The Basilica St. Johann was erected by Stengel between 1754 and 1758. It has been painstakingly renovated and is now a perfect example of 18th century Baroque beauty: the pope even granted the church the title “Basilica Minor”. Not to be missed are the bronze portal and the entrance area, which were designed by the Saarbrücken artist Ernst Alt.
The church organ is particularly striking. It consists of three individual parts, the main organ and the two choir organs. They can by played individually or together. The St. Johann Basilica organ is hence composed of 60 sounding stops and a total of 4,312 pipes. This remarkable and multifaceted instrument is exceptional in both its construction and its tone spectrum and is renowned far beyond Saarbrücken and the Saarland.
References:House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.
The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.