Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News World

Musicologist hopes to reconstruct 12-century organ from Bethlehem church that survived crusades

byCNS
6 August 2021
Reading Time: 4 mins read
AA
Reconstruction: David Catalunya, a musicologist and historian who is a research fellow at the University of Oxford, poses with the preserved 12th-century pipes of an organ at St Saviour Parish in the Old City of Jerusalem on July 21, 2021. Photos: CNS

Reconstruction: David Catalunya, a musicologist and historian who is a research fellow at the University of Oxford, poses with the preserved 12th-century pipes of an organ at St Saviour Parish in the Old City of Jerusalem on July 21, 2021. Photos: CNS

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

FROZEN in time, like a “musical Pompeii,” the 221 remaining original organ pipes from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem may fill a gap of knowledge of more than three centuries in the history of the organ and its cultural context, medieval church culture, music and technology.

“This organ dates from the 12th century and is a unique specimen in the world,” musicologist and historian David Catalunya said, a research fellow at the University of Oxford.

Mr Catalunya was in Jerusalem this summer to conduct a preliminary study on the pipes.

The next phases of the research will involve a larger team performing the scientific study of the pipes, including metal analysis, 3D scanning, and a CT scan.

One aim of the project is to replicate the original pipes and reconstruct the organ’s missing parts, so that its sound can be heard again after 800 years.

The organ pipes were discovered, along with bells and other liturgical ornaments, in an archaeological excavation at the Franciscan monastery of the Church of the Nativity in 1906 and were brought to Jerusalem under the care of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

The objects were stored for more than a century in the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum and will be displayed at the new Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem.

Broken: David Catalunya, a musicologist and historian who is a research fellow at the University of Oxford, holds a 12th-century carillon bell at St. Saviour Parish in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Not so lucky: David Catalunya, a musicologist and historian who is a research fellow at the University of Oxford, holds a 12th-century carillon bell at St. Saviour Parish in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Mr Catalunya said French Crusaders probably brought the organ to the Holy Land in the first half of the 12th century.

He believes the organ survived the 1187 invasion of Saladin, sultan of Egypt who defeated the crusaders.

Saladin’s army may have destroyed the church bells, which were seen as a public symbol of Christianity, as opposed to the organ, which may have been perceived by soldiers as “just a piece of furniture”.

Related Stories

Murdered Nigerians found suffering at foot of cross, bishop says at funeral

Telling stories and praying together at the heart of Catholic Refugee Week event

Rain or shine, Logan deanery brings families together at festival day

Mr Catalunya said he believed the organ pipes, bells and other items may have been hidden underground on the eve of the invasion of the Khwarezmian Turks in 1244.

“So these pipes — only just by a fortunate turn of fate — survived, and it is quite a remarkable story,” he said.

“I feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct this research.”

The organ first appeared as a musical instrument in Hellenistic Greece and was introduced into the Latin Christian church in the 10th century.

While a few remains of fragments of water organs survive in Greece and present-day Hungary, Mr Catalunya said no other pipes from a medieval church organ survived until the 15th century.

The Bethlehem organ pipes represent a unique opportunity to understand the organ’s early stages of development in Christian culture, as organs underwent major transformations to adapt to new architectural frameworks of the church and the needs of church ritual, Mr Catalunya said.

Discovery: The organ pipes were discovered, along with bells and other liturgical ornaments, in an archaeological excavation at the Franciscan monastery of the Church of the Nativity in 1906 and were brought to Jerusalem under the care of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.
Discovery: The organ pipes were discovered, along with bells and other liturgical ornaments, in an archaeological excavation at the Franciscan monastery of the Church of the Nativity in 1906 and were brought to Jerusalem under the care of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

“It is so difficult to describe in words what I felt when I saw these organ pipes for the first time,” he said.

“I was so excited, I started by grouping the pipes according to size on the floor … until, little by little, the original structure of the organ emerged,” he said.

Then he used the mathematical calculations provided in medieval texts to determine the pitch of each pipe, he said.

“I was able to do so much progress on the first three days of my work, not only because of my skills as a researcher, but mostly because the material speaks for itself, as it is preserved in astonishing condition,” he said.

“Sometimes you have the impression that one could blow air into a pipe and make it sound.

“These pipes really look like they were made just this day,” he said, pointing out to the tool marks left on the pipes by the organ maker.

“But in reality they are from the early 12th century.”

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Long-serving priest Fr Dan Carroll has died after sudden illness

Next Post

Australian catechist’s book introduces theology of the body to children

CNS

Related Posts

Murdered Nigerians found suffering at foot of cross, bishop says at funeral
World

Murdered Nigerians found suffering at foot of cross, bishop says at funeral

21 June 2022
United Nations nuncio joins others in calling for end to hostilities in Ukraine
Australia

Telling stories and praying together at the heart of Catholic Refugee Week event

15 June 2022
Rain or shine, Logan deanery brings families together at festival day
QLD

Rain or shine, Logan deanery brings families together at festival day

7 June 2022
Next Post
Important learning: “Teenagers in particular need to know this, but it’s never too early to connect the dots.”

Australian catechist's book introduces theology of the body to children

Prayer, action needed to confront terror in Mozambique, missionary says

St Mary MacKillop faced many pressures but was a "witness of hope"

Popular News

  • Archie’s beating heart means he is not dead, according to a Catholic institute

    Archie’s beating heart means he is not dead, according to a Catholic institute

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Three Queensland deacons preparing for priestly ordinations in the next week

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Parents of young mother considered for sainthood share powerful testimony at World Meeting of Families

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Confraternity Carnival ready for a full return in Mackay next week

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Spirituality

Why you should go on a pilgrimage — more than once

by Guest Contributor
25 June 2022
0

SO many significant moments in my spiritual life are tied to sights, smells, sounds and emotions felt...

Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

Celebration marks Sister Angela Mary’s 75 years’ service to Mater and Queensland

25 June 2022

Confraternity Carnival ready for a full return in Mackay next week

24 June 2022
Parents of young mother considered for sainthood share powerful testimony at World Meeting of Families

Parents of young mother considered for sainthood share powerful testimony at World Meeting of Families

24 June 2022
Three Queensland deacons preparing for priestly ordinations in the next week

Three Queensland deacons preparing for priestly ordinations in the next week

23 June 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping