Bedard | SORTIE | Diane Bish at St Anna Church in Warsaw, Poland

The organ at St. Anna Church is one of the most visually spectacular Baroque church organs in Poland. The church itself dates to 1454 and stands on Krakowskie Przedmieście beside Warsaw’s Royal Castle district. Although the façade of the church is Neoclassical today, the interior remained richly Baroque and Rococo, providing a dramatic setting for the organ. The organ case is especially famous for its lavish late-Baroque decoration: marbleized woodwork in green, rose, and gold tones, monumental pipe towers, extensive gilded scroll carving, sculpted angels and cherubs, and a sweeping curved gallery front suspended high above the nave. The decorative case largely dates from the 18th century and survives as an important example of Polish Rococo organ architecture. Like many historic Polish instruments, the internal mechanism was rebuilt and modernized over time while preserving the historic façade.