Michel Number: PL BL241
This post features a Polish souvenir sheet with two stamps both dedicated to the Organ in the Church of the Cistercian Fathers in Jedrzedow. This sheet is the first of a multi-year stamp series that honors great organs in Poland. Each of these stamps and mini-sheets is stunning. You can see a few others in previous articles such as this one about the organ in Olkusz or this one about the organ in the Dome of Toruń. This sheet is no different. It is a gorgeous sheet that features an important baroque organ in the church of the Jedrzedow.
The Church
I happened to find a quite interesting blog about the Cistercian churches in Poland. It has great information about the religious order and the various abbeys and churches in that country. I am going to quote that blog below with its great description of the church at Jędrzejów.
“. . . located 3km outside the town centre of Jędrzejów (well outside of the mediaeval town limits) . . . It was founded by French Cistercians in the mid-12th century, who rebuilt an existing church and small cloister in their own style and then ministered to residents of the nearby villages. After a fire destroyed parts of the church in the mid-18th century, the brothers rebuilt the structure using Baroque elements on top of the surviving mediaeval stonework. The interior boasts successive glorious paintings and altars that seem to occupy more space than the church’s surface area can even provide. Especially impressive is the enormous blue and gold pipe organ that occupies the rear of the church, indeed looming over congregants’ heads. The structure also playfully deceives would-be entrants with a false front (facing town to the east).”
This is a really great little quote about the Church at Jędrzejów. You can learn more at the website culture.pl. Of course, I am just pleased that the quote mentions the “enormous blue and gold pipe organ” at the rear of the church. It must be impressive to warrant a stamp!
The Organ
Views from the inside of the church reveal that it is decorated in baroque splendor. The organ looks like something from a fairytale, maybe from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The instrument was made when the current church was being rebuilt following a fire in the middle of the eighteenth century. The organ builder responsible for this baroque masterpiece is Jozefa Sitarskiego.
I normally like to give specifications for the organs that are featured on stamps. Organs are typically the one case where an actual and specific instrument is celebrated on a stamp (as opposed to more general celebrations of a violin, a piano, a guitar, etc.). I like to mention information about makers, about the history of an organ including when it was rebuilt, enlarged, or restored. Unfortunately, I was unable to find anything about this organ in English. However, there is a page on Polish wikipedia all about the organ, including a stop list. Check it out here.
The Stamp
As you can see at the top of this page, the beautiful mini-sheet is in full color. The border utilizes more colors than the two stamps in the middle, which really play up the blue and gold colors of the sanctuary and the organ case. The two stamps are of different values. The higher denomination stamp on top is for 8.30 Polish zloty. The lower denomination stamp underneath it has a value of 4.20 zloty. The designers of the stamps were the Marzanna Dabrowska and Przemyslaw Krajewski.
Luckily, I did find a video where you an hear this magnificent organ being played:
