A collection of mechanical musical instruments has recently opened just
outside Bern, the Swiss capital: MAM "Musikautomaten Muri" (mechanical
musical instruments salon) at Sternen Hotel and Restaurant in Muri
near Bern, Switzerland.

With his affinity for technical matters and with great enthusiasm,
Swiss entrepreneur Ernst Badertscher put together an impressive array
of mechanical musical instruments collected from the mid-1980s to 1999.

As owners of the Sternen Restaurant and Hotel in Muri bei Bern, Erich
and Marlis Badertscher decided in 2023 to make this unique family
heirloom available to the public as a sideline to the restaurant and
hotel business.

The collection holds over 30 instruments ranging from musical boxes
to orchestrions, fairground and dance organs. Highlights include
a Loesche orchestrion with piano, mandolin, xylophone and violin,
a Lochmann Original 7-barrel orchestrion from 1907, and an Edison
Opera Phonograph with original wax cylinder.

Located in an annex of the Sternen main building, the music salon can
be visited, by prior appointment, on a guided tour. This can easily
be combined with a social gathering such as a drinks reception, a full
meal -- or perhaps a birthday party -- in the adjoining restaurant.

The Sternen Muri Hotel & Restuarant is easy to get to from Bern;
a tram ride of less than a quarter hour will take visitors right to
the entrance.

Sternen Hotel and Restaurant
Sternen Muri, Thunstrasse 80, 
CH-3074 Muri bei Bern, Switzerland
info@sternenmuri.ch

The MAM website is currently in German only, but an English version will
become available in the near future: https://musikautomaten-muri.ch/ 

Thomas Krebs

[ LOESCHE ORCHESTRION, 1907
[ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/25/01/25/250125_080737_L%C3%96SCHE%20ORCHESTRION.jpg 

[ DECAP DANCE ORGAN (about 1955)
[ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/25/01/25/250125_080737_DECAP%20abt%201955.jpg 

[ LOCHMANN ORIGINAL 7 BARREL ORCHESTRION
[ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/25/01/25/250125_080737_LOCHMAN%20ORIGINAL%207%20BARREL%20ORCHESTRION%20.jpg 

[ PHONOGRAPH EDISON OPERA
[ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/25/01/25/250125_080737_Phonograph%20Edison%20Opera.jpg