The museum of Greek music instruments is located in Athens, in the district of Plaka in the historical center of the city of Athens.
The collection of the museum of Greek music instruments consists of 1200 known and less popular music instruments from the mainland of Greece and the Greek islands, dating from the 16th century till today.
The museum is the result of the long research of a Greek music expert and ethnomusicologist Foivos Anoyannakis, and it is housed in the Lassanis Mansion close to the Roman Agora in Plaka.
The vast majority of the Greek music instruments of the museum are on public display, but there are also some instruments that are shown on special exhibitions either in this museum or others in Greece and abroad that host music exhibits. The instruments are chosen due to their aesthetics and their music value in terms of musicology and ethnology.
Permanent exhibition of the Greek music instruments Museum
The permanent exhibition of the Greek music instruments museum is spread at the three floors of the museum, and are divided in 4 different sections depending on their style and period.
On the ground floor you can find the membranophones, such as touberlekia, Greek drums, daoulia, tambourines and pottery drums. There are also the aerophone instruments, such as gaides (bagpipes), flogeres, flutes, zournades, tsampounes, mandoures and more.
On the first floor there are the chordophones, with instruments such as the guitars, bouzoukia, tampourades, laghoutia, outia, dulcimers and mandolins. On the second floor there are the idiophones, with particular instruments such as koudounia, semanterions, and massies.
The visitors can see the actual instruments, read about their history and how they were constructed and can also learn about their use. What is more interesting is the actual recordings of the instruments that can be played when the visitors want to.
The museum organizes some concerts of folk Greek music and traditional music from different areas of Greece. There is also a research center for Greek music, which is located close to the museum of Greek music instruments with archives and documentation on Greek music, both in Greek and English.
Opening hours and admission to the Museum of Greek music instruments
You can visit the museum of Greek music instruments in Athens every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm.
On Wednesday the museum is open from 12 am to 6 pm, while it is closed every Monday.
The admission to the museum is free.