Organ in the Martinikerk at Groningen

An instrument was built in the Martinikerk in the middle of the 15th century; this was expanded in 1479 after the construction of the Gothic tower, probably under the direction of Rodolphus Agricola, Groningen's syndic and a noted humanist.

The facade of the Hoofdwerk and Bovenwerk dates from this period, embellished with pilasters, mouldings and decorations covering the Gothic structure; the summit of the casework was formed of a gabled frontispiece.

In addition at this time, the facade received its crowning structure with the Groningen coat of arms, flanked by two dragons.

[2] From 1685 to 1690, Jan Helman tried in vain to repair the damage to the organ caused by the 1672 siege of Groningen, and provided the Hoofdwerk with new bellows, keyboards and spring-chests.

[3] On June 9, 1691, Arp Schnitger finalised a contract with the Martinikerk for the organ's restoration, and entrusted the labour to his master journeyman Johann Balthasar Held.

With a deadline of less than eight months, Schnitger built a wind-chest for the Bovenwerk (his first with a complete bass octave), changed the disposition and lowered the pitch by moving the pipes along by three semitones.

Schnitger received a follow-up order on February 15 and extended the instrument with mighty pedal towers, building two new wind-chests, two bellows and some new stops.

When Frans Caspar Schnitger died in 1729, his work was completed in 1730 by Albertus Antonius Hinsz, to whom the care of the instrument was transferred in 1735.

[5] In 1739/1740 Hinsz replaced seven stops in the Rugwerk and gave the instrument decorative colouring and gilding, which formed the visual basis of the organ's restoration in the 20th century.

On the pedal towers' inward faces (connecting them to the main case), there are two-storey pipe-flats containing dummy pipes.

The coronation of the pedal towers with curved spires ending in pommels is without parallel in a Schnitger organ.

They are partly of stone and replace four wooden columns, which were installed in 1782/1783 to prevent further subsiding of the organ loft.

[7] The company J. de Koff & Zoon made further changes in 1937–1939 causing extensive intrusions to the historical substance.

The wind pressure was lowered, new stops installed, the manual compass extended, the pipe work revoiced in a romantic style and the key- and stop-actions made electro-pneumatic.