A pipe organ crafted some 1,000 years ago for Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity made music once more on Tuesday, as the instrument was unveiled at Jerusalem’s Terra Sancta Museum. It was hailed as the “oldest organ in Christendom.”
“These pipes are a thousand years old, yet their preservation is extraordinary; many look as though they were made yesterday,” said Dr. David Catalunya of the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences (ICCMU) in a video statement. “Eight pipes have fully retained their sound. That can only be described as a true miracle.”
The organ is among the world’s oldest musical instruments, with a rudimentary version first appearing in Greece in the 3rd century BCE. Played through a keyboard that channels pressurized air into its pipes, the instrument later found a lasting home in churches and monasteries.
Byzantine communities were already using organs as early as the 4th or 5th centuries CE. Yet, according to Álvaro Torrente, director of the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences, the next oldest surviving examples in the Christian world only date to the 15th century.
Scholars believe the organ was brought to Bethlehem — revered in Christian tradition as the birthplace of Jesus — during the Crusader period, when European armies reached the Holy Land in 1099 seeking to reclaim Jerusalem and its sacred sites after centuries of Muslim rule.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
The following two centuries were marked by fierce political upheaval and brutal violence, including massacres that also devastated Jewish communities. Control of Jerusalem and its environs, including Bethlehem, shifted repeatedly before the region came under lasting Muslim rule in the mid-13th century.
Dr. David Catalunya, a researcher at the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences (ICCMU) in Madrid, plays the ‘Oldest organ in Christendom,’ dating back to the 11th century, which was unveiled to the public at the Saint Savior’s Monastery of Jerusalem’s Old City on September 9, 2025. (CTS)
Amid the turmoil, the church’s Christian community likely hid some of its treasures underground, hoping to safeguard them.
“This organ was buried with the hope that one day it would play again,” said Catalunya.
For centuries, Franciscan friars, who have maintained a presence at the Church of the Nativity for over 800 years, whispered of a hidden Crusader-era treasure. They finally came across it in 1906 as they began construction works to establish a hospice for pilgrims in an area that had once served as a cemetery.
Unearthed were 222 bronze pipes, a carillon of 13 bells, and an array of other liturgical objects left behind by the Crusaders.
The artifacts were soon placed on display at the Franciscan Archaeological Museum of the Convent of the Flagellation — today’s Terra Sancta Museum — which had been founded in Jerusalem only a few years earlier.
For more than a century, however, they attracted little scholarly attention. The notion that this ancient organ might one day be heard again — eight centuries after it was likely last played — remained unexplored.
The ‘Oldest organ in Christendom,’ dating back to the 11th century, was unveiled to the public at the Saint Savior’s Monastery of Jerusalem’s Old City, on September 9, 2025. In the picture, from left to right, some of the experts who were instrumental to its revival: Fr. Stéphane Milovitch, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Terra Sancta Museum, organ player Winold van der Putten, organ expert Koos van de Linde, Dr. David Catalunya of the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences (ICCMU), and ICCMU Director Álvaro Torrente. (CTS)
Catalunya first learned of the Bethlehem organ while conducting research at the University of Oxford a few years ago. In recent years, the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences has led a project to study the pipes, including their materials, construction methods, and acoustics, to create a faithful replica of the instrument.
During the analysis, scholars discovered that eight of the original pipes had survived in perfect condition. Mounted on a keyboard alongside carefully crafted replicas by organ builder Winold van der Putten, they were played once more, their deep, velvety tones resonating through the Monastery of Saint Saviour in the Old City, which houses the Terra Sancta Museum.
Catalunya performed the iconic liturgical chant “Benedicamus Domino Flos filius” (“Let us bless the Lord”). First composed in the 11th century — the very era when the organ was crafted — the tune connected “art, history, and emotion,” he said.
Dr. David Catalunya, a researcher at the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences (ICCMU) in Madrid and Fr. Stéphane Milovitch, chairman of the board of directors of the Terra Sancta Museum, with the ‘Oldest organ in Christendom,’ dating back to the 11th century, which was unveiled to the public at the Saint Savior’s Monastery of Jerusalem’s Old City, on September 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
“The Organ of Bethlehem is not only a treasure of the past that we can now contemplate and hear, it is also a unique source of knowledge about European music, engineering, and organology, capable of radically transforming our vision of medieval culture,” Torrente said during the event. “It is like finding a living dinosaur: something that once seemed impossible and that suddenly becomes real before our eyes and ears.”
The organ is set to become one of the crown jewels of the Musical Cloister in the Art & History section of the Terra Sancta Museum, which is currently undergoing restoration to house 20 exhibition rooms. The renovations are expected to be completed as early as 2026.
“We believe that this is going to be one of the most important works exhibited [in our museum],” said Fr. Stéphane Milovitch, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Terra Sancta Museum. “We are glad that now we can also listen to it, as the organ becomes not only an archaeological artifact but also something alive.”
AP contributed to this report.
Is The Times of Israel important to you?
If so, we have a request.
Every day, even during war, our journalists keep you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. Millions of people rely on ToI for fast, fair and free coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
We care about Israel – and we know you do too. So today, we have an ask: show your appreciation for our work by joining The Times of Israel Community, an exclusive group for readers like you who appreciate and financially support our work.
Yes, I’ll give
Yes, I’ll give
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You appreciate our journalism
You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
