It is a great honour to announce that our project director, Dr. David Catalunya, has been awarded a prestigious 2025 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators by the BBVA Foundation.
This recognition, one of the most competitive in Spain, is designed to promote highly innovative personal projects by researchers in the intermediate stage of their careers. The grant was awarded in the Humanities category, sub-area of Musicology, for the project titled “The crusader organ of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem: Recovering the sound of a medieval musical treasury”.
This grant provides fundamental support for our work. The funding will allow us to tackle the crucial next phases of research, including the experimental replication of the organ pipes, the analysis of their acoustic properties, and the reconstruction of the instrument’s missing parts.
This achievement not only validates the relevance and rigor of our work but also ensures significant progress in our goal to recover and understand one of the most enigmatic sounds of the Middle Ages. We are grateful to the BBVA Foundation for their trust and their commitment to science and culture.