Museum of Musical Instruments, Leipzig

The Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig is a part of the Grassi Museum, which also incorporates under its umbrella two other museums: of Ethnography and Applied Arts. This is one of the largest music instrument museums in Europe, having in its collection nearly 10,000 items, including instruments and other related artifacts, from Europe and further afield, spanning the Renaissance, Baroque, and Bach's Leipzig periods.

In 1886 the Dutchman Paul de Wit opened a museum of historic musical instruments in Leipzig, which he then sold to the paper merchant, Wilhelm Heyer, in 1905. Years later, in 1926, the entire Heyer collection was acquired by the University of Leipzig, partly paid for by the State of Saxony and partly by the music publisher Carl Friedrich Peters, and was finally opened within the New Grassi Museum in 1929.

Despite efforts to safekeep the collection during World War II, a large number of its items were destroyed during a bomb raid in 1943, or otherwise damaged and lost, owing to improper storage and theft.

Starting from the 1950s, the museum was gradually rebuilt and eventually reopened to the public. Replenished over the following decades (through both purchases and donations), its most valuable elements (such as the De Wit, Heyer, Kraus, Friedrich von Amerling, and Ibach instruments) have been preserved almost intact.

The exhibits are chronologically ordered and divided into 13 sections (e.g. bowed, wind and percussion instruments, etc.), with the oldest ones dating from the 16th century. The museum also contains a sound laboratory where musical instruments can be tested out.