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istanbulpipeorgan

St. Helena Church was designed as an elegant symbo

St. Helena Church was designed as an elegant symbol of neo-gothic architecture by Raymond Charles Péré the architect of Clock Tower in Konak too. The construction of church completed in1904 by Kont Nikolai Alliotti who provided financial support and by Sultan Abdulhamid II who gave the permission to built it. Today, the Church is still used by the community. The Church undergone several renovations from time to time. Great efforts made to protect the historical texture of both interior and exterior.
The Organ
Few years ago, thanks to the database of OHS, we noticed the organ exists in Turkey, but the location? Location entry was old and noone unfortunately informed OHS. But where was the organ? Another missing organ here such as Merklin or Seifert?
During our first visit to Izmir, among the other churches we also visited St. Helen Church, but just by chance and there it was. An American organ in a Catholic Church here was a question and our research led us to get in touch with Estey Organ Museum in Brattleboro. Thanks to the effords of Mary & John Carnahan, we could get every letter and story regarding this organ dating between 1905 and 1922. Also thanks to Jim Stettner from OHS, the entry of the organ could be updated quickly.
Here it is, the organ is a work of Estey Organ Co. from Brattleboro, Op.298, dates back to 1905, built for International College of Smyrna, having two manuals and pedal, speaking 8 stops in total. It has a tubular-pneumatic action, equipped with a very cute Haskell patented register plate, but at the current condition it is not playable.
International College was closed in 1934 and it is very unfortunate that we don’t have further information about what happened after 1934, especially when exactly the organ was relocated in the Church and by who.
We recently made a condition check for the organ and presented our report. Let’s hope it will be restored and speaking in the future as it did in the past.
For more information about our organs and to support us please contact us. If you are curious about the journey of this organ, don’t worry, it will soon be on our website with all the details and scans of the letters.
#pipeorgan #music

The Basilica Cathedral of St. John is the only rem

The Basilica Cathedral of St. John is the only remaining church of seven those were mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Here is the spiritual center and house of the Christian congregation established by Apostle John. The most important structure since it is the greatest in Turkey and the office of Archbishop.
Izmir Christian congregation is one of the oldest in the world. St. Paul, St. Barnaba, St. Philippe, St. Luke, St. John lived and told the Holy Book in this area. St. John's body is lying in Ephesus and St. Philippe lies in the ancient city Hierapolis.

The current building's cornerstone was laid in 1862. The structure was finished in 1874 and dedicated on 25th May 1874 by Archbishop Vincent Spaccapietra. Until then, Sancta Maria Church was serving as pro-Cathedral.
In the pictures you will see re-construction work is being carried out due to the last earthquake happened in last year. It damaged the building and cracked domes. Re-construction also helped to discover the old artworks those were hidden due to newer painting layers in the past.

What about the organ?
Elderlies remember its great strong and powerful sound until 50s. It was the largest Italian organ in the country built by Adeodato Bossi-Urbani. We are not sure about the date it was built but we can assume it is the last quarter of 19th century. Originally one manual, split as soprano and basso, having 28 registers in total. Cathedral has almost 5 seconds of reverb. We cannot imagine how this beautiful organ could fill the interior. Second manual is a later addition as a positivo, had only Voce Puerile.
But what happened in 1950s? The Cathedral was passing through some difficult times then. Permission was given to Protestants, Catholics and NATO soldiers to use the house for their religious services. We are not sure what possibly happened; almost all the metal pipe work, metal action parts, even the name-plate disappeared during that time. We have seen electricians or wallmakers claiming that they are capable of restoring an organ, but this here is a murder! The largest and most beautiful organ became silent. Contact us to find out how you can help us to bring this instrument back to life.

Lets go altogether to Izmir (Smyrna) to visit an o

Lets go altogether to Izmir (Smyrna) to visit an old modest church, yet stunningly remaining after all those years...

Santa Maria Church...

The initial Santa Maria Church was built in the period 1340-1400, in an unlocated place today, by Italian Franciscan priests. But it broke down after the earthquake in 1688. Then in 1692, in the location today known as Alsancak, the new church construction including a monastery began. Thanks to support of Dutch citizens, the new church opened on the 25th December 1698. At that time the neighborhood of the church was called "Maltezika" since immigrants from Malta majorly lived around.

