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Organ moved from Chelyabinsk cathedral to building of former cinema

Despite experts' recommendations, the organ is being transferred to the new building at very low air temperatures at 20 degrees Celsius below zero

CHELYABINSK, January 28. /ITAR-TASS/. An old organ earlier kept in the Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Chelyabinsk has been moved to new premises specially allotted to the unique music instrument in the building of a former cinema. Despite experts' recommendations, the organ is being transferred to the new building at very low air temperatures which dropped to 20 degrees Celsius below zero now.

Nonetheless, experts of the Chelyabinsk Concert Association claim that the low air temperatures pose no threat to the organ which has been transferred to a new place under supervision of experts from the German famous organ building company "Hermann Eule". One of its experts, Friedman Birke, who had first assembled the organ in Chelyabinsk in 1986, will assemble it anew, said spokeswoman for the Chelyabinsk Concert Association Alexandra Tretyakova. A truck in which the organ is being transported is equipped with heaters, the spokeswoman said. “The transportation has been going on fast enough, and we hope it will be safely complete by the end of the day,” said the spokeswoman.

Vladimir Khomayakov - a local expert who has been the organ keeper, strongly objected to the transportation of the organ under low air temperatures. "The decision on the transportation of the organ in winter was wrong," Khomyakov said. He claims that the organ moved to new premises "might sound either better or worse, but in any case it would be a different instrument."

The organ taken to pieces will be kept in a lobby of the former cinema building, pending assembly scheduled for spring. In the meantime, the reconstruction of the former cinema building will go on until it is over in May.

On November 26, 2013 the culture minister of the Chelyabinsk region ordered to cease concerts of organ music, which was an unpleasant surprise to local enthusiasts. Philippe Lefebvre - a celebrated organist from Notre Dame de Paris, was the last to play the organ in the Chelyabinsk cathedral.

The organ was ordered out of the cathedral by the Chelyabinsk Metropolitan's of the Russian Orthodox Church, which now owns the Alexander Nevsky cathedral turned over to the church by the ex-regional governor, Mikhail Yurevich. The organ is hoped to play again in autumn.

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