After 800 years of silence, the oldest pipe organ in the Christian world sounds once more

JERUSALEM — 800 years of silence were broken as the oldest pipe organ in the Christian world came back to life in Jerusalem’s Old City on Tuesday. The ancient sound reverberated through Saint Saviour’s Monastery.

Crafted from original pipes dating back to the 11th century, the organ played a liturgical chant called Benedicamus Domino Flos Filius with musician David Catalunya at the helm. The music filled the monastery, blending with the distant tolling of church bells.

At a news conference before the unveiling, Catalunya described the event as a significant moment in music history. “This organ was buried with the hope of being played again one day,” he said. “And now, nearly eight centuries later, that day has arrived.”

The organ will now be housed at the Terra Sancta museum in Jerusalem’s Old City, just a short distance from its original location in Bethlehem.

Historians believe that the Crusaders brought the organ to Bethlehem in the 11th century during their rule over Jerusalem. After a century of use, it was buried to protect it from invaders.

The organ remained buried until 1906 when it was discovered by workers building a new Franciscan hospice in Bethlehem. Archaeologists uncovered 222 bronze pipes, bells, and other artifacts hidden by the Crusaders.

“It was incredibly moving to hear these pipes come to life again after centuries underground,” said organ expert Koos van de Linde. “The Crusaders’ hope that they would sound again was not in vain.”

A team led by Catalunya set out to create a replica of the organ in 2019, but discovered that some original pipes were still functional. Organ builder Winold van der Putten combined these pipes with replicas created using ancient methods.

Alvaro Torrente of the Instituto Complutense De Ciencias Musicales in Madrid compared the discovery to finding a living dinosaur. The researchers aim to restore the entire organ and create copies for churches worldwide.

“This information allows us to reconstruct the manufacturing process to build pipes as they were made a thousand years ago,” said Catalunya.