Berlin Musical Instrument Museum

The Berlin Musical Instrument Museum (Musikinstrumenten-Museum) is a major public collection of historical and modern musical instruments located in Berlin’s Kulturforum. The museum’s holdings span several thousand instruments and cover European and world instrument-making traditions from the Renaissance to the present.

Extensive historical keyboard collections, examples of early plucked and bowed string instruments, and displays that explain construction and performance practice. The museum also stages recitals and demonstrations in a small on-site performance space to illustrate the sound of restored instruments.

The collection was formed from 19th- and 20th-century museum acquisitions and is managed as part of Berlin’s State Museums; it is displayed in galleries organised by instrument type and historical period. Conservation and research are active parts of the museum’s remit.

The museum is sited at the Kulturforum in the Tiergarten area, close to the Philharmonie and Potsdamer Platz transport links, making it accessible within Berlin’s central cultural district.

• Collection size and range: Holds a collection of several thousand musical instruments spanning Renaissance, Baroque and modern periods and represents one of Germany's major public instrument collections.
• Location: Located at the Kulturforum near the Philharmonie and Neue Nationalgalerie, placing it in Berlin's cultural quarter close to Potsdamer Platz.

What to See #

• Keyboard and historical instrument galleries: Dedicated galleries displaying collections of historical keyboards and other instruments grouped by period and type to illustrate the development of instrument making.
• Concert and demonstration hall: A small performance and demonstration hall where the museum organises recitals and live demonstrations of restored instruments.
• String, wind and folk galleries: Separate displays for string, wind and folk instruments that document regional and international traditions within the museum's holdings.