Zprávy památkové péče 2016, 76(3):299-306

The fates of the organs of the North Bohemian coal mining area

Vít Honys

The development of surface mining of brown coal in the Northern Bohemia districts of Chomutov, Most, Ústí nad Labem, and Teplice in the second half of the 20th century was also associated with the destruction of a number of churches and collections of preserved organs. Many of the organs were damaged or devastated as a result of the situation arising from the post-war population exchange in the 1950's and 1960's and only a very limited amount without due consideration of historical musical value was recorded into the state-processed list of cultural monuments, despite the expert works from the end of 1965 by J. Pavel and J. B. Krajs. The increasing number of churches that had to be cleared out before the demolition put the parish administrators and conservation workers in stressful situations in ensuring the transfers and storage space. Most of the better preserved instruments from the destroyed churches were moved to Moravia and Slovakia, rarely to other churches in the diocese; several valuable instruments from the Baroque and Classical periods, however, irreversibly disappeared without a trace (e.g. from Bystřice, Čachovice, Kundratice, Liptice, and Tusimice). Only two instruments from the moved deanery church in Most awaited appropriate renovation, as well as an instrument from the demolished Minorite church in Most due to its transfer to a church in nearby Č. Zlatníky. To this day, the number of organs from this area has fallen to about one-third its original state.

Keywords: organ; mining area; transfer; church; devastation; conservation

Published: September 1, 2016  Show citation