Villareal, Spain: St James Cathedral

This cover is notable for the postmark. It was created to mark the third Religious Music and Poetry Week held at the St James Cathedral in Villareal, Spain.The drawing shows the "organ at the main altar of the church." The pictures I could find of the altar area of the cathedral show an organ, but it is an instrument installed in a gallery, not like the one pictured. I was able to find information that Gerhard Grenzing did restoration work on the instrument, but the site doesn't include a date, and the instrument restored is the altar gallery instrument, again not the one shown in this postmark.

In this picture above, on the right side, high up on the wall one can see the organ. Below is Grenzing's image of the instrument.

I also found this image (at a tourism site) of an organ in what seems to be a rear gallery in the cathedral. Again, it does not look like the instrument shown in the postmark.

The stamp shown on the cover is Scott 2365, issued 11 April 1984. As such it was issued just prior to the beginning of the conference referenced in the postmark. The stamp shows da Vinci's Study of Man, and the stamp is called, "Man and the Biosphere" in the Scott catalog. The relationship between the stamp subject and the postmark is thus murky at best, and perhaps doesn't actually exist in any meaningful way.

This cover below shows the same postmark, but also includes an image of the gallery organ shown above. One is curious then if the organ in the postmark is really one in the cathedral, or merely emblematic of church organs in general.

I am thankful to my friend Mark Jameson in Reading, GB for the gift of this cover and the enigma of the organ in its postmark.

Religious Music Festival (Spain)

This stamp commemorates a religious music festival in Cuenca, Spain. It seems the event has been going on for more than 50 years. I say "seems" because while their website is full of event information, there is very little information about the history of the event or who sponsors it. Being in Spain, I would assume it spring out of the Catholic hierarchy, but I really cant' tell. The event began in 1962; this stamp was issued in 1986, so perhaps it was a 25th anniversary commemoration. The stamp shows a stylized organ facade, and indeed, there are a few instruments to be found in the photo gallery of the website. The facade does not seem to depict a specific instrument. Scott 2472 was issued March 26, 1986, with a denomination of 17 pesetas.

Spain: Seville Cathedral

Spain issued this souvenir sheet in 2012. The stamp itself (Scott #3846) shows the exterior of the Seville Cathedral. The selvage surrounding the stamp shows an interior view of the cathedral including the facade of the organ. The cathedral was completed in the 16th century and at that time replaced Hagia Sophia as the largest cathedral building in the world. It remains 4th largest today. It was declared a UN World Heritage site in 1978.

The Biographical Dictionary of the Organ site gives a straightforward stoplist. Gerhard Grenzing's site gives a little more general information of the organ (scroll down to get to the information about Seville Cathedral) plus the stoplist and some nice images. This is the firm which I believe maintains the instrument presently. Apparently a roof collapse destroyed previous instruments in the cathedral, leading to a new instrument in 1903. This stamp is a new issue, such that I don't not have a Scott catalog number for it yet.