Organ and bells

The present pipe organ is one of the largest in Russia and the third since the church’s foundation. The first organ was taken by the state in 1938 and the second, an electronic organ with 60 stops, was installed as part of the renovations in 1999. It was donated by the American charity “Aid to the Church in Russia”, headed by priest Marcel Guarnizo, who received consecration as a deacon during the renovation in 1997. The electronic organ was replaced by a pipe organ during 2002–2005.[13][14]

The church’s pipe organ was built in Männedorf, Switzerland in 1955 by the firm “Kuhn”. It was donated by the Reformed Evangelical Basel Münster Cathedral of the city of Basel in Switzerland. Dismantled in 2002, all but the largest pipe – Nr. 65 principal bass 32′, 10 m (32 ft) long – were transferred to Moscow. The pipes were transported wrapped in new garments donated by the people of Basel, which were later distributed to Moscow’s poor. The installation of the pipe organ in Moscow was performed by the Orgelbau Schmid company from Kaufbeuren, Germany, headed by Gerhard Schmid, who refused payment for his work. During the work, Schmid was killed in a fall from a scaffold on 9 September 2004; his son Gunnar finished the work.[13][15]

The original 10-metre, 32′ pipe stayed in Switzerland and was built into a new organ in the Münster Cathedral, which belongs to the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance. This pipe, capable of reproducing a tone of 16.35 Hz, the bass note C0 four octaves below middle C, was recreated in Moscow and added to the cathedral’s organ in 2009.[14]
The church bells

The five church bells are located on the cathedral’s roof behind a tripartite screen of lancet arches on the left side of the façade. They were poured by the Felczyński bell foundry in Przemyśl, Poland and donated by bishop Wiktor Skworc[4][12] The bells are electronically activated. The largest weighs 900 kilograms (2,000 lb) and bears the name “Our Lady of Fátima”. The other bells are named, from the smallest to the largest: “John Paul II”; “St. Jude”, named after the patron saint of archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz; “Anniversary-2000”; and “St. Victor”, named after the patron saint of Bishop Wiktor Skworc.[4][12]