Museum of Mechanical Music — Attraction in Varkaus sub-region

We were staying in Imatra and we drove 2.5 hours to this museum, plus 3.5 on the way back, in the dangerous dark Finnish roads. But it was worth it, because this museum is a gem of Finland. It reminds me of the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre in Glasgow, with the difference being that the latter is made up of machines moving with music, while this museum is all about mechanical systems of playing music without an actual person playing the notes on the keyboard. The museum is organised in rooms, with each one covering one time period, spanning from the first table organ around 1800 to the latest piano disc system, just 15 years ago, going through barrel organs and phonograms, among others. The different machines are operated by the museum manager, who also gives you a detailed explanation of each one of them. He's half Finnish and half German, hence probably the interest in mechanical engineering. He's in fact the person who maintains the machines during the winter, while the museum is shut, to then open again from spring to autumn, with the peak being in summer. He's a friendly and knowledgeable person, with a distinctive sense of humour, making the hour spent with him extremely pleasant and enjoyable. This museum is a must see in Finland. Its value is absolutely worth the extra kilometres to spend on the road to reach it. It will...

We planned a trip to the museum for a Sunday afternoon. We were renting a cottage about 200 km from the museum but had heard good things about it. After driving for a couple hours we arrived to find the museum closed. The hours on the website clearly stated they were open on Sundays from 11 to 7 until December 15. We were very disappointed and lost a day of our vacation. The museum didn't answer our phone calls either. Call in advance if you pkan to...

This place is worth visiting a 100 percent. The collection is vast and diverse, maybe not totally unique, but nevertheless is very interesting. And a huge plus and argument for visit is a brilliant performance of a museum keeper. His guided tour will make you smile every minute and left you at the end with great excitement and joy from such fascinating journey into the "magic" world of...