The Gavioli Organ in Eureka Springs Wedding Chapel

The Gavioli Organ (circa 1912) has 59 keys, 210 pipes, is 15 feet wide and 11 feet tall. This ornate mechanical "orchestra" can play everything from festive turn-of-the-century dance tunes to sweet, melodic traditional wedding songs.

This large Gavioli "Dance Hall" or "Fairground" organ was built in France and probably modified in Holland for use in the streets as a money maker - supported by donations from passers by.

The organ was imported into the United States in the 1960's, a period when several dealers were bringing large quantities of "unwanted" large European antique music machines into the country to satisfy a growing demand (largely created by the promotional and educational efforts of those same dealers) in the US for these wonderful machines. Shortly thereafter export restrictions were established to make it far more difficult to remove treasures such as this Gavioli organ from their home grounds in Holland and elsewhere.

The Gavioli spent most of its time here in the U.S. as the focal point of Tom's Country Museum in Manly, Iowa. In the 1990's it was sold to a collector/dealer in Pennsylvania, and then to a collector in Missouri. The Roenigks purchased the estate of the Missouri collector, some sixty machines, including the Gavioli. While the Gavioli was initially offered for resale by the Roenigks, as they had it restored and listened to it they concluded that they really didn't want to sell this wonderful machine if they could find a way to properly display it and share it. The acquisition of the First Christian Church building (now Gavioli Chapel) gave them the ideal spot to properly display and share the Gavioli.