ken_pintelon
The MIM museum in brussels seen from a different viewpoint
The MIM exhibits an unique collection of musical instruments. It offers too a large diversity of activities for a so large public as possible. The MIM houses an exhaustive panorama of ancient, modern and traditional music.
His mision is multiple ; conservation , restoration, scientific search, information, education, and entertainement.
the MIM wants to be considered as a museum of the new generation: professionnal, exciting and open to his public. It presents a new technology, in his scientific work as wel in his scenography and communication.
Seated in the heart of the cultural activity of Brussels, capital of Europe, the MIM wants to be a living space, a permanent for music and art.
The MIM is federal museum and is a part of the Royal Museum of art and History.
With the installation of the MIM in this new location also came the aim of setting up new activities. The MIM may have turned inwards in studying its own collections in the past, but it has now resolved to play a role in the city and to open itself up to a larger public.
Any museum must answer three fundamental questions: preservation and conservation of its patrimony and making it available to the public. The first two questions are the task of restorers and technicians, who work in collaboration with those responsible for the collections. The third question especially concerns publications and specific activities for visitors: exhibitions, educational visits and cultural activities. The exhibition area has been arranged into an attractive path divided into ninety-odd themes over the four floors of the exhibition area.
Each floor is centred on a particular section: the ground floor (0) shows popular instruments, from Belgium and Europe as well as extra-European instruments; the first floor (+1) gives an historical tour, from antiquity to the 20th century; the second floor (+2) is presented more systematically, showing the development of keyboard instruments and stringed instruments. The basement (-1) shows the mechanical instruments, 20th-century instruments and bells. In all, about 1,500 instruments are shown and more than 700 documents add to the information given on the information boards.
It would be sad to see the instruments without hearing them. The different themes of the exhibitions are illustrated by listening to works related to the instruments on display. By means of infra-red headphones, the visitor can listen to about two hundred musical extracts, from ancient Greece to the music of Varèse of the middle of the 20th century.
The MIM has made a special effort for musical activities for children: special workshops have been set up for young children and adolescents. A Garden of Orpheus has been made in the basement (-1): this playing area allows children to discover musical instruments in a magic and enchanting environment. Many guided tours are organised for schools and other groups. Finally a 'Sound Space' (Espace son) has been opened in the basement level (-1) to show how sound is produced by different types of musical instrument.
In addition, the MIM has re-established its former policy of giving concerts. Many Brussels citizens will still remember the concerts given in period costume in the 1960s in the Petit Sablon, as well as the concerts of Renaissance and Baroque music that were given in the Grand Sablon some twenty years later. Now, a 200 place concert hall, on the 5th floor of the Guimard building, allows the organisation of regular concerts.
These are not only of old music, but include popular music and music from all over the world. The aim is to highlight the value of the collections. Several keyboard instruments, such as harpsichords, virginals, square pianos and grand pianos of the collection are regularly played at MIM concerts. The MIM has just launched a series of recordings of the instruments of the collections.
Soon there will open temporary exhibitions to illustrate less well-known aspects of the collections or to show instruments from other public or private collections. It should be noted that the library, specialised in works on musical instruments and musical iconography, remains, as previously, at the disposition of students, researchers and instrument makers. To end his visit, the public can go up to the restaurant or tea room on the 6th floor, where there is a panoramic view of Brussels.
Current acquisitions policy is diverse. It aims not only to seek pieces illustrating the variety of work by makers in Western Europe and, more particularly, our own regions and France, but also instruments whose complex actions are not yet represented in the collections. A particular effort is made to acquire instruments representative of modern times. Finally, the MIM also tries to buy old instruments in playing order so that they can be heard in concerts.
Since 11 January 1992 the Musical Instruments Museum (now known as the 'MIM') has been part of the Royal Museums of Art and History as Department IV. By royal decree, the State has recognised the scientific character of its activities and provided it with two sections: firstly, the early music section and secondly, the section of modern music (19th and 20th centuries), and popular and traditional music.
But the original creation of the Brussels Musical Instruments Museum dates from 1 February 1877, when it was attached to the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory with the didactic purpose of showing early instruments to the students.
