Grand-Orgue Ste Clotilde

THE ORGAN OF THE CHAPEL

COMPOSITION 1933

The organ was built by Cavaillé-Coll, originally to serve as a choir organ at St Roch Church. The latter was exhibited at the 1839 Exhibition and was listed as Opus 13. On this occasion, Lefébure-Wély played on it and he was enchanted by the wind tunnel at various pressures that fed a double-laye wind chest. It was characteristic for the first instruments of the young Cavaillé-Coll. The buffet, in classical style, was later used for the construction of the organ of the Alsatian Lutheran parish of Redemption (Paris IX), which was then an annex of the Billettes. In 1842, the organ was purchased by the Lutheran Church of the Billettes and enlarged. The Lutheran princess Hélène of Menklemburg, a member of the royal family and parishioner, and the King of Sweden participated in the subscription. The instrument was admired by Sigismond Neukomm, who was one of the best acquaintances of King Louis-Philippe. The same year he was called to inaugurate it during a great spiritual concert during which he gave a Cantata for the Feast of Ascension and his hymn At night. In the following decades, several interventions were carried out by Cavaillé-Coll (1863), Mutin (1912) and Gutschenritter (1945). In 1978, Muhleisen built a completely new instrument of Baroque aesthetics for the Church of the Billettes. The ancient organ was then reassembled in the Chapel of Catechisms in 1988 by Jean Renaud, who rebuilt the instrument. The organ was placed in a new neo-Gothic buffet made in accordance with the style of the building and designed by the architect Mouffle. The mechanics of the notes are almost new, the mechanics of the stops reused the material of the old instrument. All stops are old, with the exception of the Octavin 2' of the Swell which is new.

LA CHAPELLE DE JESUS ENFANT

This chapel was built between 1878 and 1881 by the architect Hippolyte Destailleur at the initiative of Father Hamelin, the first rector of the Basilica of St. Clotilde, to welcome the children of the catechism. The Chapel is also called the Catechism Chapel and is located near the Basilica in Rue Las-Cases. Built in the purest English neo-Gothic style, the chapel is richly decorated. It includes, among other things, an altar made by the goldsmith Chartier, a ceramic altarpiece inspired by a work by Fra Angelico and a magnificent wooden vault that gives the ensemble a great look.