The 80-year old organ in the huge Roman Catholic church of Rogovka was long regarded as one of the finest in the Baltic region, but years of neglect had taken their toll, with choristers reporting that the sound of the mechanism eventually became louder than the sound of the music coming form the pipes.
The tipping point came when a French organist arrived to give a recital - but was forced to switch to a synthesizer due to the poor condition of the real organ.
But now a three-year restoration program has been completed at a cost of 19,000 euros and as you can see from the video clip above, the instrument is ready to entertain and enrapture a new generation of audiences. And with rumors circulating that Pope Francis himself might visit the Baltic states next year, you never know who might drop in...
from 1901 to 1914, a Roman-style stone church with two high towers was built. In 1939, at the deck Ignata Dekšņa, the church received a large altar, church benches and organ made in Germany. They were bought for donations, and the current President of Latvia, Karl Ulmanis, donated 2,500 lats. The time-warp impacted the organ's sensitivity and function, so they needed to be restored.