The church was recognized and announced as the Cathedral by the Pope Pius VII. However later it served as pro-Cathedral during building of St. John's Cathedral between 1862-1874.

Unfortunately on the 16th August 1889, the church caught fire and resulted in a heavy damage. It was restored in 1891, financed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire Franz Joseph. The damaged roof had a special care, re-constructed by Gustave Eiffel.

The organ housed here is a work of Veronese organ builder Gaetano Zanfretta, built in 1892, having two manuals of 58 keys and pedal of 27 keys, mechanical key/stop action, slider/ventil-pallet chests.
The style of the organ differs from those of Bossi, Serassi, Bianchi etc. Grand Organo has 16 ranks which serve as 12 speaking stops. Espressivo has 9 ranks, speaking 7 stops. Pedal has 4 stops which one of them is a Timbaloni for 3 ranks, a great Italian touch. For the disposition, please visit the database through our website.
Since it was built, as far as we could find, it had only very recent maintenances. By Gustavo Zanin in 2000, by Antonio Bianchin in 2013 including installation of the blower, by Mascioni in 2014 financed by Arkas Holding.

Yet, it needs a full recovery after the earthquake in October 2020. The damage is noticable from exterior and more is in interior. We hope we will do our best to keep this organ in shape and make it speak great again.

For more details and questions about pipe organs in Turkey, please visit our website or dm us.

#izmir #santamariakilisesi #churchorgan #smyrna

Here we are at Crimean Memorial Church (Kırım Ki

Here we are at Crimean Memorial Church (Kırım Kilisesi) once more. We love to share about this place since the story of Istanbul Pipe Organ Team has in deed begun here.
We were thinking the job here was done after restoring the 1911 W. Hill and Son organ.

Surprise!!!
Thanks to British Organ Archives, we figured that there was supposed to be another organ before 1911 W. Hill and Son.

One more Surprise!!!
Thanks to Chaplain Ian Sherwood's photo archive of the Church, we could see how the interior was looking like and in only one photo we noticed the organ placed on the left side of the Altar, and its not the organ housed at the moment. Then we were certain about the information we have.

The organ you see in the pictures is another Hill and Son dates to 1872. The photo was presumably taken in 1878 around Easter week. You will see the company paper scanned from Hill and Son's 1872 Shop Book, order number 1434. So far we could not figure out what happened to this organ after new organ was installed, but we are working on it.

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#istanbul #pipeorgan #hillandson #anglicanchurch #churchorgan #history #heritage

19.yy sonu-20.yy başı... Mehmed Burhaneddin Ef

19.yy sonu-20.yy başı...

Mehmed Burhaneddin Efendi, İbrahim Tevfik Efendi, Donizetti Paşa, Dussap Paşa, Gustav Helbig, Constantinos Carikipoulos, Charles Edward Estes ve daha nice çok değerli şahıslar... İstanbul'u bir müzik başkentine dönüştüren şefler, orgçular, piyanistler, besteciler ve öğretmenler... Ancak bu kaliteli zamanların üzerinden 100 yıl belki de daha fazlası geçti.

Sene 2020...

Restorasyonlarımız, konserlerimiz, atölyelerimiz ve bu zamana kadar yaptığımız her çalışma...

Tüm bu etkinlikler, tek hedefi ve görevi zengin org mirasımıza karşı müzikseverlerin ilgisini yükseltmek ve bu konuda bir farkındalık geliştirmeye çalışan İstanbul Kilise Orgları Ekibi'nin yoğun çalışmaları sonucu yapılabildi.

Ancak bu zamana kadar en önemli parçamız eksik olarak ilerledik. O eksik parça, orgu bilen ve tanıyan müzisyenler... Orgun renklerine ve kapasitesine hakim olarak onu icra edebilen müzisyenlere ihtiyacımız var.

