Las Piñas Bamboo Organ

The organ in St Joseph Parish at Las Piñas was built between 1816 and 1824 by Diego Cera, a Spanish Augustinian Recollect priest and the parish's first curate, who used bamboo for the great majority of the pipes - more than nine hundred of them, buried in sand for months to cure the wood against insects before being voiced - with metal reserved for the trumpet stops. It is the only surviving instrument of its kind, it still works, and it is still played at Mass. Time and climate nearly finished it: by the twentieth century it was barely functional, and in the 1970s it was dismantled, shipped to Germany for a full restoration and returned. A small museum beside the church explains the construction and the restoration, and an international bamboo organ festival every February brings performers to play it. The church itself is a modest stone building from the same period, and the visit takes about an hour.

What you actually see

• The bamboo pipes - more than nine hundred, in the loft.
• The stone church - the early-nineteenth-century parish building.
• The museum - the story of the build and the German restoration.
• The organ in use - played at Mass and during the February festival.

When to go

Year-round; February for the bamboo organ festival, when the instrument is played in concert. Weekday mornings are quietest.

Honest expectations

Access to the loft is by ticket and hours are limited - the organ is not on view during all services. The church is a working parish. Las Piñas traffic from central Manila can be slow.

Nearby

The Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park is close; Baclaran and the airport are north.