NUREMBURG TOY MUSEUM
Wooden Soldiers, Dolls, Trains and Cars
Anyone
who can hum the theme from “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”,
the movie with Gert Frobe as a king who preferred toys without children,
or has played with a model train, built a model airplane or seen a discussion
of the collector value of a stuffed Stieff Teddy Bear on Antique’s
Roadshow know that German’s do
toys, from Thuringia’s carved
wooden soldiers (the “Jumping Jack” where the name of the
game came from) to miature cars and electric trains. Visiting any
German city will take you past a fascinating toy
store,
sometimes taking up rooms or floors of playtime wonders, but for a little
bit of toy making history The Nuremberg Toy Museum (Spielzeugmuseum Nürnberg)
offers a child’s wonderland journey into the past two centuries
of Germany’s toy manufacture.
The
medieval Bavarian walled city of Nuremburg, host of the World International
Toy Fair and the location
of one of
the best German Christmas Markets
(see Christmas
Markets) about an hour north of Bavaria capital Munich
is at the southern end of the “German Toy Road” a path
through 30 towns of Franconia and Thuringia regions of Germany. The
toy museum
which opened in 1971
based originally on the toy collection of Lydia and Paul Bayer has become
a popular toy enthusiasts destination. Taking up 4 floors behind a neo
Renaissance building façade in the old center of town, the museum
displays 200 years of toys in themes from the wooden toys which made
Nuremburg toy making famous in medieval times, dolls and meticulously
detailed doll houses, Tin World - the articulated tin toys (the famous
Tin Soldier) of the industrial age, vehicles, model steam train sets
including a collection of the toys of famed German toy maker Ernst Lehmann,
whose E.P. Lehmann Company based in Nuremburg is now known most for its
LGB “G” scale large model trains ("Lehmann Gross Bahn" or "Big
Train ), Schuco miniature cars displayed in a 1950s era store front,
and a top floor devoted to modern toys from Barbie to fantasy computer
games.
Kids
are provided with a special play room where they can feed the toy frenzy
from viewing so many inviting “don’t
touch that” wonders.
There are about 65,000 items in the collection, but only a fraction are
displayed in the museum at any one time, with the rest available in a “virtual
tour”. The museum has a book store with volumes on toys and toy
history and of course, a toy store. The Toy Museum (Spielzeugmuseum Nürnberg) is part of the city
museum system and a family admission ticket for 10.50 euro covers two
parents with the kids
and
is also good
for
other
Nurnberg
community museums. While in Nuremburg you can also to visit the E.P.
Lehmann toy factory. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Best vacation deals compare prices in Bavaria at TripAdvisor
Web Info
Nuremburg
Toy Museum
These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission. Photos courtesy Lydia Bayer Collection Nürnberg Toy Museum.
See Also:
GERMANY'S
BLACK FOREST
A
TOUR WALK AROUND MUNICH
WORLD'S LARGEST MODEL RAILWAY IN BERLIN
