The Pianola Museum is a small museum of pianolas – automatic pianos invented in the USA in 1894. Pianolas were reproducing music using carton rolls with punched holes for each music note. As the recording of music on wax cylinders and gramophone records has been very primitive at the time, pianolas were very popular, with more than 2 millions built.

The public was impressed by the mechanical music and quality of the sound. Famous composers for pianola pieces are: Stravinsky, Hindemith and Milhaud. Pianolas were also widely used to record existing music pieces. There were pianolas built to work with the traditional pianos as both – a mechanical piano and a recorder. Today’s term honky-tonk piano refers to the Tonk Brothers in New York, producers of pianolas.

The Pianola Museum in Amsterdam, located in the old district of the Jordaan, has several original, beautiful instruments (among them a Steinway grand piano adapted to be a mechanical instrument), 20 000 pianola paper music rolls plus several other interesting memorabilia. The museums friendly curator, Kasper Janse speaks English and will be delighted to show you around along by passing old furnished rooms and dimmed light. Visitors might also be part of a concert taking place every month except for July and August.

Opening hours

Sunday 2 PM – 5 PM; Every other day on request and by appointment.

Admission: 5€; Children:  3€; People aged +65: 4€

Visiting address

Westerstraat 106
1015 MN Amsterdam
Phone. + 31 20 627 96 24
Homepage: www.pianola.nl

Sights in the Jordaan

• Markets
• Anne Frank House
• Western tower and Western church
• Noorderkerk (Northern church)
• Theo Thijssen museum
• Houseboat museum
• Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica