A music lover's must-see in Brussels: The MIM!

Anonymous, Fretted Clavichord, Low Countries or Northern Germany, early 17th century/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Amidst the clavichords at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Girolamo de Zenti, Wing Shaped Spinet,  Rome, 1637/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

There's a rich and historical musical instruments museum in Brussels, one of the most fascinating museums I found on my art history tour of Belgium and the Netherland this summer, and the more I think of it, the more it becomes my favorite museum and not even on our roster!

The museum is called the (surprise!) Musical Instruments Museum often known by its acronym, MIM.

I went to the MIM with two music aficionados from the tour, one whose family, the Ruckers are associated with the development of the harpsichord, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Albrecht Hass Hieronymus, Harpsichord, Hamburg, 1734/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Gabriel Townsend, Virginal, London, 1641/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Louis Sternberg, Upright Piano, Brussels, c.1865; legacy of Queen Marie-Henriette of Belgium/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Herman Lichtenthal, 'Dog Kennel' Piano, Brussels, c. 1834. There were so many unusual pieces at the Musical Instruments Museum, I took this photo because of this name; the maker received a Belgian patent for it, called, in French, "piano 'a' niche de chien." At the bottom of the lower case, the player could put her feet. The pedals were at either side of the opening/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Mangeot Freres & Cie, Double Grand Piano with Mirrored Keyboard, Paris, 1879/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Rick Steves calls the MIM "one of Europe's best music museums," and once you've been fortunate enough to visit it, I think you will agree.

Later, I corresponded with the Royal Museums of Art and History's Marc Janssens who emailed me that 1,200 instruments are on display.

 Pedal harps/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Cousineau pere et fils, Pedal Harp, Paris, 1780-1795. From the MIM website: "This harp is one of the first instruments acquired by Victor-Charles Mahillon (1841-1924), the first curator of the Musée instrumental du Conservatoire (now MIM), which opened in 1877.

Georges Cousineau (1732-1800) and his son Jacques-Georges Cousineau (1760-1836) were harp makers based in Paris. They worked for Queen Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793), among others. Jacques-Georges was himself a harpist and published a harp method in the early 19th century/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Erard, Pedal Harp, 1879, Paris/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Charles-Joseph Sax, Ophicleide, Brussels, after 1841 (left) and Adolphe Sax, Bass Clarinet, Brussels, c. 1840. The label says Adolphe Sax wanted to create a new instrument with sounds similar to strings but with greater strength and intensity. He borrowed from the ophicleide and the bass clarinet to make a saxophone which he presented at the industrial exhibition in Brussels in 1841/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

 Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) and his invention/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Adolphe Sax, Soprano Saxophone in B Flat, Paris, 1864/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Adolphe-Edouard Sax, Sigurd Trumpet, Paris, 1907/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Ludwig Embach & Co., Keyed Serpent, Amsterdam, 1820-1844/By Patricia Leslie, June 16,2024 at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels

Sadly, my camera lost power when I happened upon this chandelier of serpents made from wood, brass, hide, and textiles, this picture from the Musical Instruments Museum. During the 17th century, the serpent chandelier was mainly used for singing in church and later, as a bass in bands until it was replaced by the ophicleide and tuba. Mouthpieces were placed at the top of the serpents, here removed to make room for candle holders.

  According to MIM, this chandelier belonged to the town band of Puurs – a municipality in the Province of Antwerp – prior to the MIM being able to acquire it around 1900. Originally, it comprised twelve serpents, but two were in a poor condition and are kept in the museum’s reserves.

Wikipedia could stand updating since the MIM has more than the 7,000 instruments Wikipedia claims but, according to Mr. Janssens, MIM has 10,000 (!), the oldest instrument (and on display) "without a doubt phalangeal whistles" just about 20,000 years old, dating from the late paleolithic age (18,000 - 12,000 BC).

But back to the number of instruments which Wikipedia says MIM's 7,000 pieces make it "one of the largest collections of musical instruments on the planet"! (Wait 'til Wikipedia learns it's only 3,000 short. Dear Wikipedia, does this make it the largest collection of musical instruments on the planet?)

The museum is around the corner, across the street from the Magritte Museum (more on that later) in a gorgeous Art Nouveau building with wooden floors which formerly was the Old England department store.

The MIM began in 1877 "when it was attached to the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory with the didactic purpose of showing early instruments to the students," according to its website.

During my wanderings on four floors, I discovered many new instruments (to me).

If you have an interest in music of any sort, you will not want to miss this enthralling collection where headphones play the sounds of the instruments you see. (They are simple to use.)

At 5 p.m. the MIM's closing hour forced my departure and I left on a ramble through Brussels in search for my far-flung hotel, but first, a stop at a cathedral on the way down the hill where service had just begun.

It was the Notre-Dame de la Chapelle (Our Lady of the Chapel Church) built between the 12th and 13th centuries above a chapel which was ordered in 1134 for monks, according to Wikipedia. Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c. 1525 - 1569) is buried at the church.

The Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, Brussels/Photo by Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer), Wikipedia

With cavernous insides and huge windows (30 feet?), the service language was not French nor English. Latin? Probably Dutch. Whatever it was I could not understand it, but the "church proper" promptly ushered me out of the outer aisleway where I stood at the rear admiring the windows. Although we had no common language with which to communicate, it only took me seconds to realize that "strangers" were not allowed in the outer aisleway, but in the center of the church seemed to be OK with him.

Since I planned to only spend a few moments at the church, I sat at the back and watched a man and a woman enter the church, find seats and immediately drop to their knees in the pew on the uneven tile (like concrete) floors. There was no kneel padding of any sort.

This was my vantage point from the rear of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle. Photo by Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer), Wikipedia

I can't wait to get back home and tell folks at my church how they kneel! I thought to myself.

But soon enough, I was doing the same, pushed by peer pressure to join the entire congregation which knelt on the cold floor.

In a few minutes, hanging on to the back of the chair in front of me, I was able to stand up and mosey along.

For when in Brussels, you do like the Brusseleers do! You kneel on concrete!

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