Museum Speelklok

Fantastic museum housed in an old church in the heart of Utrecht. Some of the 15th century wall paintings can still be seen. There is a great collection of all types of mechanical music-making devices, such as automatons, pianolas, organs, and clocks etc. The guided tour was excellent and given in both Dutch and English. During the tour, you get to see and hear the various organs working. It was well worth a visit. It is also an great place to take children.

Absolutely worth it ! We had a great experience in this museum. The guided tour was very informative and entertaining. It could get loud ! But if you enjoy music and are curious about how those music boxes work, this is the place for you!

Wonderful museum about musical clocks, street organs and other musical gems. Great for kids.

A beautiful museum. I wanted to go for sometime and one days while walking around i entered in with my museum card. I was mesmerised to the big musical instruments and history of place. There are quite some old kloks as well. Some activities for children of how to create instruments are there. There is a guided tour of museum ever 30 to 60min. In this trip a guide comes. They tell the story in dutch and engels and play all big iconic instruments. It has canteen as well. Good 1.5hr activity in center of Uthrecht.

An excellent interactive and historical museum. Be sure to sign up for the guided tour which demonstrates the musical instruments in play.

A lovely museum set in a delightful building.
There is a great presentation of a wide range of automated toys from history but the fairground music machines are stunning and the guided talk is very informative. To hear the machines play is incredible.

The Museum Speelklok in Utrecht offers a truly unique and fascinating experience that combines music, engineering, automation, and human craftsmanship. The museum features an impressive collection of self-playing musical instruments, including clocks, organs, and other mechanical instruments that date back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

Upon arriving at the museum, I was immediately struck by the intricate details and craftsmanship that went into creating these incredible instruments. The museum's collection includes some of the most beautiful and complex mechanical instruments I have ever seen, with intricate carvings, ornate details, and intriguing mechanisms that are sure to captivate visitors of all ages.

To truly appreciate the museum's collection and fully understand the history and significance of these instruments, I highly recommend taking a guided tour. The tour guides are knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and passionate about the museum's collection, and they provide a wealth of information about the history of the instruments, their creators, and the context in which they were created.

One of the things that surprised me the most was the variety of instruments and music pieces that the museum has to offer. The guided tour takes visitors through various periods and styles of music, showcasing a wide range of instruments and musical styles. From classical music to folk tunes, the museum's collection has something for everyone.

I particularly enjoyed the fact that the different tour guides have their own preferences when it comes to instruments and music pieces. This means that even if you take multiple tours, you're likely to hear different instruments and music pieces each time, providing a unique experience every time you visit.

Overall, the Museum Speelklok in Utrecht is a must-visit attraction for anyone interested in music, history, engineering, or automation. The guided tours are engaging, informative, and entertaining, and the museum's collection is truly one-of-a-kind. Whether you're a local or a tourist, this museum is a great place to spend an afternoon exploring and learning about a fascinating period in history.

Great museum! The guided tour gives an extra dimension to this museum and shows the music of the different clocks and street organs, combined with the explanation of the guide this is an extremely interesting ~45 minutes. The guided tour brings you only to one-third of the museum, the other parts you can visit yourself. There are also interactive automated music machines in the museum that you can power yourself, as well as many explanations for the different clocks and street organs. The museum accepts the museumcard. Also, there seems to be some activities for kids in the museum.

Excellent displays and layout, our tour guide was happy to give the tour in English as well as Dutch since he had Dutch patrons as well. He spoke excellent English and explained the displays in an interesting way, and was happy to answer questions. Great variety of displays and all are fascinating in their own way. Great place for English speaking tourists as all the placards and descriptions are in Dutch and English, and there are English audio tour cards. For anyone interested in music, history, and old machinery, a neat destination.

Absolutely beautiful, marvelous, amazing, wonderful, delicate, accessible, full of soul and beauty. I’ll come back whenever I’m in the netherlands. Worth the train from Amsterdam just to see this. Definitely take the tour. DEFINITELY!!!!!!!
So special. For adults and for kids. Secretly even more for adults.

Take the guided tour with your ticket! My experiences with museums have always been boring, but the tour guides do an amazing job of keeping it interesting by playing the music boxes in person. The guided tours are in English as well as Dutch!
I highly reccomend visiting, if not for the history but the great tunes that are played on these fascinating devices.

What an incredible and interesting museum! The tour was great because it gave us a chance to listen to some of the instruments and get a better understanding of the history behind them. However there is so much more to see all around, so take your time to explore. Our kids loved it too!
Once you finish you can stop at the cafe (they are very friendly) in the museum and listen to some of the instruments there as well!

Amazing museum about mechanical musical instruments. Each hour at xx:30 there is an excursion where guide enables instruments and you can enjoy their sounds

Very fun museum! As others mentioned, be sure to take the guided tour (maybe even twice!) to hear a selection of the delicate museum pieces played live - these are musical devices after all! Staff was very polite and the tour was given in multiple languages. Would definitely go again!

I’d definitely recommend joining a guided tour here as it is great to hear the instruments actually playing and get to ask questions about them.

Wonderful experience! The free guided tour explained and demonstrated a number of self playing musical instruments, its history and working. The display of several well-described self playing instruments were really informative, and makes one appreciate the craftsmanship and engineering skills of those times.

The Museum Speelklok located in the city centre is definitely worth a visit! I would recommend taking a free guided tour that is offered at half past every hour (these are in Dutch as well as English) - the tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly and gave us some interesting background information on the self playing musical instruments and played them, which would otherwise not be possible to see. The tour itself does not cover the entire museum, so you will have plenty to explore on your own afterwards as well. I would recommend planning around 2 1/2 hours for the visit. 🎼

What a gem of a museum. We managed to arrive in time for the free tour, which was wonderful. Highly recommend!

It's amazing experience! The museum is very interactive, it was important for my son. Be sure to take a tour guide, as with a guide, visiting the museum will be much more fulfilling. You will hear the sounds of many antique machines and see how they work.

This museum is really interesting, it's cool to hear about all of the different clocks and how they used to be a show of wealth. I really recommend doing one of the guided tours, so that you get to hear the songs played by the machines. I recommend this to anyone to visit, it was a good way to spend a couple of hours. The history of the building is very interesting as well.