I never thought I’d have so much fun at a museum like this.
Speelklok Museum is in Utrecht, in the Netherlands. This fun museum is housed in a medieval church right in the city center (the church, of course, is no longer used for worship).
Speelklok is not an art gallery or a science museum. The collection here basically features musical clocks, carillons and street organs.
Okay, I realize this description does not sound like it’s the most exciting place on the planet, but all organs, pianos and gadgets in the museum are fully functional and every half hour there is a guided tour that takes you through the exhibition explaining you and playing the coolest of musical artifacts.
There is also an interactive section where you can touch and play with wood and metal models that mimic the mechanical workings in the carillons, organs and musical clocks.
My favorite part of the museu was definitely the display dedicated to the traveling and home organs.
In the late nineteenth century, itinerant musicians were the main attraction of fairs and festivals artound the Netherlands. They traveled the country, dragging their mechanical theaters with them. The flat terrain of the Netherlands made the transport easier and the musicial automata theater became very popular throughout the country.
Although most artifacts in this museum were not meant for entertainment for the masses. Impressive musical organs were created for the use and enjoyment of the bourgeoisie and nobility. These huge machines were installed in living rooms and provided music to entertain guests or host parties and meetings at a time when there were no stereos.
We all know that, when it comes to (musical) organs, size matters, and in the case of the Dutch bourgeoisie of the late nineteenth century, the larger and the more colorful, the better.
At the time, organs and automata toys were a status symbol. Like a Ferrari, only more entertaining to watch.
However, with the turn of the century and the invention of the radio (among other things), these large musical organs, that took up a significant amount of space, were replaced by smaller, more practical devices capable of playing music at all hours. The golden age of the organs was over.
The ones that were not destroyed, ended up in antique shops or forgotten in the basement of some palace.
In 1956 an exhibition of musical clocks and portable organs was organized in Utrecht. For the event, lots of musical artifacts were restored and displayed. It was so successful that it was decided to establish a permanent collection in the city, a museum specializing in clocks and other mechanical musical gadgets from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In 1984, Speelklok museum moved to its current location in the medieval church known as Buurkerk.
And that’s where it still is today.
Disclaimer: I was invited to Utrecht by the Dutch Tourist Board. They did not ask me to write a favorable review (or any at all).
