On Sunday, June 3, 2018, the newly restored and rebuilt Mannerist-Baroque organ of the Conventual Franciscan Church of the Holy Trinity in Gdansk, Poland, was blessed and inaugurated.
This coincided with the 400th anniversary of the organ’s construction. The celebrations began with Mass presided-over by Friar Jerzy NOREL, the Vicar General of the Conventual Franciscan Order.
During the ceremony, a postage stamp depicting the Gdańsk organ was presented. The Polish Postal Service had issued the stamp to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the instrument’s creation.
Next, the completely restored instrument was presented and Friar Jan MACIEJOWSKI, the Minister Provincial of the Conventual Franciscan Province of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in Poland (Gdańsk) presided over the act of benediction. Friar Jerzy NOREL performed the rite of blessing.
Then, the people and institutions involved in the organ’s reconstruction were thanked as were the benefactors through whom the project was completed.
The ceremony to commemorate the organ’s reconstruction and preservation was also an occasion to bestow the bronze “Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis”, upon Friar Tomasz JANK, OFM Conv. It was awarded by Piotr GLINSKI, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. Minister Provincial Friar Jan MACIEJOWSKI conferred the Province’s honorary award Fraternitatis gratiarum upon Andrzej SZADEJKO, the Chairman of the Council of the Association of the Friends of the Holy Trinity Church “Courtyard” in Gdańsk, who directed the organ restoration project.
The festivities included an inaugural concert. Solo and chamber compositions were performed allowing the acoustic possibilities of the reconstructed instrument to be admired. Thanks to the restoration, the organ plays as well as it did in the seventeenth century.
Friar Grzegorz KORDEK, Provincial Secretary
