The Abbey Tower is a 90.5 meter high bell tower belonging to the abbey complex in Middelburg . He is curiously situated on the southern wall of the nave Koorkerk . The tower is nicknamed the Long John and number eleven on the list of highest church towers in the Netherlands .
Abbey Tower dates from the second half of the fourteenth century. It is octagonal in shape and covered with stone slide. The tower is several times damaged by fire. In 1568, 1712 and May 1940. In 1590 a wooden spire was in Renaissance style applied this spire burned in 1712 after Peter Graafschap designed a new high spire. After the bombing of May 17, 1940 during the Second World War , was the architect Jan Meijer (1872-1950) from Amsterdam as early as August 1940 commissioned by the Middelburg council to restore the tower. The reopening of the restored tower was on June 11, 1955. The spire was rebuilt in simplified form with modifications to accommodate the carillon and, as traditionally an imperial crown.
