Organ Hall

Situated in one of the most beautiful buildings in the centre of the city, the Organ Hall from Chisinau is a leading
cultural and artistic institution of the Republic of Moldova whose activity has a crucial meaning in the capital's
cultural life.
The aim of the institution is to organize concert seasons in order to promote the values of both universal and national
classical music by the contribution of instrumental and vocal performers from the country and from abroad
The building of the Organ Hall has a unique beauty. It is an architecture monument, taken under the auspices of the
state. Designed and built at the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century by the engineer Mihail
CECHERU-CUSH, the Organ Hall impresses by its monumental forms executed prevalently in classic style, also
containing some elements of the romantic art. The cupola and the sculptural groups confer to the image of the
building exceptional artistic expressiveness. Before 1974 the building hosted different financial institutions,
including the National Bank.
In the 70s of the last century a group of intellectuals initiated by the conductor Timofei GURTOVOI (1919-1981),
people's artist and first conductor of the Philharmonic Symphonic Orchestra, promoted the idea of building a new
concert hall with an organ inside. The idea was supported by the state administration, which decided to reconstruct
interior of the bank in order to adjust it for a concert hall of chamber and organ music. The building was
reconstructed by I. LEONCENCO, the principal architect of the reconstruction works, \, chief engineer, S.
LEBEDEV, principal architecture of the city, D. GOLIOV In the all hall are sculptural portraits of great composers,
such as J.S. BACH, W.A. MOZART, G.F. HNDEL, P. TCHAIKOVSKI, G. ENESCU, St. Neaga by L.
DUBINOVSCHI ll. All the reconstruction works were done with the support of I. BODIUL who was prime
secretary of the Central Committee of the leading party of those times.
There were also invited specialists from other places to take part in the reconstruction works: the parquetry was
made in the West of Ukraine, the ceiling ornaments were made in Odessa, the white chairs, upholstered with velvet ,
were covered with gold by masters from St-Petersburg, who were specialised in restoring the royal palaces from
Petergof and Tsarskoe Selo (there have been used 900 g of gold), the chandeliers of precious crystal were made in
the Czech Republic. The organ, installed in this magnificent hall, was made at the "Rieger-Kloss" company from the
Czech city Krnov, a factory with strong traditions, well known for the instruments it produces, which are installed in
many cities of the world. The Organ from Chisinau is an electromechanical one, of medium size, containing about
3000 pipes their height being from 15 cm to 5, 5 m in 55 registers.
, The Organ Hall is visited by many tourists who are interested in this architecture monument and in listening to the
organ music. International contest laureates and performers with state awards are those who perform the most often
on the stage of the Organ Hall, according to its status. Due to the fact that the Organ Hall from Chisinau has perfect
acoustic qualities, lots of recordings are made in this hall. Many of the concerts are broadcasted live by the National
Television and Radio Channels and by some private broadcasting companies. The Organ Hall is endowed with
valuable music instruments: 6 clavichords, Yamaha", Bechstein" and Steinway" concert pianos.
The majority of the guests who had the opportunity to visit this hall and to perform on its stage mention that the
Organ Hall from Chisinau is one of the most beautiful concert halls from Europe and even from all over the world.
We can strongly affirm that the Organ Hall from Chisinau is worth to be proud of and represents a veritable jewel
for our people and country.