Prague, Jan 4 (CTK) – Four firms bid for the construction of a new giant pipe organ in St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle that would crown the completion of the most significant church in the country, founded in 1344 and completed in 1929, and a statehood symbol, the Prague Archbishopric has said.
The cathedral’s commission is to announce the winning firm in February.
The price of the new organ is put at 80 to 100 million crowns, Josef Ksica, the cathedral’s organist, told yesterday’s issue of daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD).
So far some 15 million crowns have been collected in the account of the St Vitus Organ Endowment, which launched a public fund-raising campaign last April.
The major part of the costs will be covered by the Catholic Church and big firms. However, everyone can contribute to the organ.
Individuals can, for instance, sponsor a small pipe that would bear the donor’s name and then they can tell their offspring that they contributed to the construction of the cathedral, Prague Archbishop Cardinal Dominik Duka, primate of the Czech Catholic Church, told MfD.
Duka and Frantisek Lukl, chairman od the Association of Towns and Villages, have also called on mayors to support the new organ from municipal funds.
The current provisional organ with 4475 pipes, built by Josef Molzer in 1932, is situated on the 16th-century Renaissance organ-loft in the oldest Gothic part of the cathedral. Its capacity is not sufficient to fill the whole space of the 125-metre-long and up to 60-metre-wide church.
The new organ might have more than 8000 pipes and thereby become one of the largest organs in Europe, MfD writes.
It will be installed on the neo-Gothic organ-loft, completed in 1929, on the Western side above the main entrance on September 28 (St Wenceslas Day) 2019 at the latest. The first tunes of the new instrument are supposed to symbolically complete the construction of the cathedral after more than 700 years.
The four finalists of the tender for one of the most prestigious organ projects in Europe are the Gerhard Grenzing organ firm from El Papiol in Spain, the Austrian Rieger Orgelbau seated in Schwarzach, the Dutch organ maker J. L. van den Heuvel Orgelbouw from Dordrecht and the German Johannes Klais Orgelbau seated in Bonn, MfD writes.
The commission is assessing the bids on the basis of their artistic quality and creativity, the architectonic design of the organ case, the technical parameters as well as the price.
The selected organ maker will have to meet special conditions set by heritage protectors and the Prague Archbishopric and respect the climate in the cathedral where humidity is very high during divine services, organologist Stepan Svoboda told MfD.
The new organ must not draw too much attention and become the main artifact in the cathedral and it must not partially cover the giant ten-metre rose window with tracery and stained glass above the main entrance gate, Duka told MfD.
St Vitus Cathedral is situated within the Prague Castle complex, seat of the Presidential Office. In the past, Czech kings were crowned in it. The remains of significant Czech sovereigns, noblemen and church dignitaries are buried and crown jewels are kept in the cathedral.
At present, the cathedral legally belongs to the state and the Catholic Church uses it for religious purposes.
In May 2010, former president Vaclav Klaus and Duka signed an agreement on joint care for the cathedral that terminated the lengthy legal disputes between the state and the church about its ownership that lasted from 1992.
($1=26.017 crowns)
