On Tuesday, November 21st, the 4th benefit concert was held to support the completion of the St. Vitus Cathedral organ. The concert featured artists such as Jan Smigmator, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Kateřina Kněžíková, and Adam Plachetka. It was broadcast live by Czech Television and Czech Radio, attracting over one hundred thousand viewers. During the hour and a half-long broadcast, more than 1.2 million Czech crowns were raised. The new organ will be installed in the western gallery about six months after the completion of necessary technical modifications to the space, which have already begun.
Months of careful preparation culminated in the Tuesday concert, which took place in the presence of Castle Chancellor Jana Vohralíková and Archbishop and Primate of Bohemia Mons. Jan Graubner. The aim of the evening, attended on-site by over 400 distinguished patrons of the St. Vitus Cathedral organ, was to raise sufficient funds necessary for the organ’s construction and to present the current status of the project to the public. According to Archbishop Graubner and Chancellor Vohralíková, who took over responsibility for the completion and installation of the organ from their predecessors, the project is now in its final phase.
“We are very grateful that such a significant amount was raised during the concert, and we thank all the generous donors who have participated in the collection so far. Never before in history has there been an appropriate opportunity and enough political or social stability to build them. Therefore, we perceive the completion of the organ as our responsibility and duty,” commented Cardinal Dominik Duka. To date, the total amount raised has exceeded 100 million Czech crowns.
“We consider it a great success that most of the necessary funds were raised through the adoption of organ pipes, where individual donors could adopt a specific pipe for various amounts and, besides receiving a certificate, were also given a miniature pipe as a keepsake. We still need to raise approximately 7 million crowns, and potential contributors can still take advantage of the adoption option, although the pool of available pipes is gradually shrinking day by day,” said Vojtěch Mátl, a member of the board of trustees of the St. Vitus Organ Foundation, about the current state of the collection.
The concert was held on the occasion of the anniversary of the laying of the cathedral’s foundation stone by John of Bohemia and Arnošt of Pardubice, as well as on the eve of the feast day of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. With over 200 performers in total, it was the largest event co-organized to support the St. Vitus organ by the Prague Archbishopric, Prague Castle Administration, the St. Vitus Organ Foundation, and the Bohemian Heritage Fund.
The organ is the final step remaining after 700 years of building the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslaus, and Adalbert, as its full name states, to symbolically complete the construction. The funds for its creation were originally provided by Emperor Ferdinand I of Habsburg. Although there were several attempts to build it afterward, the plan was never fulfilled due to the complex history of our country, and the western cathedral gallery intended for the organ remained empty even after the cathedral’s completion in 1929. The provisional Mölzer organ currently playing in the cathedral was conceived as temporary from the time of its creation.
We value every donor who has decided to contribute to the St. Vitus organ. We wish all patrons a blessed Advent and Christmas..dcast
From the website Noviny ABC
