The Institute of Music and Dance
Polish Folk Musical Instruments
 education   physicality   music 

This collection of 300 folk instruments from all over Poland is more than just photographs and descriptions. On the website, we will also find 360-degree sound recordings (from the Museum of Sound), archival and contemporary video recordings with pieces performed by artists, and – for some instruments – even their design and technical specifications. The project presents folk instruments in the regional context, in many variants (with different finish, decorations, etc.), both working and broken ones, offering unique knowledge to researchers and folk music lovers alike.

The list of instruments gathered in this database may be further expanded to include new items from other institutions and collections. The database was built based on the most recent version of the Hornbostel-Sachs classification used by MIMO (Musical Instrument Museums Online) and, with MIMO’s consent, has been fully translated into Polish for the first time.