Mechelen is the world capital of the carillon — the keyboard-played array of tuned bells in a church tower — and this school, founded in 1922 by the local cathedral carillonneur Jef Denyn, is the reason. Players come here from Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, and France for several years of training; almost every serious carillon player in the world has either studied or taught here.
The school occupies an old house on the F. de Merodestraat and opens for tours on selected days. Year-round there are free open-air carillon concerts on the cathedral tower across the square — Mondays at 8.30 in the evening from June through August, plus a longer recital on most Sundays.