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Luk Bastiaens, The Organs of St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent from 1913 to the Present
The first part of this article on the history of the organs in St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent concluded with the account of the construction of a new four-manual pneumatic organ installed in 1913 by organ builder Georges Cloetens (1871–1949) from Brussels. He equipped the instrument with an electric wind system and reintegrated several older stops.
In 1935 the organ-building firm Johannes Klais of Bonn proposed using part of the organ from the 1935 Brussels World Exhibition as a choir organ for the Ghent cathedral. Negotiations with Klais proceeded favourably and resulted in an agreement dated 4 December 1935. The renewed organ, which incorporated the transept organ, was inaugurated on Wednesday 30 September 1936, including an organ recital by Flor Peeters.
The organ of St Bavo’s Cathedral suffered damage during the Second World War. On 22 December 1948 the members of the church council, architect Valentin Vaerwyck, and organ builder Jos. Loncke signed an estimate of the war damage caused to the church organ by exploding shells during the German retreat in 1944.
On 16 July 1954 the organ-building firm Jos. Loncke and Sons submitted a quotation for major repairs, including extensive work on the large façade pipes of the old Prestant 16’. Between 1988 and 1996 a series of major restoration works was planned and carried out in phases by Loncke Orgelbouw. Since 1998 the firm Andriessen Orgelbouw (Menen) has been responsible for maintenance. In 2013 the instrument was completely cleaned and technically overhauled.
The St Bavo organ comprises 90 stops divided over five manuals and pedal.
Two smaller instruments are located in the cathedral crypt. The first, with eight stops, was built in 1965 by Loncke Orgelbouw and contains older pipework originating from the organ of Ressegem (Herzele).
A second instrument was built in 1975 by Patrick Collon for the abbey of Maria Mediatrix in Hemelgem. In 1988 the sisters of the abbey donated this two-manual, seven-stop instrument to St Bavo’s Cathedral; it was later rebuilt by Loncke Orgelbouw N.V.
Johan Zoutendijk, The Goetghebuer Atlas: A Unique Source of Documentation on (Lost) Ghent Organs
More than fifteen years ago, while searching for visual material of a Ghent organ, I was directed to the Goetghebuer Atlas. This collection of iconographic material on Ghent includes watercolours, drawings, engravings, medals and city maps, and is preserved in the Ghent City Archives. The discovery of several previously unknown drawings prompted me to review the entire collection and compile an inventory of all documents depicting organs. Through this process, organs known from written sources (such as those of St Salvator and the Dominican church) were given a visual identity, and images surfaced of organs that had not yet been documented in publications (such as those of the Recollects and the Jesuits). The value of the Goetghebuer Atlas for organ-historical research thus became immediately clear. The publication of a concise inventory list provided the impetus to attempt to locate several lost Ghent organs as depicted in the Atlas.
This article is divided into two parts: following a brief introduction to the Atlas, a list of organ images—classified by church or building—is presented. The second part focuses on specific details concerning several lost, relocated, or altered Ghent organs.

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