In 2021, the Barth Buchholz organ celebrated its 200th birthday in St. Marien Barth. The impressive instrument attracts hundreds of guests to St. Mary's Church every year for the famous summer concerts.
An organ was mentioned as early as 1451 for St. Mary's Church in Barth, which was rebuilt and extended in 1597 by the Stralsund master organ builder Nikolaus Maaß. Even though it was repaired and modified by Christian Kindt, also from Stralsund, from 1785, it soon no longer met the requirements of the time. Above all, the transfer of Western Pomerania to Prussia in 1815 created a climate for radical changes.
The Berlin firm of Carl August Buchholz (1796-1884) was commissioned to build a new organ in Barth. The contract was signed on July 12, 1819, all parts of the organ were completed on February 18, 1821 and it was handed over to the congregation on August 31, 1821. Later, several modifications and extensions were carried out by the Grüneberg organ building workshop in Szczecin. In 1917, a large proportion of the pewter pipes had to be given away for war purposes and were later replaced by zinc pipes.
The organ case was made in Barth. The organ façade in its present form was also created after 1856 in connection with a thorough redesign of the church's interior.
A last major repair was carried out in 1964 by a company from Görlitz. Between 2001 and 2003, the organ underwent a complete and extensive restoration.
The organs in the church in Tribsees (1831) and the Nikolai Church in Stralsund (1841) also originate from the workshop of C. A. Buchholz.
The Barth organ has the following specification:
HauptwerkOberwerkSmall pedal
Pricipal 16Principal 8Principal 16
Quintatön 16Bordun 16Subbass 16
Principal 8Gedact 8Gemshorn 8
Reed flute 8Salicional 8Octava 4
Viola da gamba 8Octava 4Nasard 5 1/3
Nasard 5 1/3Rohrflöte 4Waldflöte 2
Octava 4Fugara 4Trombone 16
Gemshorn 4Nasard 2 2/3Conetta 4
Superoctava 2Flageolet 2
Fifth 2 2/3Larigot 1 1/3Big Pedal
Third 1 3/5Decima quinta 1Violone 16
Cornet 4foldMixur 4foldVioloncello 8
ProgressionBassoon 6Big Nasard 10 2/3
Harmonica 3-5 bassoon 8 / Hautbois 8Contra trombone 32
Trumpet 8 from c Bassoon 8
Trumpet 8
Manual coupler, stop valve to HW, OW, small pedal and large pedal Lit.: Die Buchholzorgel in Sankt Marien, Barth. Commemorative publication on the occasion of the re-dedication after completion of the restoration on August 31, 2003.
