Museu de la Música

Some 500 instruments (less than a third of those held) are on show in this museum housed on the 2nd floor of the administration building in L’Auditori, the city’s main classical-music concert hall. Instruments range from a 17th-century baroque guitar through to lutes (look out for the many-stringed 1641 archilute from Venice), violins, Japanese kotos, sitars from India, eight organs (some dating to the 18th century), pianos, a varied collection of drums and other percussion instruments from across Spain and beyond, along with all sorts of phonographs and gramophones. There are some odd pieces indeed, like the buccèn, a snake-head-adorned brass instrument. Much of the documentary and sound material can be enjoyed through audiovisual displays as you proceed. An audio device allows you to listen to how some of the instruments sound, although it is sometimes a trifle hard to hear the recording above the continually changing ambient music. The museum organises occasional concerts in which well-known musicians perform on rare instruments held in the collection.