Musikinstrumentensammlung der Universität Göttingen

About the museum

A first attempt at an instrument collection at Göttingen’s Department of Musicology was made by Hermann Zenck, who built up a teaching collection from 1932; it was based on a loan and was dissolved again in 1941. Today’s collection dates from 1964, when, at the initiative of musicologist Heinrich Husmann, the private collection of some 1,000 instruments belonging to Celle instrument maker and music publisher Hermann Moeck was acquired. From the outset, it was closely linked with the university’s Ethnographic Collection as a teaching and research collection.

Between 1976 and 1984 a first permanent exhibition was set up in the historic Accouchierhaus, the former maternity hospital on Kurze Geismarstraße. After the building was restored, a newly designed presentation opened on the third floor in 1989, showing about half of the holdings in 15 rooms. Between 1992 and 2022, curator Klaus-Peter Brenner expanded the collection through donations and targeted purchases to its current size of more than 2,000 instruments.

Among the most important pieces are an ancient Egyptian arched harp, a Coptic lute, and the oldest surviving recorder of the European Middle Ages, dating from the 14th century. Since 2022 the collection has been headed by Junior Professor Ryoto Akiyama and is currently being reoriented: acquisition contexts and colonial classification systems are being critically examined, and the holdings are being digitally cataloged. The previous permanent exhibition was on view for the last time on the Day of Open Collections in June 2026.

Highlights

• Ancient Egyptian arched harp
• Coptic lute
• Oldest surviving recorder of the European Middle Ages (14th century)
• Core holdings from the collection of instrument maker Hermann Moeck
• Instruments from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas

Founded

1964

Operated by

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Musikwissenschaftliches Seminar

Director

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Ryoto Akiyama

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