MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

The musical instrument collection consists of approximately 6400 artifacts of varying ages: from brand new to several hundreds of years old. The major part of the collection is of European art music and Scandinavian folk music instruments.
Since the 1970's the collection has included Nordiska Museet's instrument collection.

These web pages are a work in progress; consequently only part of the collection is shown here. At the moment circa 1,800 instruments are accessible. Updates are made on a daily basis, so come back soon and see what is new!

The nyckelharpa has existed in Sweden since the Middle Ages. There are several pictures of the instrument in medieval churches, mostly in the Uppland area, where the instrument had its traditional center.

Through the ages the nyckelharpa has developed and been adapted to the up-to-date musical ideals. Up until the 1800’s it was a drone instrument.
The modern nyckelharpa is chromatic and its tone is closer to the violin’s.
The fiddler and instrument maker Eric Sahlström (1912-1986) played an important role in the development of the modern nyckelharpa.