History of the organ

The organ is an extended wind instrument, in which the human exhalation is replaced by an artificial blowing.

The first organ in this sense was built in the 3rd century BC by the Greek scholar Ktesibios. The first organs were not used as instruments for religious purposes, instead as background music in theatres and in arenas.

Starting from the 9th century the first church organs were built in Christian Europe. Since then the organs have been constantly developed.  Organ building reached its peak during the baroque era, in the 17th and 18th century.

Numerous exceptionally gifted composers created resounding compositions for organ, Bach, Buxtehude, Mendelssohn, Messiaen, Liszt, only to name a few.