Throughout the ages, music has resonated within the sacred stones of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, blending heartfelt devotion with the creativity of humanity.
In September 2025, the world’s oldest known Christian pipe organ, which was made for Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity almost a thousand years ago, was played again after being silent for eight hundred years. This brought to life a long-lost piece of history.
What is a pipe organ?
The pipe organ is one of the oldest musical instruments, consisting of an array of pipes that produce sound from the essence of air. These kinds of pipe organs were classified as wind instruments and were commonly found in cathedrals, resounding beautifully with choirs and hymns. All this was made possible by the experiments conducted by Ctesibius, who developed a new method of playing music using wind with his unique instrument called the “Hydraulius.”
The Hydraulis, ideally the first keyboard instrument, was created by Ctesibius of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC and is considered the ancestor of the modern organ. It utilized pressurized water and hand pumps to maintain consistent airflow through its pipes, showcasing its innovative technology and musical abilities.
In 757 CE, Emperor Constantine V made a thoughtful choice to send a remarkable instrument as a gift to Pepin the Short, the king of the Franks. The organ’s enchanting sound in the Frankish court halls led to its adoption as a sacred part of Christian worship, transforming stone cathedrals into divinely enchanting spaces.
Today, as the world’s oldest surviving Christian organ plays music after being silent for eight hundred years, we are not just hearing music; we are living history.
The popular musician, David Catalunya, played the “Benedicamus Domino Flos Filius,” an 11th-century chant, on the renovated organ at Saint Saviour’s Monastery in Jerusalem. The music went beyond the present and mixed with the sounds of Crusader ceremonies.
Let us learn the history of the world’s oldest organ, from Alexandria’s workshop to medieval Europe’s cathedrals, showcasing human marvel and our journey in expressing the unseen air.
The history of the world’s oldest known pipe organ.
In 1906, a group of Franciscans working in Bethlehem made a surprising discovery: they unearthed remnants of a buried organ in an old cemetery. Archaeologists uncovered a remarkable collection of 222 beautifully crafted bronze pipes, bells, and various other ceremonial artifacts. These treasures were tucked away by Crusaders escaping from advancing armies, holding onto the hope that the music would someday find its way back.
The efforts for restoration.
For a period of more than one hundred years, the organ remained inactive, and its worth was for the most part ignored by those in academic circles. In 2019, Dr. David Catalunya, intrigued by a reference he found in Oxford, gathered a team of experts from around the globe to explore the ancient mysteries of the instrument.
After conducting extensive research, the researchers discovered that a significant number of the original pipes were still capable of producing the sounds they made during the Middle Ages. These historical parts were combined with reproductions that were created utilizing methods from the Middle Ages.
Winold van der Putten, a skilled organ builder, guided this unique experiment and the process of renovation. He studied the original pieces, some of which bore the engraved markings left by the masons who shaped them in the eleventh century.
The story of reviving music across time.
It proved to be an emotionally charged and life-changing event for a great number of those who were in attendance, as it was like seeing a “living dinosaur” of music being brought back to life. Alvaro Torrente, who is affiliated with the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences in Madrid, characterized the event as a revelation, an event that has the potential to bring about a paradigm shift in the knowledge of medieval European culture and musicology.
Preserving heritage and inspiring the future.
The organ will now be permanently placed in the Terra Sancta Museum, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is just a few kilometers from its original home in Bethlehem. Music serves as a reminder of the connection between religion, artistry, and collective memory, restoring the voice of history, even when it’s mute for centuries, and reminding the world of its potential.