Günümüzde maalesef yukarıda sadece bir kısmının isimlerini sayabildiğimiz kişi kadar bile orgçu sayamamaktayız. Dünyada, sadece 2-3 orgu olup konservatuvarında org eğitimi veren ülkeler varken, bizim ülkemizin dünyanın en zengini olup bu konuda yabancılık çekmemiz kabul edilebilir bir durum değildir.

Alandaki naçizane tecrübemizin neticesinde, ülkemizde uzun bir süredir durmuş olan bir uygulamayı yeniden hayata geçirmek ve güçlü bir şekilde ayağa kalkmak istiyoruz. Konserlerimizde yeni icracıları dinlemek ve sorulduğunda bir kiliseye orgçu tavsiye edebilmek gelecek hedeflerimiz arasında. O sebeple, bu satırları okuyan ve kalbinde orgun zerafetini ve yüceliğini yaşamayı düşleyen sizlere ihtiyacımız var. Bir klavyeli çalgıyı halihazırda çalıyor olmanız ya da sıfırdan başlayacak olmanız önem arz etmemekte.

Kilise orgu derslerimiz çok çeşitli içeriklere sahip olsa da en önemli konu, dünyada bu konuda en zengin olan ülkemizin farklı farklı orglarında farklı tınıları ve stilleri doğrudan tecrübe edebilecek olma fırsatıdır.

Eğer bu yolda bizlere katılmak isterseniz, detaylar için bir mesaj bırakmanız yeterli, derslerimizde görüşmek üzere 🙂

#istanbul #kiliseorgu #orgdersleri

Restorations, concerts, workshops,... All could

Restorations, concerts, workshops,...

All could be done thanks to the stuff of Istanbul Pipe Organ Team whose only aim and mission is to create a public awareness to our rich pipe organ heritage, and raise an interest to the only instrument of divine music.

However, we are lacking the most important piece of chain. Organists... We need more musicians those understand the pipe organ and play it pleasently by knowing its capacity and colors.

Thanks to our humble experience on the field, after restorations, concerts and workshops, we are at a stage that we can teach the organ by means of performing and the technical details as well. We wish new faces will be playing in our concerts, in the future we wish to be able to recommend organists to the churches when asked. So we need You, who is reading these lines now and has a flame in heart to make this great instrument speaking throu your spirit. It doesn't matter if you are already familiar with the keyboard instruments or planning to give a start from zero level.

Our teaching programme includes many features but most importantly the opportunity of meeting and performing with different styles of organs and learning different colors.

If you want to join us on our way, please send a message for more details. Hope to see you in our classes 🙂

#istanbul #music #pipeorgan #churchorgan #organclasses

Church of SS. Peter and Paul, a hidden beauty in o

Church of SS. Peter and Paul, a hidden beauty in one of the most touristic parts of Istanbul...

Our 3rd workshop took place in this very historical place with a small but great instrument on 27th of September. The organ, built in 1875 by the Italian Master Camillo Bianchi. Its tonal design and well-thought accessories make the music both the sweetest and the strongest. Gentle Italian voicing, flue voce humana stop, bells and divided manual features allowing the organist to play and study classical Italian repertoire such as Gambini, Padre Davide, etc... It was a great pleasure to introduce this elegant organ to musicians and to our guests. The music and the sound we heard, cannot be produced by any other organ we have. The church also has a great acoustics to lead and sustain the sound clearly.

Just like our previous workshops, musicians had chance to try the organ. They were surprised by the capacity which you do not feel by just a look.

This organ is the one and only, in good condition among the other 4 classical Italian organs we have, thanks to great effords of a former Dominican priest served here, Padre Giuseppe Gandolfo. In the past, he took roles in restoring our Rieger organ in the Cathedral and Werner-Bosch organ in Ankara. Now he resides in Izmir and serves in Notre Dame de Rosario Church where our other Mascioni organ is housed. May God grant him the eternal blessing.

For more information about the organ and the church, please have a look at our previous posts or visit our website.

More is on the way, very soon...

#istanbul #music #workshop #church #pipeorgan #history

Constantinople British Church and its stunning pip

Constantinople British Church and its stunning pipe organ...

