The organ of St. Nicholas Church
Originally there were three organs built stepwise by a Jesuit organ builder Thomas Schwarz in St Nicholas Church at the Lesser Town of Prague. Two of them have been preserved until today: the great organ in the main gallery (currently out of service, requiring renovation) and a smaller one in the side gallery.
This smaller Organ was built in 1745, having two keyboards and a pedal board with altogether 18 ranks. Between 1745 and 1956 it has been more times renovated, rebuilt and repaired, even moved to another place in the gallery. But after 1990 it was completely restored by Miroslav Heger, an organ builder from Hořovice (central Bohemia), under the supervision of diocesan organologist and The National Heritage Institute. The Organ was moved back to its original position in the side gallery and refurbished into its original feature and specification.
It is currently in a very good condition and it is used mainly for concerts.
Tool layout:
Main Keyboard
C – c´´´, short octave
Principal 8´
Octava 4´
Quinta 3´
Superoctava 2´
Quinta 1 1/2´
Sedecima 1´
Mixtura 1 1/2´, 5 f
Salicional 8´
Fugara 4´
Waldflöte 2´
Tuning: Neidhard I, a´ = 440 Hz/15 °C
Source: http://www.varhany.net/cardheader.php?id=&lok=1273&podrobnosti=1
Positiv
C – c´´´, short octave
Copula maior 8´
Copula minor 4´
Principal 2´
Rauschquint 2 f
Pedal board
C – a, short octave, 12 notes
Subbass 16´
Octavbass 8´
Quintbass 6´
Superoctavbass 4´
Occasionally, a Positive Organ built by Josef Gartner in 1831 is used for concerts as well. This instrument has one keyboard with six ranks and it is placed on the ground floor of the church under the dome. It is used mainly for performing early-baroque and older music.