page_title: Waag (Alkmaar)
section_title: The Clock and Drum
hierarchical_section_title: Waag (Alkmaar) / The Carillon and other bells / The Clock and Drum
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: WAAG: INTERIEUR, TOREN, KLOKKENSPEL, SPEELTROMMEL This is an image of rijksmonument number 7446
context_page_description: The Waag building is a National monument listed building on the Waagplein in Alkmaar in the Netherlands. On this square Waagplein every Friday from April till the second week of September, the famous cheese market is held. The Dutch Cheese Museum and the tourist information Office (VVV) are also in the building. In the tower is a famous carillon weekly played by a carilloneur and also automatically by a drum chiming the quarters of the hour. There is also the famous automatic horse with knights play in the tower with an automatic trumpetplayer.
context_section_description: The clock with Gothic angle pillars was made in 1541. The drum (big music cylinder) part of the clock was built in the enlarged frame by Willem Spraackel round 1690. It chimes every quarter of the hour with on half and full hour the full strike on lowest bell, the bourdon of the carillon. (half full strike on a large smaller bell) this is called 'Hollandse slag' (Dutch strike). In 1690 the clock was changed into one with a pendulum an invention by Christiaan Huygens around this time. The drum plays a short melody on the four quarters of all hours of the natural day. This has been a tradition in Alkmaar since first bells were hang on the towers in the 1540s. Also in the night man had to be able to hear what time it was. The city carillonneur changes the melodies on the drum twice a year. This is called 'versteken' (remove and insertion of the pins which lift the hammers on the bells).
caption: Speeltrommel constructed by Willem Spraackel
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