The Nuremberg Toy Museum (also known as Lydia Bayer Museum) in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, is a municipal

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

, which was founded in 1971. It is considered to be one of the most well known

toy museums A toy museum is a museum for toys. They typically showcase toys from a particular culture or period with their history. These are distinct from children's museums, which are museums for children, and are often interactive – toy museums may be ...

in the world, depicting the cultural history of

toys A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and ...

from

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

to the present.

History

Hallersches Haus

The toy museum's building, located in Karlstraße 13–15, can be dated back to 1517 as being the property of Wilhelm Haller, senior, member of a patrician family. Jeweler, Paul Kandler bought the house in 1611 and had the front rebuilt for the first time (probably by Jakob Wolff senior). The oriel (this type of oriel is called a chörlein) was constructed roughly around 1720. A distinctive feature of the Hallersches Haus, but also of many other houses in Nuremberg, is the ''Dockengalerie'', which is a wooden gallery built around an inner

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...

, connecting the adjacent buildings. 'Docken' refers to turned wooden

baluster A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

s used for construction galleries and limbless wooden dolls. The estate was badly damaged during the Second World War, but it was rebuilt in the following years. Furthermore, the building is one of the stops of the “Historical Mile Nuremberg”.

Lydia and Paul Bayer

The core of the museum's collection is approximately 12,000 toys, which have been collected over decades by Lydia (1897–1961) and Paul Bayer (1896–1982). The Bayers had begun to put together a comprehensive collection of toys by the early 1920s, although toys were not seen as having cultural or historical value at the time. The private Lydia Bayer Museum, located in Neubaustraße in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

, was open to the public.

Museum

The city of Nuremberg took over the Bayers' stocks in 1966. Thanks to the support of the aid association, the Hallersches Haus in Karlstraße was ready to open in 1971. The toy museum has turned into an extraordinarily successful museum with international recognition. The exhibits area was expanded to in 1989 and to in 1998 due to roof constructions. The Toy Museum and the German Games Archive in Nuremberg are part of the network Nuremberg Municipal Museums founded in 1994. Other places that are part of the network are the Dürer-Haus, the City Museum Fembohaus, the Tucher Mansion, the Museum for Industrial Culture, the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds and the Memorium

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

Gockelreiterbrunnen (Rooster Rider Fountain)

On the occasion of the

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

of the museum in 1971, which incidentally marked the 500-year anniversary of Dürer’s birth, the ''Gockelreiterbrunnen'' (Rooster Rider Fountain), designed by Nuremberg artist, Michael Mathias Prechtl, was erected in front of the toy museum. The figure depicting a rooster rider is on top of a pipe rising up out of the fountain's washed-concrete basin. The colorfully painted

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

figure, which is surrounded by iron bars, fits well into the location in two respects: not only is its shape reminiscent of a wooden toy referring to the function of the museum, but it also recalls Nuremberg as the city of toys.

Exhibitions

The collection, which contains around 87,000 objects, of which only about five percent are visible in the museum, spans the time from antiquity to the present. It focuses on the development of toys over the past two hundred years. The great majority of the toys are located in the museum depot, but can also be viewed on the museum's website, which gives an overview of the cultural history of the toy. Nuremberg's special role as a metropolis of toys in the

industrial age The Industrial Age is a period of history that encompasses the changes in economic and social organization that began around 1760 in Great Britain and later in other countries, characterized chiefly by the replacement of hand tools with power-d ...

becomes particularly apparent due to the local toy industry.

Permanent exhibitions and other exhibition spaces

* Outdoor area : Café La Kritz with

backyard railroad __NOTOC__ A backyard railroad is a privately owned, outdoor railroad, most often in miniature, but large enough for one or several persons to ride on. The rail gauge can be anything from to or more. Smaller backyard or outdoor railroads that ...

: Outdoor

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...

, ''Shadowland'' (rope net pyramid,

rolling ball sculpture A rolling ball sculpture (sometimes referred to as a marble run, ball run, gravitram, ''kugelbahn'' (German: 'ball track'), or rolling ball machine) is a form of kinetic art – an art form that contains moving pieces – that specifica ...

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth () is an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the h ...

distorting mirror A distorting mirror, funhouse mirror or carnival mirror is a popular attraction at carnivals and fairs. Instead of a normal plane mirror that reflects a perfect mirror image, distorting mirrors are curved mirrors, often using convex and concave s ...

) * First floor : ''In the Beginning was the Wood'': wooden toys : Special exhibitions/event room for temporary exhibitions : Shop * Second floor : ''

Doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

dollhouse A dollhouse or doll's house is a toy house made in miniature. Since the early 20th century dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children, but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. English-speakers in North Americ ...

s'': Nuremberg kitchens or doll's kitchens, paper and tin figures : Optical toys:

zograscope A zograscope is an optical device for magnifying flat pictures that also has the property of enhancing the sense of the depth perception, depth shown in the picture. It consists of a large magnifying lens through which the picture is viewed. Devi ...

, the

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that uses pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...

or the

stereoscope A stereoscope is a device for viewing a stereoscopy, stereoscopic pair of separate images, depicting left-eye and right-eye views of the same scene, as a single three-dimensional image. A typical stereoscope provides each eye with a lens that ...

. * Third floor : ''World of Technology'': a large

model railway Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are Model building, modelled at a reduced Scale (ratio), scale. The scale models include locomotives ...

layout, numerous vehicles, trains,

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

s, movable figures and more technical toys * Top floor : ''Toys since 1945'':

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...

Playmobil Playmobil () is a German line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group (Geobra Brandstätter GmbH & Co KG), headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany. The signature Playmobil toy is a tall (1:24 scale) human figure with a smiling face. A wide range ...

and more current toys : The newly built kids’ area ''Kids on top'' offers a wide range of activities. Children can play, do

handicraft A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

s, play table-top football, experiment with various construction sets or read children’s books.

External links

Official website
(German)

(English)
Brochure "Historische Meile Nürnberg"

A Look Back - 30 Years of Toy Museum – pdf
(40 kB)

References

{{Authority control Toy museums Toy museums in Germany Museums established in 1971 Museums in Nuremberg Lego Playmobil 1971 establishments in West Germany