Organ nb. 1 | Main organ at the church of the Holy Sepulchre
This organ, which belongs to the General Custodianship of the Holy Land, is the work of Rieger Orgelbau – Austria. This entirely new organ replaces another organ from the same builder which had been inaugurated there in 1933. On this occasion, the organist Agostino Lama had made an improvisation at the conclusion of the concert, (“Finale”), on the theme of the Austrian national anthem .
The organ, which has been inaugurated in Jerusalem on April 29, 1982, is used only for morning mass due to reasons pertaining to a particular statute of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This church, in fact, belongs jointly to several Churches, the largest parts belonging to the Greek Orthodox, the Armenian and the Catholic. Each occupies one or several sections: the Roman Catholic Church has installed one more organ which is used for liturgical needs in the right transept (made by Tamburini and Taboada) and this organ belongs to the Catholic church only. The bigger Rieger organ which is installed in a gallery above the dome of the Holy Sepulchre (the Gallery is shared) can only be used in the mornings because it would disturb the free religious practices of the other churches.
On that account, it is interesting to note that the Roman Catholic Church among all the churches present at the Holy Sepulchre is the only one to use organ for religious needs.
The organ case, made of white pine in a modern style, cannot be seen from below by the uninformed visitor. That is probably why the case is not decorated. Also the position of the organ and the special configuration of the church and of the dome do not generate high quality acoustics
Disposition 39 stops