The National Museum 'From Musical Clock to Street Organ' is housed in the beautifully restored medieval Buurkerk church, right in the center of the old city of Utrecht.

The collection
The music clock, pianola, street- and dance hall organs, belly organs, and organ clocks, are all part of the world of mechanical music instruments. Many examples of these instruments can be found in the museum's collection, but naturally in this museum, the typical Dutch automata play the leading role.

History
Holland pioneered in this form of musical entertainment. Well-known composers, such as Beethoven, Mozart, Handel and Haydn composed music especially for barrel organs and music boxes. These boxes were often in the shape of musical clocks, snuff boxes, candy boxes, jewel boxes and drinking glasses. The collection of the museum tells the story of the development of mechanical music instruments through the ages and the important role Holland played in it.

Guided tours
The guided tour is full of surprises because of the variety of live demonstrations on various instruments, ranging from simple music boxes to mechanical singing birds. One machine plays both the violin and the piano at the same time. Large complicated orchestrations fill the air and jolly, noisy dance and fairground organs play tunes that will make you want to dance.

Location
From Musical Clock to Street Organ
Steenweg 6
3511 JP Utrecht