Watch timelapse of the organ being rebuilt

A magnificent musical jigsaw puzzle has been put together at Norwich Cathedral in recent months as the several thousand pipes of our historic organ have been reinstalled.

It took expert organ builders Harrison and Harrison nearly three months to carefully reinstall most of the pipes – and in this newly released timelapse video you can watch their work in just under six minutes!

The organ’s pipes had been removed in 2022 and taken to Harrison and Harrison’s base in Durham for specialist work as part of an ambitious 15-month project that aims to ensure that people will be able to enjoy hearing the Cathedral organ’s music long into the future.

The pipes were returned to the Cathedral earlier this year and the bulk of the installation process took place between 3 January 2023 and 23 March.

The team from Harrison and Harrison are now concentrating on the important task of tuning each and every one of the 5,767 pipes which range in size from about the length of a pencil to an incredible 32ft (almost 10 metres).

Photographer Bill Smith recorded the timelapse video and the accompanying music is Toccata from Symphony 5 by Widor, played by Ashley Grote. Music recording courtesy of Priory Records.

Click the link below to hear Andrew Fiddes, associate voicer for Harrison and Harrison, talk about the project.