Located in the historic Tabernacle on Temple Square, the impressive pipe organ is a symbol of the importance Latter-day Saints place on worshiping God through music.
The Tabernacle organ has an interesting history. President Brigham Young asked Joseph Harris Ridges, who was born and raised near an organ factory in England, to build the first Tabernacle organ. Suitable timber was located and brought by volunteers from the Parowan and Pine Valley mountains, 300 miles south of Salt Lake City. In the beginning, the organ was powered by hand-pumped bellows, later by water power, and today by electricity. With improved techniques in organ construction, the instrument has been renovated and enlarged several times. Now comprising 11,623 pipes, the organ has 206 ranks of voices, and the console has 5 manuals, or keyboards. The Tabernacle organ is considered to be one of the finest organs in the world.
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