In the previous post, about our first workshop, we mentioned our rich organ heritage and the mission we have. We played the Austria-Hungarian Gebrüder-Rieger organ in our first workshop. Its sound and capacity was a total pleasure for the audience.

To show different organ styles and voicings,
( 16 _ 8 _ 2020 ) our 2nd workshop was organized to introduce British organ building and its style. So we chose the one and only, in perfect condition among the 5 British organs we have in Turkey.

The Church, being named as Crimean Memorial Church, has its significant historic importance. The organ, built in 1911 by one of the most esteemed organ builder firm, W. Hill and Sons, enriching this precious Church with its gentle sound.

In this post you will see the great exterior and interior of the Church and beautiful pictures of the organ which is powerfully shining after its restoration in 2019. The workshop, from the beginning to the end, was very interesting and exciting for us and audience. Musician guests had chance to try playing this organ, meanwhile audience was enjoying the music. Lovely kids also got very curious about the instrument and it was very important for their future musical life to know such an instrument.

For the details of the Church and the organ, please check our previous posts and website as well.

More is coming soon...

#istanbul #pipeorgan #churchorgan #music #workshop #crimeanmemorialchurch #kırımkilisesi #sacredmusic

Istanbul... The richest city of the world, by me

Istanbul...

The richest city of the world, by means of its culture, its history, its location... More importantly by means of its variety of pipe organs it houses. Different cultures those live and lived on this land brought their own customs, and their own instruments.

An organist here, if wishes to study British composers, can find a British organ to practice with. If wishes to study classical Italian composers, can find an Italian organ to practice. The same goes for the French and Germany-based music studies as well.

Hence, our duty is not only bringing those instruments back to life, but to maintain a regular use of them and bringing them together with the musicians and public interest. So a workshop was a must, divine music must be kept alive even though under today's difficult circumstances.

In the pictures of this post, you will see the magnificent Holy Spirit Cathedral where one of our Gebrüder-Rieger organ is housed.

( 11 _ 7 _ 2020 ) During our workshop event, beginning with the history of the Cathedral and ending with demonstrations of few pieces, musicians and audience had the opportunities to hear its capacity and also to try it with their selections of pieces. We believe that our first workshop was a big step on the way to enrich and enlarge our pipe organ culture here.

For more information about the organ and the workshop, please visit our web site.

More is coming soon...

#istanbul #stespritkilisesi #cathedral #churchorgan #sacredmusic #workshop

Here we are in such a place, in a very popular dis

Here we are in such a place, in a very popular district of Istanbul, just a few minutes walking from very well-known Galata Tower,

St. Peter and St. Paul Church, Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo a Galata

The history of Dominican friars in Constantinople goes back to late 15th century. First building of this order was a house, land given by Venetian nobleman Angelo Zaccaria, including a small chapel used by nuns and dedicated to the Saints Peter and Paul. In the 17th century, the complex was rebuilt as a larger church with an addition of monastery. Shortly after, it was put under the protection of the King of France and started having yearly subsidy from the Republic of Venice. In 1640, a large painting of Virgin Hodegetria was brought to this church from another church that was converted to a mosque. Unfortunately, the complex was burnt to the ground in 1660, except the Virgin Hodegetria painting. According to the law of the time, the ground was returned to the Ottoman authorities. Thanks to the intercessions of European powers, the church could be rebuilt in 1702. After that, Venice stopped sending the yearly subsidy because the church authority refused to deliver Virgin Hodegetria painting to Venice. Sadly, the church once more burnt fully during the great fire of Galata in 1731 and then rebuilt from wood. The present building is a work of Swiss-Italian brothers Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati during 1841-1843.

The organ in this church:
It is a Camillo Bianchi from 1875. As far as we know, it is the 3rd oldest organ in Istanbul which is the only one in almost perfect condition. It has a single manual which is divided into soprano and basso sections. The angled pedal keys, by-itself-coupled action, Ripieno-Concerto classification on the register plate, design of the case and façade pipes, etc. are typical characteristics of Italian organ-building of that period. Surprisingly, we found a former contract between this church and the organ-builder Antonio Callido from 1815. We are currently researching this subject to find the traces of this previous organ. For more information about Bianchi organ you can visit our website.

