Editing Bell tower (section)

===Europe===
In 400 AD, [[Paulinus of Nola]] introduced church bells into the [[Christian Church]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Clip Notes for Church Bulletins – Volume 1|year=1997|author=Kathy Luty, David Philippart|quote=The first known use of bells in churches was by a bishop named Paulinus in the year 400.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-nmAinYFJ0C&q=paulinus+church+bells&pg=PT133|isbn=978-1568541693}}</ref><ref name="Roger J. Smith 1997">{{cite web|title=Church Bells|year=1997|author=Roger J. Smith|quote=Bells came into use in our churches as early as the year 400, and their introduction is ascribed to Paulinus, bishop of Nola, a town of Campania, in Italy. Their use spread rapidly, as in those unsettled times the church-bell was useful not only for summoning the faithful to religious services, but also for giving an alarm when danger threatened. Their use was sanctioned in 604 by Pope Sabinian, and a ceremony for blessing them was established a little later. Very large bells, for church towers, were probably not in common use until the eleventh century.|publisher=Sacred Heart Catholic Church and St. Yves Mission|url=http://www.awakentoprayer.org/church_bells.htm|access-date=2012-10-26|archive-date=2021-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207150201/http://www.awakentoprayer.org/church_bells.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> By the 11th century, bells housed in belltowers became commonplace.<ref name="Roger J. Smith 1997"/>

Historic bell towers exist throughout Europe. The [[Irish round tower]]s are thought to have functioned in part as bell towers. Famous medieval European examples include Bruges ([[Belfry of Bruges]]), Ypres ([[Cloth Hall, Ypres]]), Ghent ([[Belfry of Ghent]]).  Perhaps the most famous European free-standing bell tower, however, is the so-called "[[Leaning Tower of Pisa]]", which is the campanile of the [[Duomo di Pisa]] in [[Pisa]], [[Italy]]. In 1999 thirty-two [[Belgium|Belgian]] belfries were added to the [[UNESCO]]'s [[List of World Heritage Sites in Europe#Transboundary sites|list of World Heritage Sites]]. In 2005 this list was extended with one Belgian and twenty-three Northern [[France|French]] belfries and is since known as ''[[Belfries of Belgium and France]]''. Most of these were attached to civil buildings, mainly city halls, as symbols of the greater power the cities in the region got in the Middle Ages; a small number of buildings not connected with a belfry, such as bell towers of—or with their—churches, also occur on this same list ([https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/943/multiple=1&unique_number=1100 details]). In the [[Middle Ages]], cities sometimes kept their important documents in belfries. Not all are on a large scale; the "bell" tower of [[Katúň]], in [[Slovakia]], is typical of the many more modest structures that were once common in country areas. Archaic wooden bell towers survive adjoining churches in [[Lithuania]] and as well as in some parts of [[Poland]].

In Orthodox Eastern Europe bell ringing also has a strong cultural significance ([[Russian Orthodox bell ringing]]), and churches were constructed with bell towers (see also [[List of tallest Orthodox churches#Bell towers|List of tall Orthodox Bell towers]]).