Sibelius Museum

The Sibelius Museum in Turku is the only museum totally devoted to music in Finland. The museum building, designed by Woldemar Baeckman, is one of the most original Finnish creations of the 1960s. A selection taken from the 1900 instruments of traditional and art musics from all around the globe is exhibited. One room is naturally reserved for Sibelius´s life and work. During the autumn, winter, and spring seasons the museum hosts chamber music concerts on Wednesday evenings. The collections available at the Sibelius museum are of interest to both experts and ordinary music lovers.

The basis for the Sibelius Museum collection was formed in the early 1930s when the material left to Åbo Akademi University in the will of Sibelius’s friend, Baron Axel Carpelan, was incorporated into the museum. The collection was extended by the purchase of manuscripts by Sibelius from the author Adolf Paul. After that the Sibelius collection has grown continuously and today it contains manuscripts, printed sheet music, letters, photographs, programs, printed sheet music, newspaper clippings and articles. Researchers can gain access to the material through the archivists of the Sibelius Museum.

The core of the collection of musical instruments at the Sibelius Museum are the donations presented by shipowner Curt Mattson and Professor Otto Andersson in the 1920s. The collection has expanded over the years, and today it contains over 1,950 instruments of which about 300 are on display. Most of the instruments are European art or folk music instruments, but the collection also includes specimens from all over the world.