Not sure how we missed this gem of a creation from 2012, but behold the Star Wars barrel organ, built by a team in Germany including Lego Certified Professional Rene Hoffmeister, in honor of the release of Star Wars Episode I in 3D.

From team member Lorenz Lnggrtnr:

We took the iconic Star Wars Main Theme, rearranged it and translated it into a matrix – the constrution blueprint for the organ. Then, we took the four most famous Star Wars worlds – Hoth, Tatooine, Endor and the Death Star – and built them on to the barrel, accordingly to the musical composition. When the organ is turned, the bricks touch mechanical sensors – these strike the keys of a built-in keyboard and play the Star Wars Main Theme.

The result is a fascinating mechanism that translates a whopping 20,000 bricks to music when manually rotated. The instrument toured a number of German cinemas at the time of the film showing, and was due to be permanently installed at Legoland Germany at the end of 2012.

Check out more images on Lnggrtnr’s site.