St. Joseph Parish

The church is 10 kms south of Manila. It was constructed in 1797 and 1819, made of adobe (volcanic) stones it was constructed in "earthquake" baroque architectural style. On the way to Tagaytay.

Bamboo Organ of Las Pinas City

This unique instrument is called "the only Bamboo Organ in the World" most pipes are made of bamboo. The total number of pipes are 1,031, which 902 are made of bamboo and the remaining pipes are made of metal. It took Fr. Diego Cera 8 years to finish the organ (1816-1824). A typhoon in 1880's followed by an earthquake destroyed the roof, stones and water fell into the organ which made it unplayable.

More on the Church and the Bamboo Organ

Image on the left With the help of the Las Pinas community the church and it's original grounds were returned to its original state. Fray Diego Cera (1762-1834) was the first parish priest in Las Pinas and lived there between 1795 to 1830. After the typhoon and earthquake of the 1880's the pipes where kept in the old sacristy until 1017. In 1972 a contract for restoration was awarded to Johannes Klais of Bonn, Germany, where the organ was shipped in 1973. The restored organ returned to Las Pinas in March 1975. Few of the photos are taken from a brochure, we where not allowed to take any pictures, due to a mass that was going on. Therefore the photos that you will view will have a mention of the brochure. (Photo by D. Lafrance)

Organ Builders.

Image on the right Cealwyn Tagle and Edgar Montiano founded the Diego Cera Organ-Builders Inc. in March 1994. They are responsible for the maintenance and the preservation of the Bamboo Organ. (Photo from brochure)