Kelheim Organ Museum

The Kelheim Organ Museum therefore sees itself not only as a technical museum, but also as a cultural and historical institution aimed at both organology specialists and interested laypeople. In addition to the technical aspects of the organ, the main focus of the exhibition is on its musical, historical and cultural significance.

Location and history of the house

The organ museum is located in the former Franciscan church built in 1471. In addition to the large late Gothic mendicant church, the museum complex also includes parts of the adjoining cloister and the neighboring smaller St. Michael's Church, which is still Romanesque in essence. This unique ensemble is located directly below the Liberation Hall. The organ museum is thus in close contact with the famous sights of Kelheim: the Liberation Hall, the Danube breakthrough and the Ludwig Danube Canal.

After the Franciscan order was banned, the buildings were secularized in 1803 and subsequently used as a brewery. In 1881, the buildings finally came into the possession of the Church Foundation of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. In the course of a general renovation in the years 1992 - 1997, the organ museum was established in 1996 on the initiative of Dr. Sixtus Lampl. The institution is run by a non-profit association, which has since been joined by numerous personalities from political and cultural life. The official opening with a festive church service and ceremony took place on May 14, 2006.

It is a stroke of luck for the organ museum that it can present its collection in a church - the place with which the organ is most closely associated in our society.

The collection

The museum currently has four historical monument organs from the Lower Bavarian-Upper Palatinate region, which date back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. The instruments were donated to the museum by the Bavarian State Conservator Dr. Sixtus Lampl from his collection. The instruments have been fully restored and are fully functional. Guided tours and concerts offer the opportunity not only to view the organs, but also to listen to them. As two instruments have been tuned to the same pitch, compositions for two organs can also be performed. There is already a CD recording of the monument organs with works by Piazza, Gabrieli, Rheinberger, Wagner and others. The performers are Heidrun Hensel and Klemens Schnorr.

Among the exhibits particularly well received by visitors are the functional models specially commissioned by the museum from the organ building company Schober (Plattling). The three models give even untrained visitors an insight into the basic concepts of organ building.

Audio tour and listening stations

An important aspect of the planning was the creation of an audio tour, which is already standard for larger exhibition and museum facilities, but seems rather unusual for a museum of this size. We succeeded in putting together an interesting mix of additional information and audio examples, which allows visitors to delve deeper into certain content in an entertaining way beyond the texts on the display boards. The audio guide can also be used to listen to musical examples - from different eras and recorded on different organs - played by internationally renowned performers. The exhibited instruments and those presented on the display boards can thus also be experienced acoustically. The audio guide is available in German and English.

Charging facilities for e-bikes available.