Musica di strada. Italians in Prenzlauer Berg
Trade, crafts and music: Mechanical Musical Instruments from the Stadtmuseum Berlin at the Museum Pankow
With the founding of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the time of the “great migration” began. By 1914, around 14 million people had left their homeland. One destination was Berlin. The joint exhibition of the Museum Pankow and the Stadtmuseum Berlin tells the story of the settlement and migration of the Italians in Prenzlauer Berg. Objects from the Stadtmuseum Berlin complement the exhibition.
Location
Museum Pankow
Kultur- und Bildungszentrum Sebastian Haffner
Ausstellungshalle
Prenzlauer Allee 227/228
10405 Berlin
Entry
free
Opening hours
Tue – Sun | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Mon + Holidays | closed
Website (in german)
Website Museum Pankow
After the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, many Italians came to the booming metropolis of Berlin. Around 1900, around 1,300 Italians were already living in the capital. As the population grew, the city expanded, especially to the north. Many settled in what is now Prenzlauer Berg. In the area around Pappelallee and Schönhauser Allee, an Italian community of around 250 people developed. With their traditional crafts and professions, they shaped the Berlin district for decades.
Families in Prenzlauer Berg
The company Cocchi, Bacigalupo & Graffigna from Schönhauser Allee became world-famous with the production of barrel organs and orchestrions.
Some instruments are on display in the special exhibition. These include the mechanical musical instruments from the music collection of the Stadtmuseum Berlin. They are moving to Pankow in the course of the extensive renovation of the Märkisches Museum over several years. Among them are barrel organs (also called lyre boxes), pianolas (self-playing pianos) and unique objects such as the Fratihymnia orchestrion.
Programme
Regular demonstrations of the instruments and an extensive accompanying programme on various topics complement the exhibition.
Exhibition highlight
The orchestrion was originally built around 1900 as the Soleil model by the Cocchi, Bacigalupo & Graffigna company in Berlin. It produces the sound of a complete salon orchestra. In 1919, the Frati & Co. company replaced the mechanism and installed the company’s own Fratihymnia type of orchestrion. It required an electric motor and a wind machine for the drive instead of a weight lift. After the conversion, the Fratihymnia came into the possession of Giovanni Crescio and played for decades, until 1951, in the Italian restaurant in Genoa.
In 1962, the Märkisches Museum bought the orchestrion. Even today, the approximately 150 paper music rolls can be played. In addition to the potpourris of great operas, they let melodies from the operettas of Walter Kollo and Jean Gilbert as well as popular hits of the 1920s resound.
Dismantling of the Orchestrion
At the end of 2022, the orchestrion was dismantled within a few days at the Märkisches Museum. The cabinet-like automatophone is now on display in the Museum Pankow’s special exhibition.
A joint exhibition in cooperation with
and with Fachbereich Museum/Bezirkliche Geschichtsarbeit
Sponsored by
As well as funded by the Bezirkskulturfonds (BKF).
Supported by the Internationale Drehorgelfreunde Berlin e.V.
Info & Service
Opening hours
Tue – Sun | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Mon + Holidays | closed
Directions
Museum Pankow
Kultur- und Bildungszentrum Sebastian Haffner
Ausstellungshalle
Prenzlauer Allee 227/228
10405 Berlin
Contact Museum Pankow
+49 90295-3917
Write an E-Mail
Tickets
Entry
free