A Glimpse of the Zadar Sea Organ

What art installation wowed you?

In Zadar, the Sea Organ rests upon the banks of the Adriatic Sea. It is a place I was looking forward to visiting that Brianna did not know about. She loves music, and this was the most interesting way music could be composed. Once she found out what was happening, she was ecstatic. The organ looks like a set of steps leading down to the water, but it is so much more than that.

The Sea Organ in Zadar, Croatia

The Sea Organ has 35 pipes of different diameters, lengths, and tilts. Waves then push water and air through these pipes, creating chimes.  At the end of the pipes are whistles that play 7 chords of 5 tones. Because the sea is always changing, the organ never sounds exactly the same twice. The pipes are sprinkled over 70 meters of waterfront and we could see the holes in the pavement.

We were there for a storm which made the organ go crazy. When the wind and sea are more intense, so are the chimes. Since this is on a set of steps, we liked to sit and relax there to watch the sunset. It is awesome to find nature powered art.

A sailboat at the waterfront of Zadar, Croatia

This short video includes the sounds of the Sea Organ.

Zadar was one of our favorite places because of the Sea Organ and this waterfront was stunning. We love this country!


Don’t miss out on new content!
Follow our blog for new snippets every day and full posts and videos every week.


5 thoughts on “A Glimpse of the Zadar Sea Organ

  1. That is incredible! I a love for pipe organs, birthed from visiting the Organ Grinder as a child, and later working there in high school (RIP). Interstellar is one of my favorite soundtracks, largely because of its extensive use of a large pipe organ.

    I HAD to hear this for myself; luckily, typing “Zadar” on YouTube brings up plenty of videos of the sea organ. What a beautiful sound! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=myV3E9uREuI

    That reminds me: have you folks heard “Become Ocean”, composed by John Luther Adams? It uses two orchestras, and is written to convey the spontaneity and unpredictability of the ocean. It’s a time commitment, but it’s worth it, especially when listened to with good headphones or hi-fi.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dGva1NVWRXk

    1. Hi Nathan, thanks for the comment and I’m glad you liked the Sea Organ. It is such an incredible thing and it mesmerized us each time we visited it. We have added a short video to the post to include the sound so everyone else won’t have to look it up. We have not heard “Become Ocean” but will go check it out. Cheers!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.