Geert van Wou (1440,

Hintham Hintham is a village west of Rosmalen in the 's-Hertogenbosch municipality of North Brabant province. Hintham is known for the Interchange Hintham, an interchange in the A2 motorway, the highway from Amsterdam to Maastricht Maastricht ( , ...

—December 1527,

Kampen Campen or Kampen may refer to: Places Finland * Kampen, the Swedish name of Kamppi, a district in Helsinki Germany * Campen, Germany, a village by the Ems estuary, northwestern Germany, home of the Campen Lighthouse * Campen Castle, a part ...

) was a well-known Dutch bellfounder. He is best known today for the

Maria Gloriosa Maria Gloriosa, or the Erfurt Bell, is a well-known bell of Erfurt Cathedral, cast by Geert van Wou in 1497. The world's largest medieval free-swinging bell, it is now swung electrically. It was welded in 1985 to repair a crack, then, in August ...

(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, e⁰, 1497), Braunschweig (1502),

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

(1502), Utrecht (7 bells on F⁰, 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 Zeerijp () is a village north of city of Groningen. Its most striking building is its brick church for the 14th century with detached bell tower. Formerly dedicated to John the Baptist, now it is a Dutch Reformed church. Also there is a famous org ...

(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 Altengamme () located in the Bergedorf borough of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in northern Germany, is a rural quarter on the right bank of the Elbe river. ''Altengamme'' is the most eastern part of Hamburg. In 2020 the population was 2 ...

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 Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

houses another van Wou bell, the Roelant cast in 1503, weighing in at almost 5000 kg. He was the grandfather of

Gert Cantor Gert Cantor (fl. 1567) was a Dutch musician active in Sweden. Born in the Netherlands, his original Dutch name was Gerrit van Wou, grandson of the famed clockmaker Geert van Wou.Fehrmann, C.N. (1961). Twee kleinzonen van de Kamper klokgieter Geert ...

.Fehrmann, C.N. (1961). Twee kleinzonen van de Kamper klokgieter Geert van Wou. In: Kamper Almanak, Frans Walkate archief, Kampen.

References

1440 births 1527 deaths People from the Duchy of Brabant Bell foundries People from 's-Hertogenbosch Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the Netherlands 15th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire {{Netherlands-music-bio-stub