#pipeorgan #church #istanbul #galata

Geleneksel atölye çalışmalarımızın 3.sünü

Geleneksel atölye çalışmalarımızın 3.sünü duyuruyor olmaktan büyük bir heyecan ve mutluluk duyuyoruz. 27 Eylül Pazar günü saat 15.00'da Galata'da bulunan St. Piyer Kilisesi'nde gerçekleşecek etkinliğimize tüm müziksever dostlar ve orgu denemek isteyen müzisyenler davetlidir. Çok da bilinmeyen ve gezilmeyen bu kiliseyi görme fırsatını ve klasik İtalyan stili orgu dinleme/çalma fırsatını kaçırmamanızı naçizane tavsiye ederiz. Etkinliğimize katılım ücretsiz olup kilise kapılarını 14.30 itibariyle açacağız. Atölyede görüşmek üzere! 🙂

We are happy and excited to announce the 3rd of our traditional workshop series which is going to take place in St. Peter and Paul Church (Sen Piyer Kilisesi) in Galata on September 27th Sunday at 03.00pm. All music lovers and musicians who would like to try playing the organ are invited. Kindly recommended not to miss such an opportunity to visit this relatively less known church and hear the classical Italian style organ. Entrance to the event is for free and church will be open by 02.30pm. See you in the event! 🙂

#istanbul #pipeorgan #kiliseorgu #stpiyerkilisesi #italianpipeorgan #history #workshop #music

Let's go to the oldest and most important church i

Let's go to the oldest and most important church in Smyrna, today's Izmir.

St. Polycarp Church.
A few words about St. Polycarp...
He was a student of the apostle St. Iohannes and served as Bishop of Smyrna. Sadly he was sentenced to death by Roman Empire because he did not compromise from his belief, he followed Jesus Christ's way.

St. Polycarp Church was built in 1625 by permission of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and upon request of French King Louis XIII. Just before the century ends, it was damaged in 1688 after the earthquake and following fire. Rebuilt in 1690-1691. Sadly it was damaged once more by the fire in 1763 and the monastery completely destroyed. In 1775, thanks to support of French King Louis XVI and permissions of Ottoman authorities it was rebuilt as a 3-nave basilica with monastery and cemetery also added. During the restorations between the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century, French architect and a Levantine in Izmir Raymond Charles Pere decorated the interior walls of the church with frescoes those telling the story of St. Polycarp. The church was heavily damaged by the great fire of Izmir in 1922 and restored in 1929.

The humble elegant organ is a work of well-known German firm E.F. Walcker & Cie. from Ludwigsburg. One manual with pedal, 6 registers in total. It is Op.860, built in 1899. In Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau magazine, this organ was specified as "Privat". So we assume it was ordered for home-use and was relocated in the church after 1929. The organ is in unplayable condition "for now". For more details of the organ please visit our website.

#izmir #azizpolikarp #kilise #kiliseorgu #stpolycarp #church #pipeorgan #turkey #türkiye

Geleneksel bir etkinliğe dönüşmesini arzu etti

Geleneksel bir etkinliğe dönüşmesini arzu ettiğimiz atölye çalışmalarımızın 2.sini sizlerle paylaşıyor olmaktan dolayı çok heyecanlıyız. 16 Ağustos Pazar günü saat 13.00 itibariyle başlayacak etkinliğimize müziksever dostlarımız ve orgu denemek isteyen sanatçılarımız davetlidir. Küçük bir not; Kırım Kilisesi org katı daha mütevazi bir boyutta olduğu için etkinlik nefte başlayacak olup devamında müzisyenler sıra ile org katına davet edilecek, org katına çıkmak isteyen misafirlerimiz ise etkinlik sonunda sıra ile orgun yanına çıkabilecektir.
Katılım ve detaylar için lütfen iletişime geçiniz.

