Reopened at the end of 2005, the Grassi Museum is a musical instrument museum in Leipzig, the city of music. Part of the University of Leipzig, it houses one of the world's largest collections of musical instruments. It presents the foremost periods in instrument-making from the Renaissance through to the present day, offering insights into the diverse world of musical instruments and performance styles.

Let the music play on
The Grassi Museum complex is named after Franz Dominic Grassi, a banker and merchant who donated the money for its construction in 1929. However, the history of the Leipzig collection dates back to the Dutch music publisher, Paul de Wit. He opened a museum in 1886 in which he exhibited historical musical instruments that he occasionally played, as visitors are invited to do today in the museum's sound laboratory. On a tour of the current collection, visitors can take a journey through the development of the musical instrument from the Renaissance through to the present day.

The heart of any museum are its collections. This one has well over 3,000 paintings, around 850 sculptures, a library with 60,000 volumes and more than 55,000 graphic works – ranging from the Middle Ages through to the present day and including acclaimed works by artists such as Cranach, Hals, Friedrich, Beckmann and Klinger. Dating back to 1837, the collection specialises in Old German, Italian and Dutch painting from the 17th century, 19th and 20th century German art and also prints and drawings.
» www.mdbk.de

A selection of other modern art museums in Germany.