Organ pipes

The great Oliwa cathedral organ commissioned by abbot Jacek Józef Rybiński, was designed and constructed between 1763-1788 by Johann Wilhelm Wulff (later Brother Michael, a Cistercian Monk). The instrument contained 83 registers (5100 pipes), 3 manual keyboards (also manuals; Hauptwerk– great organ, Oberwerk– main organ, Kronwerk– crown organ), one foot keyboard (pedal), mechanical tracker action, and 14 wedge-shaped bellows. The console was independently located in the central part of the matroneum, which was unusual in Northern Europe at that time. The organ front was decorated with Rococo sculptures and moveable angels holding bells, trumpets, stars and suns. At that time it was the largest organ in Europe and probably also in the whole world.The organ was rebuilt many times, destroyed during the war. The last reconstruction was carried out in the years 1966–1968 by Zygmunt Kamiński's organ workshop from Warsaw.