We are excited to share our next pipe organ workshop event which will soon turn to a tradition we hope. All music lovers and musicians who would like to try playing the organ are invited to our 2nd workshop on August 16th Sunday at 01.00 pm. A little note; Organ loft of Crimean Memorial Church has a humble size. Event will begin at the nave and then musicians will be invited to join organ loft respectively, our guests will have a chance to see the organ at the end of the event.
Please contact us for attendance and further details.

#istanbul #kırımkilisesi #christchurch #crimeamemorialchurch #pipeorgan #kiliseorgu #atölye

Let's go a little far from Istanbul. A little far?

Let's go a little far from Istanbul.
A little far?
Yes, around 500 kms 🙂

Do we have organs only in Istanbul? Few posts briefly mentioning other organs you already have seen. However today's subject is particularly this humble church and modest organ.

Historical texts saying "Boudja English Church", today we know it as "Buca Protestant Baptist Church"... It was first established in 1834 and blessed in 1843 as Protestant Anglican Chapel in a small village called Boudja in Smyrna, today's beautiful city Izmir. Later, by permission of Sultan Abdulaziz, the Chapel was rebuilt in 1865 and it was blessed in 1868 as a Church. In that neighborhood, Levantine families were majorly living. By financial supports of the Levantine Rees family, many construction materials were supplied from the Wales of UK. We will remember Rees family later again. Due to lack of a congregation and criticize report of an engineer, mamagement of the church was transferred to Buca Municipality in 1961 and until 1991 it was used as a marriage office. In 1991, it was re-planned and used as a culture center until 2001. Finally thanks to Izmir Association, the building was renovated to serve as a church and also a culture center by being a historical heritage in this land.

What about the organ in this elegant church? It was built by a very well-known British firm J.W. Walker & Sons in 1922 thanks to financial supports of Rees family. You will see on the picture, it was presented to the church as a thanks for their effords for safety of the family during the Great War time. 1922 is just a year before Turkish Republic was founded. The organ was designed as a hymn accompanying organ, with 4 stops in Great, 4 stops in Swell and 2 in Pedal division supported by enriching couplers and composition pedals. However, the sad thing is that the organ is in unplayable condition. It has seen all the things happened in that building; masses, celebrations, concerts, marriages, maybe even drawing galleries, then now masses again today, but it is silent. Please contact us to find out how you can support. This organ needs all of ours help.

#izmir #englishchurch #buca #bucaprotestankilisesi #kiliseorgu #pipeorgan

Here is a Franciscan Church and an Italian pipe or

Here is a Franciscan Church and an Italian pipe organ by a very-well known family, Fratelli Bossi-Urbani...

Franciscans already had a church, Santa Maria, in 1453, in a small neighborhood called "Sirkeci" in Istanbul. Then the church was moved to another close location called as "Galata". Unfortunately this church was burnt to the ashes in the great fire in 1584. After the incident, a committed member of the Order, Madame Clara Maria Draperis donated a new land for the re-construction of the church. New church was completed around 1590 with the name "Santa Maria Draperis". Then unfortunate series of incidents happened, new church was also burnt in the great fire in 1660 and then re-built and burnt again in 1678.

Members of the Order decided not to build their church again in Galata. They moved to another close location called "Pera". Unexpectedly once more it was burnt in a great fire happened in the new location, presumably in 1767. In 1769, it was re-built in today's location. A great fire badly damaged the church once more and lastly in 1870 and today's church was built after that last incident.

According to the records of the Church, the first pipe organ they had dates back before 1737. After the damages of great fires, a new organ was ordered from Venice in 1771. That organ unfortunately no more exists. Current organ was built in 1859 by well-known organ-builder family Bossi-Urbani. After the fire in 1870, a technician from Bossi family visited the church, in 1873, to make maintenances for the organ and to prepare it for the re-opening of the church next year in 1874. Later, in 1931 and 1951 maintenances were made by Fr. Clemente Marchini, and in 2004 by Fr. Giuseppe Gandolfo.

At the moment, this old and tired Italian organ needs a complete restoration. Our team has recently fully checked the condition of this beauty and presented a restoration report to the church authority. We cannot wait for the days that it is going to speak with its full majesty. For the disposition of the organ, please visit the organ database through our website or contact us.

