'Like finding a living dinosaur': Holy Land organ played for first time in 800 years

Project to rebuild world's oldest church organ will transform understanding of medieval culture, experts say

The oldest organ in Christendom is unveiled at St Saviour’s Monastery in the Old City of Jerusalem. AFP

In a large hall of St Saviour’s Monastery in Jerusalem, delicate musical notes not heard for 800 years rang through the air on Tuesday as midday bells chimed outside. Hunched over a small collection of rusty metal pipes, medieval musicologist David Catalunya was playing the Bethlehem Organ to an audience of friars, ambassadors and journalists.

What they were hearing was the world's oldest church organ being played in its original state.

Organisers of the years-long project to restore the organ said it made it possible "to hear an authentic medieval musical sound for the first time in modern history”. The melody that Mr Catalunya chose was Benedicamus Domino Flos Filius, a piece that was played throughout medieval Europe.

Medieval musicologist David Catalunyal, right, gives a briefing about the history of the organ using a replica, at St Saviour’s Monastery in Jerusalem. AFP

“Before this discovery, the oldest organs were dated from the 15th century. Thus, this takes us four centuries back … a discovery that will surely transform our understanding of the Middle Ages,” said Father Eugenio Alliata, an Italian friar and archaeologist.

The Bethlehem Organ originally used 18 pipes to sound a single note, far more than the most elaborate organs today. It is thought the instrument was made near Paris and played in the area for some years before being taken to the Holy Land by Crusaders.

The organ was hidden by Crusaders, along with other objects, as Muslim armies were poised to conquer the Holy Land in the 12th century. Its pipes were discovered in 1906 during the building of a Catholic hospice for pilgrims to Bethlehem, in an area that was once a cemetery. Excavations eventually uncovered 222 bronze pipes as well as 13 bells and other liturgical objects.

The organ pipes sat in a Franciscan museum in Jerusalem for many years after they were discovered.

Pipes from the oldest organ in Christendom during its unveiling and playing. AFP

“The pipes are preserved in an incredible state … it’s a miracle. They look like they were made yesterday. It’s really a time capsule,” Mr Catalunya said, pointing to a slide show that showed extremely fine-tuning marks and etchings of the musical note of each pipe.

The restoration project entered a new stage after a Palestinian carpenter built a wooden case for the pipes and veteran Dutch organ maker, Winold van der Putten, made bellows that pumped air through a few of the pipes that were still in perfect working order.

Alvaro Torrente, director of the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences, said it was “like finding a living dinosaur”.

“[It is] something that once seemed impossible and that suddenly becomes real before our eyes and ears."

Those involved in the project hope to construct replicas and a fuller instrument in the years ahead, which they say would give the world a unique gift through sound.

Mr Van der Putten, with visible glee, described his excitement at the project, one of his last at the end of a long career.

“The complexity of this sound will be revealing and maybe inspiring for musicians who study medieval music, but also for musicians who will make modern music," he said. "Maybe this culture can bring us together, at least on this subject.”