It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in Budapest, based on his modifications to the existing hammered dulcimer instruments which were already present in Central and Eastern Europe.

[2] The name “cimbalom” is also sometimes used to describe other types of dulcimers, which may have different tuning systems and which may lack the dampers and heavy construction of the concert instrument.

[citation needed] The modern Hungarian concert cimbalom was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in Budapest based on his modifications to existing folk dulcimers.

[1] He demonstrated an early prototype with some improvements at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair, gaining praise from audiences and drawing the attention of highly-placed Hungarian politicians such as József Zichy, Gyula Andrássy, and King Franz Joseph.

[5] He added heavy dampers which would allow a greater degree of control over the ringing of the strings, and a metal brace inside the instrument which would increase its stability.

[1] Schunda began serial production of his concert cimbalom in 1874, manufacturing them in a piano shop located on Hajós utca, across the street from the Budapest Opera House in Pest.

Zoltán Kodály made extensive use of the instrument in his orchestral suite Háry János which helped make the cimbalom known outside Eastern Europe.

He included the cimbalom in his ballet Renard (1915–16), his Ragtime for eleven instruments, his original (1917) scoring for Les Noces, and his Four Russian Songs.

(La plus que lente with cimbalom saw renewed popularity with its inclusion in world tours of the Hundred Gypsy Violins starting in 1985.)

Composer Carmine Coppola made heavy use of the cimbalom in his soundtrack for The Black Stallion (1979) to accentuate the Arabian heritage of the majestic horse.

Howard Shore used the cimbalom as well to express Gollum's sneaky nature in Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

Alexandre Desplat uses cimbalom in works such as The Golden Compass (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

The cimbalom, played by John Leach, features prominently in the score of the BBC television drama serial from 1988, 'Babylon Bypassed' by Gareth Glyn.

The cimbalom was used by Alan Parsons on his "I Robot"[15] and Tales of Mystery and Imagination[16] albums and is included in the guest musician acknowledgments.

[20] Romanian rock group Spitalul de Urgență has frequently used cimbalom, including a full-time player in some line-ups of the band.

The cimbal (or cimbule) today is a rare instrument found in folk groups (Međimurje, Zagorje and Podravina regions - parts of northern Croatia near Hungarian border).

Cimbalom is traditionally played in musical groups called Banda, accompanied by two violins, a viola, violoncello and a double bass.

In Ukraine, the concert Cimbalom was first formally used in the Orchestra of Ukrainian Folk Instruments organized and directed by Leonid Haydamaka from 1922 by Oleksandr Nezovybatko.

With the serial manufacture of tsymbaly by the Chernihiv Musical Instrument Factory cimbalom playing became popular in Eastern Ukraine in the post war years.