MANILA, Philippines — The Las Piñas Bamboo Organ, the oldest, largest and only known bamboo pipe organ in existence, is featured on Google Doodle on Sunday, as it marked its 195th year.
The bamboo organ was named a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines in 2003. It has become a symbol of what’s possible when design draws from native resources, labor, and the ingenuity of its nation’s people, Google said in a statement.
Completed in 1824, the organ was constructed for over eight years with 1,031 pipes, 902 of which are made of native bamboo. Up to this day, it is still being played daily at the St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas, Manila, 44 years since its restoration.
In 1972, the organ was moved from Las Piñas to Bonn, Germany, where it underwent a full reconstruction after sustaining damage due to natural disasters since the 1880s. It returned to the city in 1975.