For Van de Bunt the disappearance is extra harsh. Just before the renovation, he ensured that the tradition of ringing before the council meeting was restored. “It is a tradition that goes back to the 17th century,” he explains. “Then there was no city council yet, but the bell sounded as the schout was justified in Overveen, the administrative center at the time.”
Since the end of the 18th century, municipal councils, at the time of the Batavian Republic, and definitively with our current Kingdom of the Netherlands. “It was then common for the clock to be a noise for council meetings,” says Van de Bunt. “That was symbolic, as an expression of democratic deliberations, but also had a communicative function: citizens knew something was going to happen in the town hall.”
Legacy
The history and symbolic meaning are sufficient motivation for the Bloemendaal councilor to come up with a solution for the disappeared clock. The realization was created thanks to the Bloemendaal initiative foundation. Van de Bunt: “That foundation had received a bequest from Mrs. Elsbeth Monday. She thought it was important that Bloemendaal is maintained as nicely as possible. Thanks to its hefty contribution, we were able to make a new clock.”