netherlands into a world trading hub, sailors used what was then the capital’s tallest tower as a navigational landmark. The tower’s bells served as a warning system for approaching storms, military, and boats coming in from sea. Affectionately nicknamed the Ouwe Wester or Pearl of the Jordaan, the Westertoren is memorialized in such classic Dutch tunes as Aan de Voet van die Oude Wester, performed by Johnny Jordaan and Willy Alberti during the 1974 soccer world championships in Germany.
Designed by renowned Dutch sculptor and architect Hendrick de Keyser, the Westertoren originally featured an octagonal top. After his death in 1621, his son, Pieter, changed the design to sleek squares decreasing in size, embellished with balustrades, columns and vases.
The result is a tower with a more classic look than the adjacent Dutch Renaissance-style church, also designed by Hendrick de Keyser and finished by his son.
Appointed Amsterdam city architect in 1595, de Keyser’s legacy includes Amsterdam’s Zuiderkerk, Noorderkerk, Munttoren, and numerous other city landmarks.
While locals have worshiped at the Westerkerk since 1631, the Westertoren was not finished until seven years later. To keep it from sinking into soft local soil, its lower half was built with heavy brick and the part above it with lightweight sandstone. The two upper sections were constructed with wood covered with gray lead, resulting in a tower that appears like it’s been constructed entirely of heavy stone.
Just above the Westertoren’s clock, the imperial crown on the apex includes the largest 14 of the 51 bells cast by the Hemony brothers in 1658. In 1959, new bells cast by Eijsbouts foundry replaced damaged originals. In 1991, three more bells were added and the carillon was enhanced by four octaves. The smaller Hemony bells not currently in use are still visible in the tower, along with the original 17th-century keyboard.
The Westertoren carillon is the only one in Amsterdam that normally chimes 24 hours daily, at the request of residents in the neighboring Jordaan. From 1909–1938, the time on the Westertoren clock was the fixed reference point for Amsterdam Time, then the official time throughout the Netherlands.
On Tuesdays at noon, city carillonneur Boudewijn Zwart performs a recital, often emerging from the scarlet face of the clock in a bit of urban theater starring church bell-ringer, residents, visitors, and a musical thread that bridges centuries.
Iconic Westerkerk
Adjacent to the Westertoren stands the Westerkerk, long considered Amsterdam’s Protestant showpiece. Set on the Westermarkt, a space on the Prinsengracht once used for a vegetable market, the church was built between 1620 and 1631, with a grand interior formed by two interconnected Greek crosses.
The Westerkerk’s original pulpit and carved inner portals dating from 1630 are still intact, as are shutters painted with biblical scenes by Flemish painter Gerard de Lairesse: King David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant and the Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon. A classic pipe organ added in 1686 was restored to its original state in 1992. Replicas of the 17th-century copper chandeliers, complete with the Amsterdam seal, have replaced the originals, which were sold in 1830. Left of the entry is a plaque memorializing renowned vocalist Willy Alberti, who sang in both Dutch and Italian, naming him “onze Amsterdamse tenore Napolitano.”
Near the end of his life, an impoverished Rembrandt lived around the corner from the Westerkerk, at nearby Rozengracht 184. When he died in 1669, he was buried in an unmarked rented grave in the church. In 1906, on the 300th anniversary of his birth, a commemorative plaque was placed inside, honoring the painter many regard as the greatest artist of the Dutch Golden Age. Rembrandt’s maid-turned-lover Hendrickje Stoffels, as well as his son, Titus, also are buried on the premises, as are renowned painter Govert Flinck, distiller Lucas Bols, and a host of other Dutch luminaries.
When the French occupied the Netherlands from 1795–1806, church and state were separated. Consequently, the Westerkerk became property of the Dutch Reformed Church while the municipality of Amsterdam retained ownership of the Westertoren. After the Netherlands regained independence in 1813, the church again became city property and the carillons were disconnected from the church and again owned by the town and its residents.
Time Takes its Toll
In the decades after 1930, the Westerkerk became more and more dilapidated. In 1981, the church closed for maintenance and was extensively renovated from 1984–1991. Another renovation in 2006 restored the original blue color to the tower’s imperial crown, which was painted gold in 1906. By the 21st century, weather, pollution, and the passage of countless feet over more than four centuries had taken a serious toll on the tower, evidenced in cracks, rust, fading facades, and other signs of wear and tear.
To return the Westertoren to its original glory and ensure visitors’ safety, the Municipality of Amsterdam commissioned Witte Bouw & Aannemersbedrijf B.V. for a comprehensive renovation project. Recognizing the deep connection of locals to the tower, the city also engaged residents, businesses and institutions in the restoration process through workshops, guided tours and exhibitions. Major interior and exterior maintenance, as well as work on the bells and carillon, began in mid-December 2022 and is expected to continue for a still undetermined period.
Extensive research and consultation with architectural historians has guided the restoration process, which balances contemporary engineering practices with the preservation of historic authenticity.
Modern materials have been integrated to ensure structural stability without compromising the original design. While preserving history, the renovation emphasizes sustainable practices that integrate energy-efficient systems, eco-friendly materials, and improved accessibility. Photo credit: Bouw Magazine
The Sound of Silence
Since January 2023, the Westertoren has been covered in scaffolding for the first time since 2001. Behind the scenes, construction crews have been painting, plastering, and renewing joints, masonry, leadwork and brickwork. The tower’s clocks will be checked and its lighting made more sustainable. The carillon’s rusted frame will be replaced and its suspension construction checked. When placed back, the bells will hang in their original 17th-century location, with open space through which natural light can shine. The Westerkerk remains open during maintenance, but the tower will not be accessible until the project is complete.
On March 10, 2023, the bells of the Westertoren were heard for the last time to date. As part of a nationwide “Bells for Peace” initiative supporting war-torn Ukraine, volunteers had been ringing them every Monday at 7pm for 12 minutes since the start of the war. With the Westertoren renovation in full swing, the bells were silenced, leaving something missing from Amsterdam’s soundtrack.
