Colomban's MUSICAL BOXES see all >
The Museum's halls resound with the music of seven musical boxes. Musical boxes have always fascinated both the young and old with their sweet and enthralling tunes that accompany the dancing miniature figures that live in them. Obviously, the protagonists of the Museum's collection of musical boxes are horses as they spin around with mermaids, seahorses and a host of other animals.
The hands that created these musical boxes are those of Goffredo Colombani, who took inspiration from eighteenth-century prints and drawings of old merry-go-rounds. They are unique pieces made with different types of wood.
The origins of musical boxes date far back in time and the French word carillon started to be used in the Middle Ages for a concert of bells that were played using a keyboard whose keys were connected to the bells with ropes. In 1796, Antoine Favre, a Swiss clockmaker, created what he called the carillon sans timbre ni marteau, that is a musical box without bells or hammers, very much like today's.