One of the many departments of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Germanic National Museum) in Nürnberg is their collection of six hundred musical instruments from various historical periods. Many of these are keyboard instruments of all sorts, but the strings and woodwinds are also well represented.

Historical instruments on display

If you think you have finally learned the difference between an oboe and a clarinet, this is the sort of place that can get you all confused again as you look at historical variations of both.

More stringed instruments on display

This department is in building D, which is way off in the back somewhere, but if you just follow the signs and arrows and don’t give up too soon, you are sure to find it — but only if you come in one of the even-numbered months between October 2020 and June 2021. In the odd-numbered months this department will remain closed, apparently because of staffing problems during the coronavirus pandemic.

Germanisches Nationalmuseum

The Germanic National Museum has numerous departments devoted to art works and historical artifacts from various periods of German history. The museum is spread out over several interconnected buildings, some new, some old and some very old.

There is a department of Pre-History and Early History, for example. Also painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages, Stained Glass windows, Medieval Household Furnishings, Decorative Arts of the Baroque, Farmhouse Interiors, Rural Household Furnishings, you name it. But some of these departments are currently closed or accessible only by appointment, again because of the coronavirus pandemic.

My photos in this post are from 2004. I revised the text in 2020.

See more posts on Music Museums.
See also: Feel Gluck in Nürnberg.