Chaotic reconstruction work was undertaken to repair the devastation Zadar suffered in the Second World War. The frantic reconstruction turned much of the sea front into an unbroken, monotonous concrete wall.

The device was made by the architect Nikola Bašić as part of the project to redesign the new city coast (Nova rive) and the site was opened to the public on 15 April 2005.[1] The waves interact with the organ and create somewhat random but harmonic sounds.

The Sea Organ has drawn tourists and locals alike. White marble steps leading down to the water were built later. Concealed under these steps, which both protect and invite, is a system of polyethylene tubes and a resonating cavity.

In 2006, the Sea Organ was awarded with the prize ex-aequo of the fourth edition of the European Prize for Urban Public Space.[2]