Organ nb. 17 | Organ at the Church of St. John Ein Karem
The St. John Church of Ein-Karem, the birth place of Saint John the Baptist, has had an organ since at least the 17th century because it is known that the Spanish brothers Antonio Monton and Francisco Xibiach, originally from the region of Valencia in Spain, constructed an organ for this church in 1755. The name of the organist from this epoch has also reached us: Brother Francois Lorga.
The present instrument, which belongs to the General Custodianship of the Holy Land, was built by the Austrian organ-builders Matthaus Mauracher & Sohne of Salzburg.
It was inaugurated in 1893. Two rebuilds have taken place since then: in 1955, Brother Delfin Taboada added the Flautino 2′ to the Great division and in 1962 G. Shamir conducted a general rebuilding. The organ is situated on the right lateral gallery of the nave and is hardly visible from below. The undecorated organ case exposes in front a part of the Principal 8′. The console is on the gallery, adjacent to the case: this results in a hearing delay of almost one second for the organist. The acoustics of the church is remarkable and adds a warmth and fullness to the tone of the organ. Unfortunately, the layout of the organ contains no mutations and only one reed stop, the magnificent Trompete 8′.