The Church of St. Michael in Mengeš is home to the pipe organ of France Goršič, an important cultural, technical and historical monument. It is Goršič’s 54th work, dating from 1890. It was created at the peak of Goršič’s creativity, just a year before the completion of his greatest work – the organ in the Ljubljana Ursuline Church.
From the rich history of the Mengeš parish, we learn that Goršič’s organ was not the first to be built in this location. Unfortunately, very little is known about the earlier organ, just a few things.
According to the writings of Dr Edo Škulj, a renowned Slovenian musicologist, musician and pedagogue, we learn that the organ by Janez Faller, made in 1699, arrived in Mengeš around 1785. It was brought from one of the Ljubljana monasteries that had been abolished during the reign of Emperor Joseph II. This organ is still preserved today and was long considered the oldest preserved organ in Slovenia.
Historical organ by Janez Faller from Mengeš to Sodražica
Faller’s organ served in Mengeš for about 50 years before it was moved to Homec. When Peter Rumpel built a new organ there in 1837, the Faller organ was moved to Radomlje. However, it did not stay there for long. In 1887, Ignacij Zupan made a new organ for the Radomlje church, and the old one was transferred to Kresniške Poljane the previous year. By 1934, a second-hand harmonium was bought for the Kresnice church, and the Faller organ, on the advice of Mons. Viktor Steska, an art historian and diocesan accountant, was sent to the Regional (now National) Museum in Ljubljana on July 9, 1934.
The Regional (now National) Museum has a letter from Dr Josip Mal on the transfer of the Faller organ to their collection.
“To the directors of the municipal revenue offices. The undersigned Headmaster will receive in the coming days, for his collections from Kresniške Polany an old organ (with case), one of the oldest in the diocese. The Museum does not currently have any organs, but this branch should be represented in the collections of the Crafts Department. Therefore, he requests that the address of the above-mentioned issue an order to the customs office on Zaloška cesta (the organ to be brought in on a cart) to be free of all import charges with regard to the above-mentioned museum exhibition object.”
Dr Josip Mal
Interestingly, the note in this letter says: “It remains the property of the church because no one has paid anything for it.”
Based on this letter, Dr Škulj sent a letter to the National Museum management in the early 1980s, asking if the organ was still in their possession and suggesting that it be restored. At the time, the organ was stored in the museum’s storerooms and was inaccessible due to space constraints. It was not until the end of 1985 that the organ could be inspected. It was then agreed that the organ would be taken over and restored by the Sodražica parish, specifically by the organist Ing. Brane Košir (today a renowned organ builder and expert on the Goršič organs) and his father, France. When a new organ was installed in the Sodražica church in 2005, the Faller organ found its place in the choir of the St. Mark’s branch church in Zapotok near Sodražica, where it still stands today.
Photo: Brane Košir
The Janez Faller historic organ has therefore made a long pilgrimage:
- unknown monastery in Ljubljana: 1699 – 1785
- Mengeš: 1785 – c. 1830
- Homec: ca. 1830 – 1837
- Radomlje: 1837 – 1886
- Kresniške Poljane: 1886 – 1934
- Regional (now National) Museum: 1934 – 1986
- Sodražica: 1986 – 2005
- Zapotok: 2005 – present
Rumpl’s organ from Mengeš to Groblje
Around 1830, the Faller organ in Mengeš was replaced by a new one made by Peter Rumpel (1787-1861) from Kamnik. All we know about this organ is that it was too small for the large church in Mengeš. Therefore, in 1889, the people of Mengeš parish ordered a new, larger organ from the master Franc Goršič. The former chaplain of Mengeš, Anton Koblar, reports that in 1889 in Groblje, through the generosity of Peter Majdič, the church keeper and owner of the mill in Jarše, the choir was enlarged and a ‘beautiful organ’, which had previously been in the Mengeš parish church, was placed on it. A photograph from before 1960, when this choir was removed, has been preserved. The organ is also visible in the photograph. It can be assumed that this is the Rumpl organ that used to be in Mengeš.
Photo: Uroš Urbanija
Taken from the text by Uroš Urbanija
