Explore the Rawlins Gallery

More than sixty of the NMM's most outstanding stringed instruments are shown in the Rawlins Gallery, which one enters through iron gates designed and hand-forged by R. Walsh of Minneapolis. The gates are a gift of Constance Hampl (1906-1983) of Vermillion. Showpieces equal to those found anywhere . . . rare, 16th-century violins, violas, and 'cellos from the north Italian cities of Brescia and Cremona, decorated for French kings and Italian nobility . . . suberb lutes and guitars made of ivory and ebony to celebrate the splendor of Venice . . . a true panoply of priceless treasures to delight the senses.

Plucked stringed instruments from the Witten-Rawlins Collection, including lutes and citterns, are among the first instruments seen when one enters the Rawlins Gallery.

Among the many priceless instruments on display in the Rawlins Gallery are several tenor violas, a rare lira da braccio, violas d'amore, violas da gamba, and a magnificent violin by Nicolo Amati (Cremona, 1628), grandson of Andrea Amati (four of whose instruments are exhibited in the adjacent case, shown below).

An Andrea Amati quartet, instruments by Stradivari (made in Cremona, Italy), and violins from Brescia are all on display in the Rawlins Gallery. Click on the instruments in these cases to find out more about them!

For information about more of the instruments in this gallery, visit the NMM's Virtual Tour.

National Music Museum
The University of South Dakota
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD   57069

©National Music Museum, 2009
Most recent update:   October 9, 2009

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