Museum of Musical Instruments

Inside the Museum of Musical Instruments

Address: Tiergartenstraβe 1, 10785, Mitte
S-Bahn: Potsdamer Platz 
Opening times: Tue, Wed, Fri 9am - 5pm, Thu 9am -10pm,
                            Sat -Sun 10am-5pm
Admission: 4€

Tucked away behind the mustard coloured Philharmonic Hall is this museum of all things musical. Opened in 1888, the museum documents the history and evolution of musical instruments from the 16^th century to present day.

The deceptively large museum, holding around 800 instruments, is divided into two floors. The ground floor displays instruments from the 16^th and 17^th century. Here you will find opulently decorated harpsichords, hurdy-gurdies, and the rather unfortunately named fagott horn. The highlight has to be The Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ which sounds and looks like a prop from a cheesy Sc-Fi movie. Visit at noon on Saturday for a chance to see a live demonstration of this bizarre instrument.

Upstairs the exhibition, which covers the period from the 18^th century to the present day, has a smaller collection on display. The instruments become more recognisable and you begin to think the museum is pushing its luck with a display of piano tools. Still there are some intriguing instruments such as the model synthesiser that Pink Floyd used in their song ‘Welcome to the Machine’.  When you pay the snobbish attendants your 4€ entrance fee ask them for a free English audio guide (they will not offer you one). After the general introduction, read by a rather creepy sounding man, you can listen to samples of music played by the instruments on display. You can hear elegant harps, bassett horns (which look uncannily like artificial limbs) and a 16^th century serpent horn that sounds like a man blowing raspberries into a rusty bucket. The whole museum takes about an hour and offers great insight into the history of music. It is just a shame that you are not actually allowed to play anything.