The ‘Keyboard Room’ (also known as the ‘Big Room’)
has an impressive amount of keyboard instruments that
were all invented before the piano.
There are three different types of keyboard in this part
of the collection: harpsichords, organs and
clavichords.
Furthermore, there is an
instrument that is a
combination
of
a
harpsichord and an
organ
called
a
claviorgan.
It has an extraordinary story to tell that began 400
years ago…
It is likely that you will be interested in the mechanisms
inside them that produce sound and want to discover
the differences between them and the piano.
Perhaps you are keen on knowing their history: who
played them and where they were played, how
musicians used to play them and how they are played
today!
If you would like to know about the history of music, this
is also the right place. Great musicians like Johann
Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi lived at the same
time as these instruments.
Finally, you will have the opportunity to
discover by yourself how an organ
works. There is a model organ
with bellows and different
types of pipes. Feel free to
experiment with it!