National House of Organ and Chamber Music
The building has seen different times. Over the last centuries, it has been used as a church, a school, and even a warehouse. However, it has seen its hardest times only recently.
In 1915, the magnificent Bryansk Church, built in neoclassical style with baroque elements, appeared in Dnipro. The church was decorated with beautiful stucco moldings and a gilded altar screen. It was quite innovative, too: the building had a steam heating system and electric lighting.
However, a few years later and Ukraine had been occupied by the Bolsheviks, who saw churches as ideologically hostile. After 1929, the church was closed – allegedly “based on the collective demand of the city's working-class.” Later, the building was used as a Youth Center, a sports school, and for coal storage. A unique place was gradually destroyed.
Only in the 1980s, the former church was converted into the House of Organ and Chamber Music. A major refurbishment also started at that time. Following its completion, it took another year to install the organ. A famous German music company “Sauer” was involved. They made a 12-ton mechanical organ with 30 stops and 2,074 pipes of various diameters, their lengths ranging from a few centimeters to 5 meters, tailored for the Dnipro church.
The building came back to life again, and more than 300 concerts, festivals, and music competitions were held here every year. However, on March 11, 2022, this ancient spiritual and cultural center was hit by Russian artillery. The walls and windows of this unique building were damaged.