#bossiurbani #italianpipeorgans #stmarydraperis #istanbul #franciscanchurch

Ülkemizde bir ilk olma niteliği taşıyan kilise

Ülkemizde bir ilk olma niteliği taşıyan kilise orgu atölye/masterclass çalışmamıza müzik sever dostlarımız ve orgu denemek isteyen icracı sanatçılarımız davetlidir. Etkinliğimize katılım ücretsiz olup orgda icra tecrübe etmek isteyen sanatçılarımızın bizlere mesaj göndermeleri rica olunur.

We are proud to announce first pipe organ workshop/masterclass event in our country. All music lovers and performer artists are welcome. The enterance to the event is free. Please message us if you are a musician who would like to experience playing the organ.

#istanbul #pipeorgan #churchmusic #workshop #masterclass

Eglise Saint Louis des Français. The story of St

Eglise Saint Louis des Français.

The story of St. Louis Church in Istanbul is inseperable from that of the French Capuchin brothers. The first Capuchins arrived to this land in 1626 and settled in the surroundings of the French Embassy in 1628. They built their first real church in that area which was blessed on August 25, 1673.

Due to several incidents such as fire happened, the current building was completed in 1846 and the operation was carried out in parallel with the reconstruction of the Palais de France.

About the instruments those were located in St. Louis Church... From Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau Bd.15 1894-1895, we found out that the organ built by well-known French organbuilder J. Merklin & Cie. was inaugurated on December 8, 1894, played by Gustav Helbig. This Merklin instrument keeps its mystery since it is not located in the church any more and we are in process to find out its current location.
The instrument you see in the pictures was built by another very well-known French organ builder Mutin Cavaille-Coll, who was Charles Mutin running the company, successor and pupil of Aristide Cavaille-Coll. From Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau Bd.23 1902-1903, we see that it was built for "Syllogue litteraire Grec" in 1902 and inaugurated on April 23, 1903, played by Gustav Helbig. Later it was sold to Sir Ibrahim Tevfik who was the son of Sir Mehmed Burhaneddin who was a composer and flutist and one of the sons of the Ottoman Sultan. Since Turkish Republic was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923 and Ottoman royal family was exiled in 1924, the organ was relocated in St. Louis Church in 1925. We are in the process of getting the exact dates of the journey of this organ as well. You will realize that the organ needs a good maintenance and restoration. During our visit and expertising the condition of it, we saw a written note that saying the last maintenance was done in 1935. We hope, soon we will be able to restore it and make it sound the most elegant French repertoire. Please contact us to become a supporter of the project.

#istanbul #stlouisdefrançais #mutincavaillecoll #cavaillecoll #churchorgan #sacredmusic #frenchorganbuilding

30 may last year, A dream came true for the first

30 may last year,
A dream came true for the first time, a silent instrument returned to life and spoke her first concert accompanied by best artists in the town.

We deeply thank our Chaplain Fr. Ian Sherwood for supporting us in this project and for his efforts to keep this beautiful instrument alive.

Then we thank with compliments to our guest artists so they made this event much more colorful.

Last but not least, most sincerely we thank our audience for they made our concert possible and valuable.

We hope this difficult time will be over soon and we will continue our projects full-speed-ahead.

Stay safe and follow us!

#istanbul #christchurch #kırımkilisesi #sacredmusic #organconcert #churchofengland

Several shots from our last visit to our beautiful

Church of St. Antony of Padua... The original chur

Church of St. Antony of Padua... The original church was built in 1725 by the Italian community in Istanbul. Later it was demolished and replaced with the current building. Today's construction was built between 1906 and 1912 in the Venetian neo-Gothic style and designed by the Levantine architect Giulio Mongeri.

The building houses one Vincenzo Mascioni and one Gebruder-Rieger organ. Mascioni organ has 3 manuals of 61 keys and pedal of 32 notes with concave-radial board. It was built in 1947 and located in church in 1948. It is the largest pipe organ in Istanbul with 34 speaking registers. It has all the beauty and elegancy of Italian organ building. We had a great pleasure and joy while speaking to God through its voices.

If you get interested in Rieger organ, check our previous posts.

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