He Very little remains of the original organ of the maker Chrétien Dognon from 1643,

apart from some vestiges of old pipes that we have restored,

without having been able to establish formal proof that their original integrity has been restored.
This is the case for many historic organs for which no mark of origin is indicated on the pipes.
The same goes for the sound material of Jean Richard in 1773.

The most authentic parts are the buffet of the Grand-Orgue (17th century) and that of the Positif (18th century).
Everything else has been remanufactured: wind tunnel, box springs, game and note transmissions,  and approximately 60% of the piping.

The approximately 700 17th and 18th century pipes inventoried by the expertise of the project manager Eric Brottier represented sound material profoundly mutilated by interventions subsequent to the installation of the organ in the Pontigny abbey church by Jean Richard in 1773.
The "rehabilitation" of the pipes required restoring the lengths of the bodies, the heights of the mouths, the profiles of the bevels,

all according to the criteria specific to the classic French style of the 18th century.

The restoration of the buffets is also the work of theQuoirin Organ Building Workshop in Saint-Didier  (84210 Vaucluse).
The stylistic reconstruction is inspired by the “Large 8 feet with 16 feet drone” model.

described byDom-Bedosin “The Art of the Organ Maker” (1766)

All of the work required 13,000 hours of work between 2022 and 2023.

Pascal Quoirin, September 2023