Play away at the musical instrument museum

A museum in Brussels is giving its visitors the chance to explore the wonderful world of weird musical instruments.

The Musical Instrument Museum hosts a range of sound-making apparatus from all over the world and allows visitors to hear the noise the various contraptions make when played.

Some exhibits in the museum date back to 1877, when the museum existed on a much smaller scale than it does today.

There are 1,000 instruments on display including the Finnish Kantele, which plays "traditional Finnish tunes".

Split over several floors, the museum also houses pianolas, barrel organs and giant Chinese stone charms, which are though to be the only instrument in the world to create music using stones.

A modern music centre is also in operation at the museum, as is an education space where musicians and academics in this field can deepen their understanding of how instruments perform.

The modern music centre features instruments that are played in contemporary orchestras and those which they descended from.