Free admission
Opening Hours
11.30am–5.30pm Monday to Friday, 12–4pm Saturday
Closed Sundays, public holidays and all December
For more details on opening times see below

Museum & Library

Visit the Royal Academy of Music Museum to explore unique instruments, manuscripts and art, and discover behind-the-scenes stories from the United Kingdom’s oldest conservatoire.

Please note - the Strings Gallery and Piano Gallery are CLOSED during December. Visitors are still welcome to browse the ground floor gallery and temporary exhibition.

In permanent galleries and temporary displays, visitors will see star items such as the ‘Viotti ex-Bruce’ 1709 violin by Antonio Stradivari once played to Queen Marie Antoinette, Gilbert and Sullivan’s original score for ‘The Mikado’, and a Viennese piano from 1815 with six pedals. You can learn about the role the Academy and its alumni have played in musical development for nearly 200 years, and perhaps hear a live gallery demonstration of a clavichord or a 19th century piano.

Our friendly Gallery Assistants are Academy students who will tell you more about the displays and talk about their studies at the Academy. The Museum regularly holds free public musical and lecture events, museum tours, and offers children’s trails with quizzes and puzzles.

The Piano Gallery is often closed on Thursdays and Fridays due to student classes taking place. Please contact the Museum for more specific information if you are planning a visit. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Lunchtime Tours

On the first Wednesday of every month (except December and July) Museum staff give a general drop-in tour of the whole Museum. This offers an insight into our varied and historical musical collection.

Your visit

How to find us, travel options, disabled access, our facilities and more.

Please note - the Strings Gallery and Piano Gallery are CLOSED during December. Visitors are still welcome to browse the ground floor gallery and temporary exhibition.

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Upcoming Exhibition

Hitting the Right Note
– Amazing Women of the Royal Academy of Music:

Our current temporary exhibition opened on 29 June 2018 and will run until April 2019.

2018 marks the centenary of the success of the Women’s Suffrage movement in the UK, when some women won the right to vote. We celebrate the extraordinary Academy women who have blazed a trail in the world of music, helping to break down barriers and make their mark.

Explore the collection

Browse or search our our wide-ranging collections of instruments, manuscripts, letters, performance materials, artworks, teaching materials, memorabilia and more.

The core of our Museum

Our permanent exhibitions showcase some of the Academy’s collections: History of the Academy on the ground floor; Strings Gallery on the first floor; and Piano Gallery on the second floor.

'Spagnoletti' violin

The Lionel Tertis Memorial case (opposite the canteen in the basement of the main building) houses changing displays of items from the Academy collections or loaned items.

On display at the moment are documents from the collection of an American violinist, Elliott Golub, to support the display of his ‘Spagnoletti’ violin in the Strings Gallery of the Museum.