Almaty: Trip to City's 'Music Box'

As the largest city in Kazakhstan, Almaty is known for music. Hundreds of years ago, nomads living here enjoyed playing dombra in their free time, and their tradition of song and dance has shaped the present Almaty. For those who love traditional Kazakh music, Almaty's musical instrument museum has always been a holy place in their hearts.

(Source: quanjing.com)

The Kazakh Museum of Ethnic Instruments looks like a large wooden house mentioned in European fairy tales, with ethnic carvings on the wooden facade. To the locals, it looks more like a music box disguised as a building. The signs in the museum are in Kazakh, English and Russian.

(Source: quanjing.com)

There is a small exhibition hall for dombras (a plucked string instrument). Visitors can see dombras in different shapes and made in different eras, some of which were donated by well-known Kazakh musicians. There is also a special electronic device that stores audio of various instruments, allowing visitors to enjoy ancient string music through headphones.

(Source: quanjing.com)

The museum's collection also includes yueqin from China as well as traditional instruments from the neighboring countries of Kazakhstan. There are also various instruments made from parts of animals - in addition to horns made of cattle horns, visitors can also see Tuyaqtas, which are horseshoe-shaped rattles.