Bamboo Organ

The Bamboo Organ stands in Saint Joseph's Church in Las Piñas, and there is nothing else quite like it anywhere in the world. Father Diego Cera built the instrument between 1818 and 1824, facing a shortage of metal for organ pipes by substituting bamboo — a material locally abundant but previously untested for this purpose. Of the organ's 1,031 pipes, 832 are made from bamboo, with the remainder in metal for the higher registers.

The church housing the organ, built in the Baroque style between the 1790s and 1820s, is itself a National Cultural Treasure of the Philippines, constructed from adobe stone. The organ occupies the choir loft at the rear of the nave. It is in regular use for Sunday mass and can be heard during services; the annual Bamboo Organ International Music Festival, held in February, attracts professional organists from Europe, Asia, and the Americas who perform both classical and contemporary repertoire. Visits outside festival season are quiet and the organ can be seen close up.

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A story
The Bamboo Organ of Las Piñas was built between 1818 and 1824 by Father Diego Cera, an Augustinian Recollect friar, using bamboo pipes he had buried in sand for several months to prevent insect infestation. It is the only surviving large pipe organ in the world with bamboo pipework — 832 of its 1,031 pipes are made from bamboo. The organ was sent to Germany for restoration in 1972 after centuries of typhoon damage and deterioration, returning in 1975 in playing condition. The annual Bamboo Organ Festival each February draws organists from across the world to perform on an instrument unlike any other.