THE ANCIENT ART AND SCIENCE OF CHANGE RINGING.

Campanology (late Latin campana, "bell" + Greek, "knowledge")

is the study of bells. Most fundamentally, it encompases the practical aspects of bells — how they are cast, tuned and sounded. But the word "campanology" is also used to refer to the whole culture of bell-ringing and the various customs which it has evolved around the world.

In particular, it is common to collect together a set of tuned bells and treat the whole as one musical instrument. Such collections — such as a Flemish carillon, a Russian zvon, or a British "ring of bells" used for change ringing — have their own practices and challenges; and campanology is likewise the study of perfecting such instruments, composing music for them, and performing it.

A campanile (pronounced [kamp a ni le])

is, especially in Italy, a free-standing bell tower (Italian campana, 'bell'), often adjacent to a church or cathedral.

The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Other notable campaniles include St Mark's Campanile in Venice's St Mark's Square. 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.

National Carillon, Canberra, ACT (50 meters tall; 53 bells)

http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/visiting/attractions/national_carillon.asp