Rare trove of musical curiosities goes on display in Manchester

The historical collection of musical curiosities features hundreds of peculiar instruments

A hidden museum filled with hundreds of rare and unusual musical instruments dating back as far as the 15th Century has been opened up to the public.

The Royal Northern College of Music's collection in Manchester includes a Stradivari violin, African gunibri, and a Tibetan human bone trumpet.

Other musical curiosities on display include a pendant containing a lock of composer Felix Mendelssohn's hair.

Museum manager Heather Roberts said the instruments were "astounding".

A Tibetan human bone trumpet is among the 650 instruments on show

The museum at the college on Oxford Road has been opened up throughout March with restricted visiting hours for groups of four people with proof of purchase of a National Lottery game as part of on National Lottery Open Week.

The oldest item in the collection is a 15th Century virginal, a keyboard instrument described as a "great-grandfather to the piano".

Among the 650 pieces is also a 1685 violin piccolo handcrafted by most revered violin-maker in history, Antonio Stradivari.

A pendant said to contain a lock of Felix Mendelssohn's gold-threaded hair is also on display

A piece of cloth reputed to be a fragment of Beethoven's shroud is also on display, alongside a miniature violin made in Manchester in 1901 to perfect scale, and a cast of the left hand of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin.

The collection is kept in the Oxford Road conservatoire's basement

Ms Roberts said the college could "not wait to share how much beautiful music making is in Manchester's heritage."

"The instruments and memorabilia we have hidden underneath the college are astounding," she said.

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