This is a non-exhaustive list of ‘famous’ violins in museums around the world.  These can be also found in a interactive Google map here.

Please feel free to send me updates and corrections to Stephen.Churchill@gmail.com.  As well I’d be happy to host relevant images of displays.

A word on general resources available on the internet.  Two very useful sites for researching museums are:

• CIMCIM International Directory of Musical Instrument Collections
• MIMI Musical Instrument Museums Online

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Click the link below for information on the size of the collection and any particularly interesting instruments.

Ratings:

***** – Must see!  Multiple famous violins, usually with a large collection.

**** – Very interesting, some famous violins, typically with a moderately sized collection.

*** – Interesting, some historically significant instruments or a large collection

** – Less interesting, often region specific

* – Limited interest, small collection of stringed instruments (dozens), no specifically ‘famous’ instruments.

North America

USA

• Library of Congress, Washington, DC *****
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY *****
• Museum of Fine Art, Boston **
• Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, AZ **
• National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota *****
• The Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA *
• Smithsonian Institution (American History Museum), Washington, DC  (Currently has a limited display)
• Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, New Haven, Connecticut ****

South America

Argentina

• Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Spanish–American Art ****

Europe

Austria

• Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum, Vienna **
• The Orpheon Foundation, Museum of Historical Musical Instruments, Vienna *****

Belgium

• Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels *****

Croatia

• Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb ***

Czechoslovakia

• Czech Museum of Music, Prague **

France

• Cité de la musique – Musée de la musique, Paris *****
• Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse, Lille *
• Musée de la Lutherie et de l’Archeterie (Museum of violin and bow making), Mirecourt ***
• Musée du Palais Lascaris, Nice ***

Germany

• Beethoven-Haus, Bonn ***
• The Füssen Heritage Museum, Füssen ***
• Das Geigenbaumuseum (Violin Making Museum),  Mittenwald **
• Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg ***
• Museum für Musikinstrumente der Universität, Leipzig **
• Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Markneukirchen **
• Musikinstrumenten Museum (Berlin Musical Instrument Museum), Berlin *****

Italy

• Castello Sforzesco, Milan ***
• Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi, Milan ***
• Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella, Naples *
• Fondazione Antonio Carlo Monzino, Milan ** (may not be active)
• Galleria dell’Accademia – Collezione del Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini, Florence ****
• Musei di Strada Nuova, Genova ****
• Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, Rome *
• Museo del Violino (The Violin Museum), Cremona *****
• Museo della Musica, Venice ***
• Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali di Roma, Rome ****
• Vazquez Collection of Historical Musical Instruments, Duino *****

Norway

• Ringve Museum, Norway ***

Poland

• Muzeum Instrumentów Muzycznych (Museum of Musical Instruments), Poznań ****

Portugal

• Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional, Lisbon ***

Russia

• Музей музыкальной культуры имени М. И. Глинки (The Glinka Museum of Musical Culture), Moscow *****

Spain

• Palacio Real de Madrid, Madrid ****

Sweden

• Scenkonst Museet, Swedish Museum of Performing Arts, Stockholm (Closed for renovation, reopening in 2016)

Switzerland

• Musikmuseum, Historisches Museum, Basel *

UK

• Ashmolean Museum, Oxford *****
• Oxford University’s Faculty of Music, Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, Oxford ***
• Royal Academy’s York Gate Collection, London *****
• Royal Northern College of Music Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, Manchester ****
• Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, Carlisle ****
• University of Edinburgh (Reid Museum of Musical Instruments), Edinburgh ***

ASIA

Australia

• PowerHouse Museum, Sydney *

Taiwan

• Chi Mei Museum, Tainan City (Temporarily closed as of 2013)