Articles

Housed in Palazzetto Leo in the heart of the city centre, the Oriental Museum offers a journey through the musical tradition of distant lands. The museum collections are the result of the Trieste port's trade relations with the Near and East Asia, mostly deriving from private collections that sailors and merchants brought as mementos and souvenirs from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, reflecting the geographical taste and ethno-anthropological curiosity of an entire generation. Musical objects on display include, among others: a "tanbur" (long-handled lute for ceremonial use) from Syria, a "sanxian" (three-string banjo), an "erbu" (two-string fiddle) from China, a "shamisen" or Japanese lute. Among the eight Chinese kites on display along the staircase is the dancing monkey with the "gobei", the typical instrument of travelling monks who used it to purify houses from evil spirits.