Museum of Musical Instruments (University of Leipzig)

Established in 1886 by Paul de Wit, a Dutchman who lived in Leipzig, Museum of Musical Instruments is an institute housed at the University of Leipzig in Germany. The museum was initially opened at Thomaskirchhof where music instruments that were occasionally used for performance were displayed. De Wit sold the collection to paper manufacturer Wilhelm Heyer. In 1913, the Musikhistorisches Museum Wilhelm Heyer (The Wilhelm Heyer Museum of Music History) opened its doors to the public. It was later moved to University of Leipzig.

The collection has about 300 musical instruments from different continents such as Asia, Africa and America. Most of them are different various kinds of Japanese and Chinese instruments that date back the 18th and 20th centuries.

During the 19th century, Alessandro Kraus acquired a great collection of musical instruments which had been stored with great care. His aim was to compile world music history illustrated by various original examples. He never reached his goal but his collection came to Leipzig 75 years ago. The collection features many valuable and interesting pieces. They range from individual music instruments to entire collections. Paul Kaiser, a vaudeville artist and musical clown, sold over 200 instruments to the museum, and among them were instruments from Africa and Asia. An online catalogue with descriptions, sketches and pictures of all the instruments is currently being compiled.

The museum is open to members of the public from Tuesday to Sunday at 10h00am until 16h00pm.