At the very beginning of the Brussels Musical Instruments Museu's creation two collections of instruments were joined together. One belonged to the celebrated Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis (1784-1871), was bought by the Belgian government in 1872 and put on deposit in the Conservatory where Fétis was the first director. The other was offered to King Leopold II in 1876 by the Rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore (1840-1914) and comprises about a hundred Indian instruments.
Victor-Charles Mahillon, the first curator
With these two original collections, the MIM was already remarkably rich for its time. But its first curator, Victor-Charles Mahillon (1841-1924) was considerably to augment its collections, thus placing it among the finest in the world.
At his death in 1924, the MIM counted some 3666 articles, among which 3177 were original musical instruments. A collector and maker of wind instruments and a noted acoustics expert, Mahillon performed his job with an enthusiasm, competence and dynamism that exceeded any of the expectations that his purely honorary title might have aroused.
Thanks to his activity and connections, the museum rapidly gained international fame, not only for the quantitative importance of its collections but also for their diversity, and for the quality and rarity of the items brought together.
In addition, between 1880 and 1922 Mahillon described the collections of the museum in a monumental five-volume catalogue. The catalogue also includes the four versions of his Essay on the methodical classification of all instruments, ancient and modern that was to serve as the basis for the classifications of E.M. von Hornbostel and C. Sachs which are still used today. This classification of musical instruments entitled him to be considered as one of the pioneers of organology, the science of musical instruments.
Beginning in 1877, Mahillon created a restoration workshop in the MIM where he employed and trained a worker, Franz de Vestibule, to restore damaged articles, and also to make copies of instruments from other public collections of which no original examples existed in Brussels.
In the 1880s historical concerts on early instruments or copies were organised by François-Auguste Gevaert, who succeeded Fétis at the head of the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory. Performed by Conservatory professors and students, these concerts were a great success in Brussels and London at the end of the 19th century.
After the first World War, donors and philanthropists became rarer. From 1924 to 1968, only about a thousand instruments entered the collections. Until 1957, the curators taking their turn at the head of the MIM, Ernest Closson (from 1924 to 1936), his son Herman (from 1936 to 1945) and René Lyr (from 1945 to 1957), had little choice but to limit themselves to preserving the assembled instruments, in not always satisfactory conditions, the budget allotted to the Museum being totally insufficient.
Through astute judgment, Mahillon obtained large augmentations of the collections by calling on philanthropists, by mixing with erudite amateurs who sometimes became generous donors, and through friendly relations with Belgian diplomats in foreign posts such as Jules Van Aalst at Canton (China) and Dorenberg at Puebla (Mexico), who brought back several instruments from beyond Europe.
It was thus that Mahillon received or purchased isolated pieces of great historical and organological value, but also homogeneous ensembles whose interest today is considerable. Mahillon followed all the large public sales of musical instruments and bought the pieces he needed to complete the ideal collection he was determined to build at the MIM.
The collections after Mahillon
The growth of the collection slowed sharply after Mahillon's death in 1924. His successor, Ernest Closson (1870-1950) was nonetheless motivated by the same scientific curiosity regarding musical instruments. He edited several articles on Belgian makers for the National Biography and devoted a long monograph to La facture des instruments de musique en Belgique which appeared on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition held at Brussels in 1935. Besides organological information, statistics show the volume of Belgian instrument exports in the mid-19th century and highlight (alas!) the reversal of trends in the 1920s and 1930s, namely the disappearance of most of the instrument builders in our regions.
With the arrival of Roger Bragard (1903-1985), curator from 1957 to 1968, the situation improved considerably. This eminent Latinist, drawn to musicology by his persistent interest for ancient treatises relating to music, was able to attract the attention of the Minister of Culture at the time and particularly of Miss Sara Huysmans: budgets were considerably augmented, the exhibition rooms were renovated, guides and scientific personnel were hired, and concerts of early music on original instruments or copies were organised. Once again rare pieces could be acquired for the collections. Bragard's efforts were continued by René de Maeyer (from 1968 to 1989), who hired about ten scientific collaborators, each specialised in a different field of organology. Nicolas Meeùs assumed the interim from 1989 to 1994: he launched the project for moving to Old England. Under the present director, Malou Haine, this project has been realised, along with the development of several projects.
