Organ building and organ music have a long tradition that is slowly disappearing. Germany has now nominated it for UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List in a bid to keep the tradition alive.
Image: Ralf Menzel
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The German government has nominated organ building and music to propose for the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Also known as "living heritage," the list is compiled to safeguard practices, knowledge and expressions that are central to cultural identity and passed on from generation to generation.
"We are very happy about the request to add organ building and music to the UNESCO heritage," a representative from Johannes Klais Orgelbau, an organ manufacturer located in Bonn, told DW. "It is important because it will remind people of the long-standing tradition that this instrument and its music have in Western culture."
Germany is estimated to have the highest density of organs, with about 50,000 instruments in the country, according to news service epd. In addition, many pivotal innovations in organ building have originated from Germany.
There are currently 400 organ manufacturers representing about 2,800 employees in Germany. Together, they built roughly 100 organs each year. The organ maker from Johannes Klais Orgelbau said he wasn't sure whether the nomination "might have an impact on the number of organs manufactured," but added that increased production wasn't the primary goal.
More than 300 organ experts across the country take care of the music instruments on behalf of churches and the state. The instruments are played by about 3,500 full-time organists. German music colleges and the dioceses and regional churches have special education systems for learning how to play the organ.
As traditional churches lose attendees, interest in the organ is waningImage: picture-alliance/dpa
Keeping a musical tradition alive
According to Johannes Klais Orgelbau, the church is the main reason awareness for the organ needs to be raised. "The church has been playing a decreasing role in the everyday life of the people in Germany, or even Europe as such," he said. "With it, the knowledge about the organ and its music is diminishing as well. As a piece of UNESCO heritage, the music tradition would be kept alive."
In addition to making new organs, maintenance and preservation of historical instrument is an important issue for organ builders as well. Therefore, organ builders not only protect the instruments from decay, but preserving them for the future is inherent to their job.
Since 2003 the UNESCO has been lending its support to the protection, documentation and conservation of intangible forms of culture. It was with the ratification of the UNESCO Convention in 2013 that Germany committed itself to create a nationwide inventory of its intangible cultural heritage.
So far, Germany's list comprises 34 examples, including bread baking and the Sternsinger tradition on Three Kings' Day. In late November, the international UNESCO body will decide on new entries to the official list - which could include a contribution from Germany.
Germany‘s most beautiful monasteries
They number among Germany’s oldest buildings and have served many purposes besides housing religious communities. They also draw tourists seeking to contemplate the centuries of exciting and moving history they embody.
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Imperial Abbey of Corvey
Corvey’s Westwerk, preserved since the Abbey’s 9th-century founding, makes it a unique architectural testament. In 1803, the Benedictine abbey was secularized, after which princes used it as a palace and residence. Today, the complex is in private ownership but open to public visits. In 2014, the Abbey of Corvey was named a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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Reichenau Island
Another World Heritage site is Reichenau Island in Lake Constance. The Benedictine abbey was founded in the early 8th century as one of Germany’s earliest monasteries. It rapidly evolved into a center for the arts. The surviving Ottonian murals in the island’s Romanesque churches testify to the abbey’s art-historical significance.
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Lorsch Abbey
The ruins in Hessen were declared a World Cultural Heritage site in 1991. Like the Abbey of Corvey’s Westwerk, it was built in the Carolingian era as a Benedictine abbey. In the 13th century, the Cistercian order took it over, followed by Premonstratensian monks. The Abbey was dissolved in 1556.
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Maulbronn Monastery
Maulbronn Monastery in Baden-Württemberg is another World Heritage site and one of the best preserved complexes north of the Alps. The monastery was dissolved during the Reformation and later converted into a Protestant seminary for students preparating for ordination. The astronomer Johannes Kepler and author Hermann Hesse number among its alumni.
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Augustinian Monastery, Erfurt
Erfurt‘s Augustinian Monastery has applied for inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Martin Luther lived here from 1505 to 1511 as an Augustinian monk. Much later, he described those years as the most defining of his life. In 1559, during the Reformation, the monastery was closed. In years afterwards, its buildings were used as an orphanage and a library, among other things.
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Andechs Abbey
Benedictine monks still live in one of Bavaria’s most important places of pilgrimage. Tourists also come to the abbey to enjoy its splendid rococo architecture and famous beer, which has been brewed on the holy mountain since the 15th century. They can enjoy the view of the Alps from the Bräustüberl terraces and even spend the night in the abbey.
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Eberbach Abbey
Founded as a Cistercian monastery in 1136, the Eberbach Abbey grew into a flourishing center of faith and learning in the high Middle Ages - and became famous for its wine. In the 16th century, the cellars are said to have housed world’s largest wine barrel. Today, the Eberbach Abbey, nestled in the picturesque wine-growing country of the Rheingau, is a Hessian state vineyard estate.
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Maria Laach Abbey
The Abbey’s basilica is regarded as a masterpiece of Romanesque sacred architecture in Germany. The Laach Abbey was founded in 1093 and secularized in 1802. But in 1892, it was restored to the Benedictine monks and made an abbey again a year later. Today, various handcraft shops, a book and art publisher and an organic farm are owned by the Maria Laach Abbey.
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Ettal Abbey
This basilica in the Bavarian Alps is famous for its magnificent Baroque interiors. The initial Gothic church was built in the high Middle Ages on a twelve-sided ground plan quite unusual for the time. The abbey was secularized in 1803, but Benedictine monks returned in 1898 and filled the abbey with new life, operating a brewery, several guest houses and a hotel.
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Weltenburg Abbey
This Benedictine abbey is Bavaria’s oldest monastery. Monks of a Hiberno-Scottish mission are said to have settled on the site in the 7th century. But the abbey church is a product of the Baroque. Tourists focus on the abbey’s history and its picturesque surroundings in a bend of the River Danube. There’s also a guest house for overnight stays.
