Or as it’s known in Málaga, Museo Interactivo de la Música or MIMMA. I found this museum quite by accident. Whilst researching places to eat, and wandering around neighborhoods in google maps for our trip to Spain in May, this museum caught my eye. When I told the husband about it, he said “put it on the list!” We were so glad to have found this gem of a museum in Málaga, especially since we’re music lovers. It was so interesting and hubby really enjoyed playing some instruments in the red rooms.
The museum has a path for you to follow that winds its way through this small museum that occupies two floors in what was once the Palacio del Conde de las Navas. There are three sections labeled white, black and red. The white rooms are characterized by large-scale instruments. Also in the white section you will find archeological ruins from the Roman empire and parts of medieval walls within the museum. The walls are estimated to be from between the 3rd and 5th centuries. The permanent collection is found in the black section where you can discover more about the origins of music, folklore, musical ensembles, music from five continents, mechanical music, recorded sound and electronic music(this wording is from the museum’s website). The red rooms are labeled “Se ruega tocar” or Please Play in English. In these rooms the visitor can try out many instruments such a the violin, udu, cello, guitar, cajón flamenco, marimba, and drums amongst others. The galleries below are segregated into their respective colors. First up, the white areas. Click on any photo in the galleries to see a larger view and to read captions.
Next, the black rooms. It was hard to take photos with so many of the instruments behind glass. As a result, you can see my reflections in many of these photos and there is one with both of us. Even so, it’s nice to have the something to remember the instruments by. This is only a snapshot as there are 400 instruments displayed at any given time and the museum owns 1,000 instruments.
Finally, the red interactive rooms.
At the end was a small room with a huge ball and Beethoven’s music playing. This was in honor of Beethoven’s 250th birthday and the idea is to experience the light, sound and vibration of the music. I’m not sure I could feel the music but it sounded great! And it was a pleasant place to relax and listen to the music as we absorbed all that we viewed during our visit.
This definitely exceeded our expectations even though the museum is small and you can get through it in about an hour. So many interesting instruments and you can see how creative people are in making some of these instruments, especially the stringed instruments. Many of these were made from whatever was available, like aluminum or tin cans, armadillo shells and even snake skins. When people want to make music, they will find a way!
The museum was the idea of Miguel Ángel Piédrola Orta, a Malagueñan that began collecting musical instruments at a young age. Together with his son Miguel Ángel Piédrola Lluch, the museum was first opened in 2003 and consists of Miguel Ángel Piédrola Orta’s collection. It changed locations to the Palacio del Conde de las Navas in 2013 which is pictured below. The palacio was in disrepair prior to the museum opening. I found a photo of it from 2010 and what a difference! They did a fabulous job rehabilitating this building.
What a wonderful find for us!! I forgot to mention that they also have flamenco shows. Towards the end of the exhibit you walk through the space where the shows are performed. In retrospect, I wish we had booked one of these shows as our second flamenco show in Madrid left a lot to be desired. After the fabulous show in Granada, the performance in Madrid was a let down and not nearly as good as La Alboreá in Granada. I was shocked at how much the shows in Madrid were compared to southern Spain and it looks like I should have booked the flamenco show that the nice British couple we met in Madrid were attending as the show we saw was not that great and felt like a tourist trap. Should have spent a small fortune to see a great show in Madrid I guess.
SO, if you’re in Málaga, I’d highly recommend this museum. We really enjoyed it!
If you missed any of my other posts about our trip here are links to them. Thanks for looking!
travels with toby 
How interesting ! I love these types of “hands on” museums! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, we do too! Makes it more fun. Thanks for looking!
Such a great place. I’m waiting for the summer crowds to go home so I can explore again.
Yes! We loved it 👍