Les Gets, Capital of Mechanical Music. ‘A collection unique in Europe’
The Museum of Mechanical Music has been housed in Les Gets since 1988 in the oldest restored building in Les Gets (the former presbytery). It contains a unique collection of over 900 mechanical musical instruments: carillons, automata, clocks, music boxes, animated paintings and automata, harmoniums, gramophones and many other unusual items. This incredible collection is the result of the work of a team of enthusiasts. It is one of the most visited museums in Haute-Savoie and is open all year round.
Let yourself be surprised by Mechanical Music
Push open the museum doors and immerse yourself in an astonishing, unusual and magical world. You will discover a collection of rare and sometimes little-known instruments that have amazed generations. These are true masterpieces of ingenuity, where science and art come together to bring music to life in a unique way.
Exceptional pieces at the Museum: Pablo Picasso’s Mechanical Piano
New for 2025, the museum is proudly expanding its collection with the addition of a masterpiece: Pablo Picasso’s Mechanical Piano!
Museum tours
The museum’s guided tours will delight visitors of all ages with instruments presented in the context of their era in five different rooms and a gallery.
- Guided tours – 1 hour 15 minutes
- Self-guided tours – 1 hour
As soon as you enter the museum, you will discover the old mechanics of the bell tower of the church in Les Gets.
Each room in the Museum of Mechanical Music invites you on a journey through time.
Music Room
Let’s start with a visit to the music room to discover and listen to the family of mechanical organs! Once you leave the music room, you will know everything there is to know about how the pointed cylinder and perforated cardboard work.
The music box room
Let us continue to the music box room, where you will be enchanted by the clear, crystalline sounds produced by vibrating reeds. Here you will discover magical musical objects such as a chair, a painting, a clock, a snuff box and a chalet.
The concert hall
You will then enter the concert hall. What could be more enjoyable than settling down to listen to a few notes on the piano, an orchestrion (a small orchestra) or even violins?
The street music room
In the street music room, you will discover gigantic fairground organs, enormous for their time and with considerable sound power to attract audiences.
The cabaret room
You can end your visit by dancing on the dance floor of the Cabaret room. Mechanical pianos (bastringues) hidden in richly decorated furniture operate using all the notation media that have ever existed: perforated cardboard, pointed wooden cylinders, metal discs and perforated tin cylinders.
The talking machine
Come and discover one of mankind’s oldest dreams: recording the human voice!
The history of sound and voice recording is explained through scenography and a short film tracing the discovery and development of phonographs, gramophones, jukeboxes, and more.
The cinema and the open-air café
A typical venue of the 1920s, the guinguette brings together various small orchestras. From dizzying waltzes to wild tangos, come and dance to the rhythm of period music.
The instrument manufacturing and restoration workshop
Discover the inner workings of mechanical musical instruments and the various tools used to make them.
The Street
The gallery connecting the two museum buildings has been designed to resemble a street.
Here you can discover barrel organs, from their origins (early 18th century) to the present day.
The Carousel, piece from the collection of the Museum of Mechanical Music in Les Gets
The Carousel, located on the main street in Les Gets, is an iconic piece in the collection of the Les Gets Museum of Mechanical Music. A monument to fairground art from 1871, it is the oldest known French model.
The carousel consists of 20 hand-carved lime wood animals, including 7 stationary horses and 8 jumping horses.
The carousel also features an organ restored by the Fournier factory in 1990.
The Carousel is listed as a historic monument. Located under a shelter on the Village Square, it is open every day during the season.
Access and contact details for the Museum of Mechanical Music
📍Museum of Mechanical Music
294 Rue du Vieux Village – 74260 Les Gets
📞 04 50 79 85 75
📧 musee@musicmecalesgets.org