Heritage: from Rouen to Paris, the rebirth of an organ soon to be restored
At the heart of an ambitious renovation which should transform it into a brasserie by 2024, the Saint-Nicaise church in Rouen (Seine-Maritime), deconsecrated and closed since 2006, will have to separate from its two organs. And if the smallest, that of choir, has to find refuge in the Halle aux toiles, a municipal building in the city center, the gallery organ will take the road to Paris.
“We were looking for solutions so that this remarkable instrument, which dates from the early 1940s, finds a second life”, summarizes Élisabeth Labaye, the heritage assistant who is working on this file with the Drac (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs) of Normandy and Île-de-France. Silent for almost two decades, partly disassembled, the bulky instrument nevertheless has a good chest. “He is particularly powerful. When he played, we heard him throughout the neighborhood, ”says Benoit Rousset, one of the directors of the Norman beer Ragnar who is carrying out the brewery project. Not really compatible with the future use of the premises!
Moreover, with around forty organs, of which a dozen are listed, Rouen is not lacking in instruments. While in the 12th arrondissement of the capital, the Church of the Holy Spirit, built in the 1930s during the reconstruction of Saint-Nicaise, was devoid of it while having enough space to accommodate it. And above all the desire to do.
“The cost of moving and restoring the organ will be entirely borne by the City of Paris”, underlines the Rouen elected official. If all goes well, the dismantling operations should take place before the end of the year and the organ could resume service in 2023.