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NUREMBURG TOY MUSEUM
Wooden Soldiers, Dolls, Trains and Cars
Spielzeugmuseum Nürnberg

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 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

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Nuremburg Toy Museum
German Toy Road
E. P. Lehmann

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:

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From Beer for Breakfast to the Brauhaus After Dark

MAX KRUG CLOCKS
Go a little Souvenir Shopping Cuckoo in Munich

WORLD'S LARGEST MODEL RAILWAY IN BERLIN
Loxx am Alex at Alexanderplatz

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