Museum Speelklok (National Musical Box and Street Organ Museum)

Museum Speelklok (National Musical Box and Street Organ Museum) Review

This supercharming and tuneful museum is housed in an old church, and has a large collection of automated musical instruments from the 15th to the 19th century. You can wander around by yourself, but it's far more rewarding to wait for a tour (also in English), for only on these are the dazzling automata put into play. The highlight for everyone, young and old, is the tiny music box in the form of an ancient furry rabbit, which pops up out of a fading cabbage and beats time to the music with its ears. Fittingly for Holland, the development of the barrel organ—still the bane of shoppers on many busy streets—is charted from the Renaissance onward. Away from the main collection, the children's Music Factory has displays of historical instruments hardy enough for three-year-olds to try—they can go at it on percussion instruments, bicycle bells, and harps. There are also interactive stands where children can shout into voice distorters, or watch themselves on a TV screen as they sing.