Parish Church of St. Joseph Postcards

The construction of the St. Joseph Church was initiated by Fr. Diego Cera de la Virgen del Carmen, a priest under the Augustinian Recollects. The construction of the church started in 1797 and took 30 years to complete, with the help of 300 families who pooled their resources.

St. Joseph Church Postcard

The Las Piñas Bamboo Organ is in the Parish Church of St. Joseph. The organ was installed in the church in 1832. It measures 5.17 meters tall, 4.17 meters wide and 1.45 meters deep. It has a total of 1,031 pipes, 902 of which are bamboo. It was made out of the hundreds of bamboo poles which Fr. Cera buried in the sand for a year to it be treated by salt water to preserve and protect it from termites.

Las Piñas Bamboo Organ Postcard 1

Of these bamboo pipes, 747 are classified as speaking flue pipes, 36 as blind flue pipes and 119 as axe blind pipes. The 129 pipes are made of metal, with 122 speaking reed pipes comprising the trumpets. The seven other speaking reed pipes are for the “bird stops.” It had a special tube also made of bamboo, which was designed to imitate the song of the birds when a small quantity of water was poured therein.

Las Piñas Bamboo Organ Postcard 2

In 1973, a decision was made to ship the organ pipes out of the country to the Johanes Klais Orgelbau firm in Germany for restoration to their original state. Today, the organ is about 80 percent original.

Las Piñas Bamboo Organ Postcard 3

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Las Pinas Bamboo Organ