Musée de la Musique à Paris

The Music Museum housed in one of the most famous sites at La Villette is really worth a visit. 3000m² full of a distinguished collection of instruments which contributes to inspire, unite and stimulate all musical-works of art. The museum features collections of several hundred rare and unusual musical instruments: a crystal flute, an octobass or the guitar-turtle. The hall embraces an impressive array of instruments displayed and hosts instruments that belonged to Django Reinhardt, Frederic Chopin or Frank Zappa.

Your ticket is an invitation for a chronological journey organized around western music of the 17th century to the present day as well as a geographical trip through the world of music. Musée de la Musique is located inside the Cité de la Musique at 221 avenue Jean Jaurés Paris 19th. A metro ticket away, enjoy a fantastic visit through the musical museum with an English speaking guide. The museum is located at Porte de Pantin station (subway line 5).

The visit will take you on a musical journey… Free concerts are programmed every day in the museum. One special part of the visit is when a musician offers the visitor a unique opportunity to hear and exchange some musical ideas on the subject of music around the world. These exchanges sometimes involve listening to instruments or their facsimiles. About 150 artists from very different musical backgrounds play regularly in the museum. An audio guide is available for free in both English and French taking the visitor on his or her journey to the heart of the history of music: for children and adults alike, this audio guide is full of recordings made using the different instruments from the collection.

The museum of music is a must-see for the simply curious or music lovers on their visit to Paris!

Not to be missed in the museum

Each space is a true revelation:

French and Flemish historical harpsichords from the seventeenth and eighteenth century (Ruckers, Couchet, Vater, Hemsch, Taskin, Goujon-Swanen)
String instrument makers from the Cremonaise School (Stradivari, Guarneri, Amati) and Vuillaume from the French music school (he designed the famous octobass)
French nineteenth century pianos which include the Pleyel and Erard piano both respectively associated with Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt.
Luths from the German and Italian school of music from the seventeenth century (Sellas) and the Germanic school from the nineteenth century.
Baroque and romantic French guitars (Voboam), and Spanish late nineteenth century guitars (Torres), Django Reinhardt and Jacques Brel guitars, twentieth century electric guitars (fender, Gibson).
Hotteterre’s Wind instruments from the seventeenth and eighteenth century.
Adolphe Sax nineteenth century instruments.
African and Asian instruments

Visitors will also discover the evolution of concert halls through the centuries thanks to lay out models with commentaries in each of the spaces devoted to western music: Cours de marbre (Marbled courtyard) in Chateau de Versailles, Cent-Suisses Hall of Palais des Tuileries… Associated with several documentary films, these models enable visitors to situate the instruments in their contexts… for an exciting journey to the heart of the history of music!

From May 17, 2025, a new layout of the museum's collection will be available to visitors. It's a great opportunity to return!

Family friendly-guided visits

The museum provides interactive games for children (from 7 and up), a gamebook and a sound trip in English and French to enable them to explore the museum by themselves in a fun-filled way making it even more enjoyable for all the family. Other events proposed are guided tours of the museum, workshop guided-visits, musical-story-commented-visits, musical holiday camps…

You can also try to play music during one of the numerous weekend workshops proposed by the Philharmonie.

From October to April, Promenade-concerts are held every second Sunday of each month. Artists (musicians, dancers or actors) invade all the different areas of the museum to propose various musical activities.

Temporary exhibitions

Each year, Musée de la Musique schedules two temporary exhibitions around great figures in music such as Bob Dylan, Georges Brassens, Paul klee, Chopin, Miles Davis, Serge Gainsbourg, Django Reinhards, Europunk… Some of the temporary exhibitions may also cover themes such as Staline and music.