Filled with sunshine and warm temperatures, June 17 in Lyon was a day Olivier Messiaen would certainly have approved. The cavernous dark room of the Church of Saint Pothin would have also certainly met with the master’s approval, its mosaic dome crowning the apse and the organ filling the entire east end of the nave.
The Netherlands Carillon monument, located in Arlington, Virginia, next to the Arlington National Cemetery and Iwo Jima Memorial, was a gift from the Netherlands to the United States in gratitude for their liberation during World War II and Marshall Plan aid. A Dutch press officer, Govert Verheul, had dreamed up the idea of giving the United States a carillon at a time when the administration was searching for an appropriate present for their generous benefactor.
