Musical Instrument Museums Online (MIMO)
● Widely used in scholarly research, musicology, and organology.
● Provides reference data for educators, curators, and instrument makers.
ABOUT THIS COLLECTION
MIMO (Musical Instrument Museums Online) is the world’s largest freely accessible database for information on musical instruments held in public collections. It brings together records from leading institutions worldwide, including the Philharmonie de Paris, Museu de la Música (Barcelona), Germanisches Nationalmuseum, University of Edinburgh, Royal College of Music Museum, Ethnologisches Museum (Berlin), and many others.
Currently, the database contains records of more than 64,000 instruments, representing collections from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Each entry typically includes detailed descriptions, provenance, maker information, and images, providing researchers, performers, educators, and enthusiasts with an unparalleled resource for the study of instruments across cultures and centuries.
Flutes in the Collection:
The database catalogs flutes of every type and tradition, from Renaissance and Baroque traversos to modern Boehm-system flutes, non-Western bamboo flutes, panpipes, and indigenous instruments. By aggregating data across institutions, MIMO enables comparative study of flute design, makers, and cultural context on a global scale.
Public Access & Availability:
Online Only: Open-access digital platform, free to use.
Searchable Database: Users can browse by instrument type, maker, date, culture, or collection.
Institutional Contributions: Partner museums continuously expand and update the database.
Digital Access:
Freely available at MIMO International Database
Over 64,000 instrument entries with images and metadata.