Latest news with #organ
Washington Post
2 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
The 700-year-old Prague cathedral will get a new voice as an organ is nearly installed
PRAGUE — The installation of a new organ at Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral is nearing completion, giving the 700-year-old biggest temple in the Czech Republic a proper instrument to accompany religious services and concerts. An international team was working on a three-story scaffolding above the main entrance inside the cathedral on Tuesday to put in place some of the remaining pipes. The work is scheduled to be complete in late August, followed by the voicing and tuning of the pipes through the end of the year.
Reuters
2 days ago
- General
- Reuters
Prague's St Vitus Cathedral installing new, long-overdue pipe organ
PRAGUE, July 22 (Reuters) - Workers are installing more than 6,000 organ pipes to resonate through St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, seen as the symbolic completion of one of Europe's greatest Gothic architectural monuments after more than 700 years. Installation of the new organ began in April and is set to conclude in August, before the painstaking work of tuning the pipes begins. The new organ will be inaugurated on June 15 next year, the feast day of St Vitus. The cathedral, where construction began in 1344, kings were crowned throughout the centuries and former president Vaclav Havel's funeral mass took place, now has an organ installed from 1932, but its sound does not carry through the entire basilica. "The significance of this organ is not only liturgical and cultural, but I think it is also fundamentally social," said Vojtech Matl, a supervisory board member of the foundation established by the Catholic Church for the project. The foundation, started in 2017 to raise money for the organ, has collected more than 109 million crowns ($5.2 million) from thousands of donors, including 20,000 small donors who adopted parts of the new instrument. Spanish organ workshop Gerhard Grenzing has built the new organ, which has been delivered in smaller pieces to speed up installation. After installation, each of the pipes will need to be tuned by hand, checking its sound and strength, which according to organologist Stepan Svoboda will take until the end of the year. ($1 = 20.9420 Czech crowns)
The Independent
2 days ago
- General
- The Independent
The 700-year-old Prague cathedral will get a new voice as an organ is nearly installed
The installation of a new organ at Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral is nearing completion, giving the 700-year-old biggest temple in the Czech Republic a proper instrument to accompany religious services and concerts. An international team was working on a three-story scaffolding above the main entrance inside the cathedral on Tuesday to put in place some of the remaining pipes. The work is scheduled to be complete in late August, followed by the voicing and tuning of the pipes through the end of the year. The public could hear the organ's first sounds on June 15 next year, the feast of St. Vitus, officials said. The organ contains some 6,000 pipes, ranging in length 7 millimeters (0.28 inches) to 7 meters (23 feet). The four-manual instrument was build in a workshop of Gerhard Grenzing in El Papiol near Barcelona in Spain. The renowned German organ builder has constructed almost 140 organs and reconstructed more than 90 historical instruments in many countries. Once completed in Spain, the new organ was disassembled and its parts were gradually transported to Prague on trucks. The cathedral is linked to the Czech statehood. It's a place where the Czech kings were coronated and buried while the Czech crown jewels are stored inside. The funeral Mass for Vaclav Havel, the Czech Republic's first president, was celebrated in the cathedral on Dec 23, 2011. The previous organ was completed in the early 1930s, but turned out to be too small for its monumental space and frequently broke down. There was no interest in fixing the organ during World War II and more than 40 years of the communist rule. Effort to build a new organ started in 2017, with a crowdfunding campaign that collected more than 109 million Czech koruna, or crowns, ($5.2 million), about 98% of the sum needed.
Associated Press
2 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
The 700-year-old Prague cathedral will get a new voice as an organ is nearly installed
PRAGUE (AP) — The installation of a new organ at Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral is nearing completion, giving the 700-year-old biggest temple in the Czech Republic a proper instrument to accompany religious services and concerts. An international team was working on a three-story scaffolding above the main entrance inside the cathedral on Tuesday to put in place some of the remaining pipes. The work is scheduled to be complete in late August, followed by the voicing and tuning of the pipes through the end of the year. The public could hear the organ's first sounds on June 15 next year, the feast of St. Vitus, officials said. The organ contains some 6,000 pipes, ranging in length 7 millimeters (0.28 inches) to 7 meters (23 feet). The four-manual instrument was build in a workshop of Gerhard Grenzing in El Papiol near Barcelona in Spain. The renowned German organ builder has constructed almost 140 organs and reconstructed more than 90 historical instruments in many countries. Once completed in Spain, the new organ was disassembled and its parts were gradually transported to Prague on trucks. The cathedral is linked to the Czech statehood. It's a place where the Czech kings were coronated and buried while the Czech crown jewels are stored inside. The funeral Mass for Vaclav Havel, the Czech Republic's first president, was celebrated in the cathedral on Dec 23, 2011. The previous organ was completed in the early 1930s, but turned out to be too small for its monumental space and frequently broke down. There was no interest in fixing the organ during World War II and more than 40 years of the communist rule. Effort to build a new organ started in 2017, with a crowdfunding campaign that collected more than 109 million Czech koruna, or crowns, ($5.2 million), about 98% of the sum needed.
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
Residents shocked after fire destroys historic church in Saint-Ours, Que.
Only the four stone walls of the 19th-century building were left standing after lightning sparked the fire. The paintings and Casavant organ were also destroyed.
