Pipe organs from the churches of Porto are up for the title of World Cultural Heritage

Porto City Hall will move forward, joined by UNESCO, with an application for World Culture Heritage to the pipe organs of the churches of the city. They are a set of instruments, spread among many temples, of great complexity and with an impressive artistic and constructive beauty.

That is the case for the pipe organs of Lapa’s church. After half a year of rehabilitation works, the sounds of the organ were heard once again, attracting local population and tourists, that visit the city’s emblematic place. An investment superior to 200 thousand dollars that counted on the support of Porto City Hall, among other patrons.

“Irmandade da Lapa, proud of the new restoration work of its monumental pipe organ, that brought the holy sound back to Porto, applauds and associates itself to Porto City Hall and its president, Rui Moreira, in the application of the Órgãos de Tubos das Igrejas do Porto to World Culture Heritage”, the purveyor of the Irmandade.

The mayor of the City Hall visited Lapa’s church and was able to see all the grandiosity of the musical instrument, created by the German Georg Jann. This was the way Irmandade found to thank the municipal support in restoring the pipe tubes.

“The time has a come, a good time indeed, for Porto to reclaim for all of humanity the unique cultural heritage that is the pipe organ”, Manuela Rebelo added.

In this visit, apart from the purveyor, Rui Moreira and the members Francisco Ribeiro da Silva, Vítor Dias, José Osório, and António Pedro Amaral, the Dean of the Church, father Agostinho Pedroso, and choirmaster Filipe Veríssimo.

The pipe organ in Lapa’s church, which possesses a total of 4.307 pipes and a carillon of 42 bells, is a part of a net of musical instruments that can be heard through the city, as are the cases of organs of Sé, Clérigos, Trindade, São João das Taipas, Santo Ildefonso, among others.