Antwerp entrepreneur Fernand Huts has begun construction of what is set to become the world’s largest carillon, with the first of 81 bells cast on Tuesday 18 August 2026, at Royal Eijsbouts in Asten in the Netherlands.
The Singelberg carillon will be installed in a new tower on the Singelberg site in Kallo, on the left bank of the Port of Antwerp, where Huts’s companies Katoen Natie and Indaver have their operational headquarters. The completed instrument is expected to open in 2028.
Huts’s grandchildren strike the first bell
The first symbolic strike was not made by Huts himself, but by two of his grandchildren. Emmanuelle Huts turned 14 on Tuesday, while Robert Huts celebrated his 11th birthday. Their role was intended to underline the project’s focus on future generations.
“Every historic carillon we admire today was once a new carillon,” Huts said. “Someone then had to have the courage to look beyond their own generation. With the Singelberg carillon, we are doing the same. We are not building a monument for today, but heritage that will bring people together for centuries.”
81 bells and six and a half octaves
The completed instrument will have 81 bells, a range of six and a half octaves and a total weight of around 60 tonnes. Its largest bell will weigh approximately 11.5 tonnes.
This will give it considerably greater range than many historic carillons. The two carillons in the tower of St Rumbold’s Cathedral in Mechelen, for example, each have 49 bells and a range of four octaves.
Royal Eijsbouts, which also produced the younger of Mechelen’s two carillons, is responsible for casting the Singelberg bells. The project involves extensive research into bell profiles and materials to produce the desired combination of powerful, warm lower notes and clear, bright higher tones. One historical reference is the famous 1459 bass bell of Antwerp Cathedral.
A carillon designed as a concert instrument
The bells will be installed in an open arrangement inside the new tower. At its centre will be a playing room containing a custom-built keyboard spanning six and a half octaves.
The tower itself is intended to be accessible to visitors, allowing them to see how the carillonneur, keyboard, mechanisms and bells work together.
The project is being developed by four organisations associated with Huts: logistics company Katoen Natie, waste-management company Indaver, cultural organisation The Phoebus Foundation and publisher Hannibal Books.
New music and international masterclasses
The ambition goes beyond creating an exceptionally large musical instrument. The Singelberg carillon is intended as a concert instrument, a venue for new compositions and a centre for research, international collaboration and education.
New music will be commissioned specifically for it, while international meetings and masterclasses for carillonneurs are planned at Singelberg.
“The carillon has developed here from the late Middle Ages into a unique public musical instrument,” said Katharina Van Cauteren, CEO of The Phoebus Foundation.
The earliest known written reference to a baton keyboard dates from 1510 in Oudenaarde, she noted, while Flanders and Brabant were among the early centres of carillon culture. The tradition subsequently developed in both the Southern and Northern Netherlands, with Antwerp playing an early role and Mechelen carillonneur Jef Denyn helping to drive the instrument’s modern revival around 1900.
The tradition has since spread well beyond the Low Countries, with carillons now found in more than 30 countries.
The carillon will have its own community
The Singelberg project will also allow individuals and organisations to become godparents of individual bells. Private individuals, families, companies, associations and groups of friends can associate themselves with one of the 81 bells.
Their names can be inscribed on their bell, while a collective commemorative plaque and official register will record the carillon’s sponsors.
The initiative is intended to create a community around the instrument as well as helping to fund and support its development. Sponsors will be offered opportunities to visit the Eijsbouts foundry, tour Singelberg and take part in events surrounding the carillon’s opening and subsequent concerts.
From historic administrative centre to cultural campus
The choice of location also connects the project with the area’s history. Singelberg was historically the administrative centre of the Land of Beveren and is now home to Katoen Natie and Indaver.
The site is being developed as a cultural campus bringing together art, landscape, heritage, restoration, research, music and business. The carillon tower is intended to become the musical centre of the site rather than an isolated monument.
“The Singelberg carillon is being cast for today, but built for centuries,” Huts said. “The carillon is the great cultural and heritage story of the Southern Netherlands.”
First bell marks the beginning
The first bell cast in Asten therefore marks only the beginning. The tower still has to be built, the remaining 80 bells have to be cast and installed, and much of the music that will eventually be performed at Singelberg has yet to be written.
The project’s organisers see that unfinished state as part of its significance: one generation has initiated the project, another has given it its first strike, and future generations will ultimately give the instrument its voice.