The MIM museum in brussels seen from a different viewpoint
The MIM exhibits an unique collection of musical instruments. It offers too a large diversity of activities for a so large public as possible. The MIM houses an exhaustive panorama of ancient, modern and traditional music.
His mision is multiple ; conservation , restoration, scientific search, information, education, and entertainement.
the MIM wants to be considered as a museum of the new generation: professionnal, exciting and open to his public. It presents a new technology, in his scientific work as wel in his scenography and communication.
Seated in the heart of the cultural activity of Brussels, capital of Europe, the MIM wants to be a living space, a permanent for music and art.
The MIM is federal museum and is a part of the Royal Museum of art and History.
With the installation of the MIM in this new location also came the aim of setting up new activities. The MIM may have turned inwards in studying its own collections in the past, but it has now resolved to play a role in the city and to open itself up to a larger public.
Any museum must answer three fundamental questions: preservation and conservation of its patrimony and making it available to the public. The first two questions are the task of restorers and technicians, who work in collaboration with those responsible for the collections. The third question especially concerns publications and specific activities for visitors: exhibitions, educational visits and cultural activities. The exhibition area has been arranged into an attractive path divided into ninety-odd themes over the four floors of the exhibition area.
Each floor is centred on a particular section: the ground floor (0) shows popular instruments, from Belgium and Europe as well as extra-European instruments; the first floor (+1) gives an historical tour, from antiquity to the 20th century; the second floor (+2) is presented more systematically, showing the development of keyboard instruments and stringed instruments. The basement (-1) shows the mechanical instruments, 20th-century instruments and bells. In all, about 1,500 instruments are shown and more than 700 documents add to the information given on the information boards.
It would be sad to see the instruments without hearing them. The different themes of the exhibitions are illustrated by listening to works related to the instruments on display. By means of infra-red headphones, the visitor can listen to about two hundred musical extracts, from ancient Greece to the music of Varèse of the middle of the 20th century.
The MIM has made a special effort for musical activities for children: special workshops have been set up for young children and adolescents. A Garden of Orpheus has been made in the basement (-1): this playing area allows children to discover musical instruments in a magic and enchanting environment. Many guided tours are organised for schools and other groups. Finally a 'Sound Space' (Espace son) has been opened in the basement level (-1) to show how sound is produced by different types of musical instrument.
In addition, the MIM has re-established its former policy of giving concerts. Many Brussels citizens will still remember the concerts given in period costume in the 1960s in the Petit Sablon, as well as the concerts of Renaissance and Baroque music that were given in the Grand Sablon some twenty years later. Now, a 200 place concert hall, on the 5th floor of the Guimard building, allows the organisation of regular concerts.
These are not only of old music, but include popular music and music from all over the world. The aim is to highlight the value of the collections. Several keyboard instruments, such as harpsichords, virginals, square pianos and grand pianos of the collection are regularly played at MIM concerts. The MIM has just launched a series of recordings of the instruments of the collections.
Soon there will open temporary exhibitions to illustrate less well-known aspects of the collections or to show instruments from other public or private collections. It should be noted that the library, specialised in works on musical instruments and musical iconography, remains, as previously, at the disposition of students, researchers and instrument makers. To end his visit, the public can go up to the restaurant or tea room on the 6th floor, where there is a panoramic view of Brussels.
Current acquisitions policy is diverse. It aims not only to seek pieces illustrating the variety of work by makers in Western Europe and, more particularly, our own regions and France, but also instruments whose complex actions are not yet represented in the collections. A particular effort is made to acquire instruments representative of modern times. Finally, the MIM also tries to buy old instruments in playing order so that they can be heard in concerts.
Since 11 January 1992 the Musical Instruments Museum (now known as the 'MIM') has been part of the Royal Museums of Art and History as Department IV. By royal decree, the State has recognised the scientific character of its activities and provided it with two sections: firstly, the early music section and secondly, the section of modern music (19th and 20th centuries), and popular and traditional music.
But the original creation of the Brussels Musical Instruments Museum dates from 1 February 1877, when it was attached to the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory with the didactic purpose of showing early instruments to the students.
