The organ constitutes one of the pillars of our western heritage which fascinates. Very present in the western culture from at least the 13th century, it is de facto a strong identity marker. Traditionally associated with the religious architecture and with the religious Christian practice, the organ participates in the sacred office both on the visual and musical plans by its ornamental contribution, sometimes edifying, even militant. From the 18th century, with the development of the public concerts, the organ integrates little by little numerous concert halls, then cinemas  in the 20th century, at the time of silent movies. Many universities owns also a great organ, mostly in the Northern Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea or China. According to places and circumstances, this instrument may be thus religious or profane, of variable structure and size, and as such it pervades many places all around the world. Far from being a small-scale matter of research for just an initiated elite, it is fundamentally a multidisciplinary object, pertaining at the same time to technical work, musical instruments and work of art, model of the links between art and religious militancy, politics and religion, profane and religious social worlds.
Following the United States, large-scale institutions developed for several decades among our Northern European neighbors, some having an international recognized radiance such as the Walcker-Stiftung für orgelwissenschaftliche Forschung of Siegen (Germany), the Institute für Orgel, Orgelforschung und Kirchenmusik of Vienna, the Royal College of Organists of London, the Fraunhofer Institut of Stuttgart, the Department of musicology of the University of Geneva, and of course the GOArt (Gothenburg Organ Art Center). On the other hand, in spite of the presence of valuable organistic heritage in particular in Alsace, nothing equivalent to those organ research centers exists in the French university landscape.
Succeeding the previous symposia held at the university of Bordeaux-Montaigne on the organ builder Dom Bedos de Celles, the international and multidisciplinary collective reflection of this present study questions the object by clearing the possible research perspectives from the point of view of the construction, architecture, musicians and music. This volume adds a new milestone considering the multiple facets of the organ, in the conceptual line of the Integrierte Orgelforschung elaborated by Pr. Busch at the university of Siegen.