Musée des Instruments de Musique (MIM)

Musée des Instruments de Musique (MIM) Review

If you've ever been curious to know what a gamelan or Tibetan temple bell sounds like, here's your chance. In addition to seeing the more than 1,500 instruments on display, you can listen to them via infrared headphones; you can hear musical extracts from almost every instrument as you stand in front of it. The more than 200 extracts range from ancient Greek tunes to mid-20th century pieces. Paintings and ancient vases depicting the instruments being played throughout history complete the experience. The four-story museum features a complete 17th-century orchestra, a precious 1619 spinet-harpsichord (only two such instruments exist), an armonica, a rare Chedeville bagpipe, and about 100 Indian instruments given to King Leopold II by the rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore. There's a rich selection of European folk instruments, as well as creations by the amazingly prolific Adolphe Sax. In the basement, the Garden of Orpheus is set up for children to discover musical instruments. The site combines one of the city's most beautiful Art Nouveau buildings—the former Old England department store, designed by architect Paul Saintenoy in 1899—with the adjoining neoclassical 1913 Barré-Guimard building. A third building in the adjoining rue Villa Hermosa houses the 7,000 instrument reserve. The tearoom and restaurant on the sixth floor offer panoramic views of Brussels.