The power of music across 6,000 years of history

November 12, 2021–October 16, 2022

MIM’s exhibition, Treasures: Legendary Musical Instruments, celebrates some of the world’s most notable musical moments, performance traditions, and musical instrument developments. Eighty exceptional instruments fill the Target Gallery, including some of the finest from MIM’s collection and more than twenty loans from renowned museums, private collections, and musicians around the world.

Exhibition Trailer

Instruments with extraordinary pasts come together to share the story of music like never before.

Witness humanity’s enduring creativity and inventiveness expressed through music—exclusively at MIM.

In partnership with

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Ethnic Art and Culture Limited, Hong Kong S.A.R., China
Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, Michigan
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Museu de la Música de Barcelona, Spain
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota
Penn Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pivotal Moments in Music

From the ancient Olympic Games to the unveiling of the Eiffel Tower, history is brought to life by the instruments that forever changed the world. The exclusive exhibition shares global human achievement and musical ingenuity through an Amati violin likely made for a royal marriage, the oldest guitar still in existence, a shell trumpet from the Maya civilization, Jimi Hendrix’s Black Widow guitar, and more historic instruments.

World-Renowned Craftsmanship

Intricate details of engraved brass, carved patterns, and iridescent inlay represent talented craftsmen, companies, and families from around the globe that molded instrument evolution. Throughout the exhibition, original video content uncovers these stories and the instruments’ represented traditions with performances and interviews by museum curators and notable musicians, such as ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, guitarist Jiji Kim, and mandolinist David Grisman.

Jimi Hendrix’s Black Widow guitar

Used at the height of his fame during recording sessions in late October 1968, this left-handed Black Widow guitar represents one of the exhibition’s iconic stories of contemporary music.

Loan courtesy of Collection of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C.

Lyre fragment

This ancient lyre fragment from the cradle of civilization is part of the famous lyres of Ur, the world’s oldest stringed instruments.

Loan courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Guitarra made by Francisco Sanguino

Only six Sanguino guitars are known to remain today, including this elaborately decorated example with six double courses of strings.

MIM Collection

48K Grand Jumbo model sousaphone

To celebrate their fiftieth anniversary and status as the world’s largest manufacturer of band instruments, the Conn company created the world’s largest sousaphone and sent it on a nationwide promotional tour.

Loan courtesy of Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, Michigan

Conch shell trumpet

In ancient Maya culture, conch shells were sacred objects reserved for specialized ritual purposes. This elaborately decorated conch bears the face of a royal ancestor and a headdress portraying the rain god, Chahk.

Loan courtesy of Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Video Spotlights

Watch More ›

A catalog for the exhibition is available for purchase at the Museum Store or online at theMIMstore.org.

Buy Catalog ›

Thank you to our generous donors

Presenting sponsor U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank Logo

Sponsored by Arizona Office of Tourism, John & Joan D’Addario Foundation, and John & Mary Ann Mangels

Arizona Office of Tourism Logo

Supported by Christine Lindley, Carolyn & John Friedman, Babette & Richard Burns, Jane & John Guild, Marcia & Jim Lowman, and Ann Phillips

Support MIM’s Exhibitions ›

Donor Spotlight: Mary Ann and John Mangels

Celebrating MIM’s special exhibition with a generous donation
When Mary Ann and John Mangels learned of MIM’s newest special exhibition, they were excited to help bring the show to life.

READ MORE »

Donor Spotlight: Mary Ann and John Mangels Image