Pipe organ manufacturing
Their majestic sound push you back into your chair and first mystical tones stun you in a second. Pipe organ is one of the most powerful musical instruments and Krnov is a town, where this gem has been manufactured for almost 150 years.
Founder of the manufacture, Franz Rieger, was well known throughout Silesia as a pipe organ builder of exceptional qualities. With his brother Otto, they founded a workshop in 1873. Same year the first organ was built, named OPUS 1, for the World's Fair in Vienna. The instrument attracted a lot of attention and in 1878 Rieger brothers built another big instrument, this time for the World's Fair in Paris. Except the appreciation, Paris exhibition brought also many foreign commissions and allowed establishing a pipe organ factory in Krnov. Since the beginning, the company has become a significant pipe organ factory within Austria-Hungary and one of the most important and well known in the entire Europe. In 1880, the Emperor František Josef I. awarded Otto Rieger with Knight's Order and a factory was appointed as „c. a k. dvorní dodavatel“ (Imperial-Royal Purveyor). Pope Leo XIII. appointed Otto Rieger as a knight of „Order of Holy Sepulchre“. In this first era, during 1873–1903, more than 1000 opuses had been built in Krnov and the number of employees was around 70. It was a time of great boom of the company - pipe organs were built in Norway, England, Spain, Turkey, Palestine, Portugal, Denmark, Germany. Products of Rieger brothers travelled even to as distant countries as is Argentina or Mexico.
The tradition of pipe organ manufacturing lasts in Krnov till these days and in 2013 company finished for example commission for Jinan Capital Culture and Arts Center & Music Concert Hall in China. A success may sound even as a pipe organ, go to Krnov and listen.