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Mechanical Music Museum Let the music flow!

When mechanics make music…

In Dollon, you can listen to and see the fascinating musical machines from all eras, brought together by Philippe Corbin, in a setting reminiscent of a 1930s café. At the counter, your ticket awaits you and the visit begins.

Go back in time! An enchanting world of sound

We take you back in time, from 1800 to the present day, on an inventive and fascinating guided tour, to discover and listen to these curious instruments: barrel organs, polyphons, player pianos, music boxes of all kinds, phonographs, jukeboxes…

The world of Philippe Corbin, a genius collector and restorer who has restored all these mechanical marvels of the 19th and 20th centuries to working order. A festive discovery tour for all ages.

Each stage has a surprise in store: the bistro, the ballroom, the small cinema and the treasure cave.

The Musée de la Musique Mécanique is a lively museum of accordions and jukeboxes, bastringue pianos and phonographs, barrel organs and Scopitone, where you’re sure to laugh, dance and sing along.

A festive hour of discovery and happiness for the whole family, at the heart of the orchestra of all these instruments, whose only common denominator is their ability to play, for you, without false notes.

An hour to discover the secrets of mechanical music, the ingenuity of its creators, and to marvel at the mechanisms that are the precursors of today’s robots.

Florence as conductor!

Actor and lighting director, Florence Pasquet brings the tours to life with brio.

It’s a whirlwind of fantasy, vitality and humor. From the music box to the bastringue, from the barrel organ to the limonaire, from the phonograph to the polyphon, from the Swiss cuckoo to the gramophone, a whole history is told in music.

Florence Pasquet invites you to step back in time and enjoy an hour of magic at the heart of this living museum. You’ll go behind the scenes and into the secrets of these musical machines, which roll drums without a park ranger, play the piano or accordion without a musician.

It’s a party!

A collection inestimable

The richness of the Museum’s collection is the result of over fifty years of passion on the part of one man, Philippe Corbin, a restorer and dollonais collector by trade, who assiduously scoured flea markets in search of rare pearls, curiosities from another era.

This enchanting attraction to bastringues and other serinettes goes back to his childhood. He discovered a mechanical musical instrument – the Ariston – inherited from the music lover’s family, who acquired it during a visit to the famous 1900 Universal Exhibition.

The start-up of the Ariston and its beautiful appearance encouraged the future restorer to collect and refurbish these sound inventions from garage sales. In 1994, he decided to turn his collection into a museum, and to invite the public to discover the fruits of his years of flea markets, repairs and creations.

In 2019, Philippe Corbin decided to retire and hand over his work. Since then, this institution has contributed to the Museum’s reputation, and is managed on a day-to-day basis by the Musiques Magiques association.

Opening hours

March to November

Sundays and public holidays, 2:30 pm to 6 pm

Saturdays during school vacations

By appointment during the week.

Length of visit: 1h15

Rates

Adults: €8

Children: €6

Family (2 adults and 2 children under 12): €22

A trip to the bistro

At the end of your visit, stay for a drink with the museum staff before you leave. They’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have at the 1930s café.

The perfect way to close this musical interlude:

Philippe Corbin

I like music and mechanics. There’s always the pleasure of seeing what an instrument will play. Every instrument is different. Each has its own charm.

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