The parish of Himmelstadt is looking forward to the new pipe organ in the church of St. Jakobus. And this after more than 20 years without such a tool. The following information is a press release from the parish of St. Jakobus d.Ä. Taken from Himmelstadt.
The 17th-century church of San Giacomo, closed in 1965, was reopened in 2000 after ten years of renovations. At the time, a specially founded support association had campaigned for this. From the very beginning it was a matter of great concern for its president Siegbert Radke as well as for the church administration and the parish council to re-complete the church with a pipe organ. Siegbert Radke always saw a pipe organ as “the last piece of the puzzle for the completion of the entire St. Jakobus building”.
After the dismantling, the front part of the previous organ came to the old parish church of St. Maurice in Estenfeld. Only an electronic tool has been used since the reopening as a temporary solution, which due to its age is now very susceptible to repairs. The organ of the Immina memorial church, desecrated and demolished in 2010, was not suitable for San Giacomo because it did not fit into the building of the much smaller church either in terms of space or sound.
The wish could not be fulfilled for a long time
In addition to the costs for the renovation of the church, the desire for a pipe organ was not feasible for a long time and so the church administration had to say again and again despite the fundraising campaign: “We cannot afford a new organ at the moment.” About two and a half years ago the decision was made to tackle the project again.
After a long search for a suitable instrument, a high-quality used pipe organ was purchased, which will find its new home in Himmelstadt in a modified form. The organ comes from a former Evangelical church in Bergneustadt, North Rhine-Westphalia, which has been converted into an Orthodox church. Since Orthodox Christians don’t play the organ, the excellent instrument has been put up for sale – a stroke of luck for Himmelstadt.
Delighted with the sound and condition
The Himmelstadt master organ builder Martin Karle was present together with members of the church administration and the parish council to inspect the instrument. The delegation was thrilled with the sound and condition, which is why they decided to purchase it. “In this way, the wonderful instrument – unlike many other organs that are no longer used – has a future,” said the Protestant pastor Dietrich Schüttler from Bergneustadt.
Despite the corona sanctions, Martin Karle, together with an employee and four other volunteers from Himmelstadt, managed to dismantle the organ in Bergneustadt in June 2021 within a week. The organ with more than 1200 pipes was completely disassembled into its individual parts, carefully sorted, packed for safe transport and taken to the workshop of the leading Franconian organ builder of Martin Karle in Stetten. The Evangelical parish of Bergneustadt took care of the physical well-being of the Himmelstadt team during the dismantling.
The instrument is ready to be rebuilt
In the meantime, many obstacles have been overcome and now the instrument, which has now been adapted to the church of St. Jakobus, is ready to be rebuilt in the organ building business. To create space, the benches on one side of the gallery in the St. Jakobus church were removed on our initiative. In a few months the new organ will be inaugurated.
This is a truly mammoth project for the parish of Himmelstadt. The parish is largely dependent on its own resources. Anyone wishing to support this special project for Himmelstadt can make a donation to the account of the Catholic Church Foundation at VR-Bank Würzburg, IBAN DE36 7909 0000 0004 2015 15.