At the very beginning of the Brussels Musical Instruments Museu's creation two collections of instruments were joined together. One belonged to the celebrated Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis (1784-1871), was bought by the Belgian government in 1872 and put on deposit in the Conservatory where Fétis was the first director. The other was offered to King Leopold II in 1876 by the Rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore (1840-1914) and comprises about a hundred Indian instruments.
Victor-Charles Mahillon, the first curator
With these two original collections, the MIM was already remarkably rich for its time. But its first curator, Victor-Charles Mahillon (1841-1924) was considerably to augment its collections, thus placing it among the finest in the world.
At his death in 1924, the MIM counted some 3666 articles, among which 3177 were original musical instruments. A collector and maker of wind instruments and a noted acoustics expert, Mahillon performed his job with an enthusiasm, competence and dynamism that exceeded any of the expectations that his purely honorary title might have aroused.
Thanks to his activity and connections, the museum rapidly gained international fame, not only for the quantitative importance of its collections but also for their diversity, and for the quality and rarity of the items brought together.
In addition, between 1880 and 1922 Mahillon described the collections of the museum in a monumental five-volume catalogue. The catalogue also includes the four versions of his Essay on the methodical classification of all instruments, ancient and modern that was to serve as the basis for the classifications of E.M. von Hornbostel and C. Sachs which are still used today. This classification of musical instruments entitled him to be considered as one of the pioneers of organology, the science of musical instruments.
Beginning in 1877, Mahillon created a restoration workshop in the MIM where he employed and trained a worker, Franz de Vestibule, to restore damaged articles, and also to make copies of instruments from other public collections of which no original examples existed in Brussels.
In the 1880s historical concerts on early instruments or copies were organised by François-Auguste Gevaert, who succeeded Fétis at the head of the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory. Performed by Conservatory professors and students, these concerts were a great success in Brussels and London at the end of the 19th century.
After the first World War, donors and philanthropists became rarer. From 1924 to 1968, only about a thousand instruments entered the collections. Until 1957, the curators taking their turn at the head of the MIM, Ernest Closson (from 1924 to 1936), his son Herman (from 1936 to 1945) and René Lyr (from 1945 to 1957), had little choice but to limit themselves to preserving the assembled instruments, in not always satisfactory conditions, the budget allotted to the Museum being totally insufficient.
Through astute judgment, Mahillon obtained large augmentations of the collections by calling on philanthropists, by mixing with erudite amateurs who sometimes became generous donors, and through friendly relations with Belgian diplomats in foreign posts such as Jules Van Aalst at Canton (China) and Dorenberg at Puebla (Mexico), who brought back several instruments from beyond Europe.
It was thus that Mahillon received or purchased isolated pieces of great historical and organological value, but also homogeneous ensembles whose interest today is considerable. Mahillon followed all the large public sales of musical instruments and bought the pieces he needed to complete the ideal collection he was determined to build at the MIM.
The collections after Mahillon
The growth of the collection slowed sharply after Mahillon's death in 1924. His successor, Ernest Closson (1870-1950) was nonetheless motivated by the same scientific curiosity regarding musical instruments. He edited several articles on Belgian makers for the National Biography and devoted a long monograph to La facture des instruments de musique en Belgique which appeared on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition held at Brussels in 1935. Besides organological information, statistics show the volume of Belgian instrument exports in the mid-19th century and highlight (alas!) the reversal of trends in the 1920s and 1930s, namely the disappearance of most of the instrument builders in our regions.
With the arrival of Roger Bragard (1903-1985), curator from 1957 to 1968, the situation improved considerably. This eminent Latinist, drawn to musicology by his persistent interest for ancient treatises relating to music, was able to attract the attention of the Minister of Culture at the time and particularly of Miss Sara Huysmans: budgets were considerably augmented, the exhibition rooms were renovated, guides and scientific personnel were hired, and concerts of early music on original instruments or copies were organised. Once again rare pieces could be acquired for the collections. Bragard's efforts were continued by René de Maeyer (from 1968 to 1989), who hired about ten scientific collaborators, each specialised in a different field of organology. Nicolas Meeùs assumed the interim from 1989 to 1994: he launched the project for moving to Old England. Under the present director, Malou Haine, this project has been realised, along with the development of several projects.