Discover Why Music Is the Language of the Soul
Instruments in the John and Joan D’Addario Orientation Galleries and the stories they tell set the stage for the incredible variety of items and diversity of cultures guests will experience in MIM’s Geographic Galleries.
Featured Exhibits and Objects
Object Highlights
No instruments found.
Acquisition of the Month
Stop by to see this month’s exciting new instrument!
A lute made by “the Stradivari of the oud”
Emmanuel “Manol” Venios,
Istanbul, Turkey, 1872
Greek-born luthier Manol is often called “the Stradivari of the oud.” He also made other lutes, such as this laoúto, which has a longer neck and smaller body than the oud. The laoúto’s traditional role is chordal accompaniment in folk and dance music, and today it is popular in Greek tavern music.
Gift of the Robert J. Ulrich and Diane Sillik Fund
Two ornately decorated conch shell trumpets
Nepal, 16th to 17th c.; India, 19th c.
Each of these śankh shell trumpets is richly decorated with symbolic imagery that emphasizes its divine potency. The Nepalese trumpet is profusely engraved with depictions of the Hindu deities Vishnu and Garuda and inscriptions in Newari and Nāgarī scripts. The Indian example, fitted with elaborate brass work, features a makara (a mythical sea animal) spewing a watery form, with a yali (an elephant-lion creature) striding across its head.
Video Highlights
The Oldest Known Surviving Full-Size Guitar
Installing the Robjohn Pipe Organ at MIM
