St. Stephan's Cathedral, Passau

St. Stephan's Cathedral is a baroque church from 1688 in Passau, Germany. It is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Passau and the main church of his diocese.

Since 730, there have been many churches built on the site of the current cathedral. The current church, a baroque building around 100 m long, was built from 1668 to 1693 after a fire in 1662 destroyed its predecessor, of which only the late gothic eastern side remains. The cathedral's overall plan was made by Carlo Lurago, its interior decoration by Giovanni Battista Carlone, and its frescos by Carpoforo Tencalla.

Over time, the Passau Cathedral has acquired the largest organ outside of the United States. It is also the largest cathedral organ in the world. The organ currently has 17,774 pipes and 233 registers, all of which can be played with the five-manual general console in the gallery.

The cathedral has eight large bells in the bell rooms in the north and south towers. The heaviest,"Pummerin" at 7550 kg was cast in 1952 and "Sturmerin" weighing 5300 kg cast in 1733 hang in the south tower. The other six bells hang in the north tower. They include: "Misericordia" weighing 6000 kg, the Angelus bell, "Predigerin", "Elfuhrglocken", the Choir bell, and "Dignitar". A ninth bell, the "Zeichenglocke" hangs near the sacristydoor.

References

*The information in this article is based on that in its German equivalent.
*The organs at this Cathedral and the cathedral-sized First Congregational Church of Los Angeles have continually been added to over the years. The latter is currently larger at over 20,000 pipes. In both churches, the "organ" is really several separate organs of different tonal styles all accessible from a central console (or two).

External links

*en icon [http://www.theatreorgans.com/laird/Passau.html Passau Cathedral Organ]
*de icon [http://www.bistum-passau.de/statisch/dom.html St. Stephan's Cathedral]
*de icon [http://www.eberhard-geier.de/padomorgel.htm Eisenbarth-Organ at St. Stephan's Cathedral]
*de icon [http://www.orgelbau-eisenbarth.de/deutsch/passau.html Disposition der Domorgel auf Homepage der Orgelbaufirma Eisenbarth]