The St. Nicolas-church in Purmerend and its organs - short history and description

The present St. Nicolas-church was built in 1850-1853 and houses three historic organs: the main organ from Garrels (1742, three manuals), a choir organ from Bätz (1777, one manual) and an organ from Witte (1864, two manuals).

The church replaced a much older church which reached its final size around 1520. By then, it had three naves with a small tower on the west side. It was also consecrated to the Holy Nicholas and was, of course, a Roman Catholic church.

After the Reformation and the abolishment of the Roman Catholic faith, the church became a Protestant church around 1573.

The church already had an organ, dating back to earlier in the 16th century. It was enlarged in the second half of the 17th century (the Dutch Golden Age), when the church organ became instrumental in accompanying community singing.
After various alterations and enlargements this organ was finally replaced by the Garrels-organ in 1742. Rudolph Garrels was an organ builder from Northern Germany and was a pupil of the famous Arp Schnitger.

Garrels designed a new organ with the “Hamburger Facade” (main case, ruckpositiv and low-placed pedal towers), but made use of pipes and parts of the existing organ. Therefore, the Garrels-organ contains some 150 pipes dating back to early 16th century. This makes the instrument even more valuable. It hung on the northern wall of the former church. This was a straight wall, which explains the logic of the protruding shape of Garrels’ organ design.
The Garrels-organ was ordered by the City Council of Purmerend. The organ was to reflect the importance

of the city. For this reason the city's coat of arms is prominently presented on top of the organ case.

After Garrels’ death other famous organ builders maintained the organ, but only few changes were made.

In 1850 the gothic church had to be torn down because it was in a derelict shape.

A new church with contemporary architecture was built in 1850-1853. Fortunately the Garrels-organ could be reinstalled in the new building, although under an arch and
somewhat less prominently visible.

The dismantling in 1850 was done by organ builders Flaes & Brünjes. They carefully marked all items, so that rebuilding the organ would be as easy as possible. They rebuilt the organ in the new church with some alterations: they delivered new manuals (the old ones can be seen in the nearby museum) and couplers, and also made changes in the stop list, wind pressure and voicing. The keyboards clearly bear Flaes’ signature.

In the remainder of the 19th and during the 20th century the history continued as before: regular maintenance, e.g. by Knipscheer and Van Dam, some changes by Flentrop in 1911/1922 and a restoration by Ernst Leeflang in 1947.

In 1971 the Protestant congregation left this church. Some years later the organ was dismantled and stored by Flentrop after which the church was refurnished for use as the municipal theatre and concert hall. The empty organ case remained in the building as a silent witness.

Things changed again when the Roman Catholic parish returned to the church in 1989. They rededicated

it to St. Nicholas and St. Catherine, adapted the interior of the church to the Catholic mass.

The church functioned without a pipe organ until 2000. They had acquired an organ by Witte from 1864, from the Mennonite Church nearby. The organ case was installed soon after 1989, but restoration and installment of the organ interior could only be realised in 2000, after the church had undergone a thorough restoration.