yet another picture post: my trip up to the bell-tower of the cathedral
Sometimes you don't need to travel too far to have an adventure. Heck, sometimes, you can have an unusual tourist-style adventure at a place where you work. This picture post is a case in point.
I'm the organist at the Roman Catholic cathedral in the city, while Stephen is the organist at the Anglican cathedral. Stephen is far more experienced, knowledgeable, and capable at the organ than I am. By training, he's an expert, while I'm essentially an amateur. So when I wanted someone to assess the state of our century-old organ, I contacted Stephen. About a week and a half ago, he met up with me at the cathedral on a Thursday morning for that purpose.
Ultimately he asked to look inside the machinery. I showed him the doorway to the pipes, behind the organ. I have looked inside in the past, but this was the first time that I seriously explored inside -- and found the hidden doorway that leads up to the church tower. So, this past Saturday, I decided to explore further. This is a pictorial record of that exploration.
Let's begin with some pictures of the cathedral exterior, then the main body of the church and the organ, and THEN, the tower itself...
As you can see, there are three levels of windows above the main entrance. The top-level window is where the bell resides. (If I recall correctly, the church was built in the 1880s, but the tower dates from about 1900.)
Some shots of the church interior, organ pipes and console. The organ is a Casavant Freres (based in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec) two-manual dating from about 1912, I think. It's probably the only organ in the city with painted pipes. Notice the fleur-de-lis symbol on the pipes.
And here's the doorway that leads into the belly of the beast.
And in the belly of the beast, along this exceedingly narrow hallways behind the pipes, you'll see the hidden doorway to the bell tower.
At the base of the steps, here's the mechanism that pumps air into the pipes. Without it, somebody would have to manually operate the bellows (which is how it used to be done prior to the twentieth century).
Looking up from the first-level window...
Notice the rope that extends all the way from the front entrance up to the bell-wheel itself...
Looking at the attic space above the main body of the church...
Looking down from the second-level window...
The second-level window...
I took this picture on the ladder, just before I pushed the cover off to climb up to the top level...
And, behold, the 1904 bell itself...
The wheel -- attached to the rope -- turns the bell. Thankfully, nobody was around to ring that bell, or I might have experienced profound hearing loss!
Views from two of the top-level windows. (It would be possible to go higher. There seemed to be an attic above the bell tower. But it would probably be completely dark in there. And I was as nervous as heck already being up here!)
View from above the second-level window, looking down...
And that was an adventure. :)
Cheers,
Bruce
I'm the organist at the Roman Catholic cathedral in the city, while Stephen is the organist at the Anglican cathedral. Stephen is far more experienced, knowledgeable, and capable at the organ than I am. By training, he's an expert, while I'm essentially an amateur. So when I wanted someone to assess the state of our century-old organ, I contacted Stephen. About a week and a half ago, he met up with me at the cathedral on a Thursday morning for that purpose.
Ultimately he asked to look inside the machinery. I showed him the doorway to the pipes, behind the organ. I have looked inside in the past, but this was the first time that I seriously explored inside -- and found the hidden doorway that leads up to the church tower. So, this past Saturday, I decided to explore further. This is a pictorial record of that exploration.
Let's begin with some pictures of the cathedral exterior, then the main body of the church and the organ, and THEN, the tower itself...
As you can see, there are three levels of windows above the main entrance. The top-level window is where the bell resides. (If I recall correctly, the church was built in the 1880s, but the tower dates from about 1900.)
Some shots of the church interior, organ pipes and console. The organ is a Casavant Freres (based in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec) two-manual dating from about 1912, I think. It's probably the only organ in the city with painted pipes. Notice the fleur-de-lis symbol on the pipes.
And here's the doorway that leads into the belly of the beast.
And in the belly of the beast, along this exceedingly narrow hallways behind the pipes, you'll see the hidden doorway to the bell tower.
At the base of the steps, here's the mechanism that pumps air into the pipes. Without it, somebody would have to manually operate the bellows (which is how it used to be done prior to the twentieth century).
Looking up from the first-level window...
Notice the rope that extends all the way from the front entrance up to the bell-wheel itself...
Looking at the attic space above the main body of the church...
Looking down from the second-level window...
The second-level window...
I took this picture on the ladder, just before I pushed the cover off to climb up to the top level...
And, behold, the 1904 bell itself...
The wheel -- attached to the rope -- turns the bell. Thankfully, nobody was around to ring that bell, or I might have experienced profound hearing loss!
Views from two of the top-level windows. (It would be possible to go higher. There seemed to be an attic above the bell tower. But it would probably be completely dark in there. And I was as nervous as heck already being up here!)
View from above the second-level window, looking down...
And that was an adventure. :)
Cheers,
Bruce