In 1854, the organ of the collegiate church of Saint-Hippolyte in Poligny was declared beyond repair. The church council decided that a new instrument should be commissioned as soon as possible, based on the improved systems available at the time. On March 7, 1858, the town council approved a subsidy of 8,000 francs for the church to support the project.

On July 13, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll — without having been formally invited — submitted a cost estimate for the construction of the new organ. How exactly he came to be involved remains a mystery, as he had never worked in the region before. The proposed instrument was to feature all the modern innovations of the day, including the combination pedals used by Cavaillé-Coll and a pneumatic machine similar to the Barker lever.

Cavaillé-Coll also suggested reusing an old organ case he had in his workshop: the 1687 case, still in use today, was originally built by Jean de Joyeuse for the Saint-Michel Cathedral in Carcassonne. Cavaillé-Coll had dismantled it when installing his own organ there. The case in Poligny is an exact 8-foot replica of the case from the Cathedral of Auch. The total cost of the instrument was estimated at 30,000 francs — 5,000 of which were for the case, about half the cost of a new organ. After some administrative delays, the organ was delivered, voiced on site by Félix Reinburg, and inaugurated on November 24, 1859, by the renowned Lefébure-Wély — a true Cavaillé-Coll masterpiece!

The Poligny organ is a contemporary of the instrument at Sainte-Clotilde in Paris — the very organ that inspired César Franck to compose his famous organ works. Listed as a historic monument, the Poligny organ was meticulously restored in 1990 by organ builder Dominique Lalmand and inaugurated by Michel Chapuis.

Bron: https://orguepoligny.weebly.com/