Nuremberg Toy Museum

Even when it seems like there’s nothing, there’s still imagination. And no imagination is as vibrant and engrossing as that of a child.

It’s why children always manage to create their own play worlds with whatever they have.

Just have a look at some of these old toys. They are not the sophisticated things you would see today in the toy shops.

They were made from what was accessible. Blocks of wood, scraps of metal.

For the children who played with them, though, they were as real as the belief their creators had in them.

And this is what hits me the most when I visit the Toy Museum in Nuremberg.

These are the toys made by and for the children of Nuremberg in the post-war years.

Their city lay in ruins but these German children still managed to find happiness in the rubble.

It was the beginning of the regeneration of the city that had borne the brunt of so much destruction during the Second World War.

This period was not the start of the deep connection that the city of Nuremberg has with the creation of toys, though.

This history is excellently presented at the Nuremberg Toy Museum in the centre of the city. These exhibits of imagination in the post-war period are just a small temporary collection on display when I visit.

It’s in the other rooms that the extent of the city’s story is revealed.

The history of toys in Nuremberg

Toy-making began in Nuremberg in the Middle Ages and we know from tax records of the time that people making dolls were registered in about the year 1400.

The first dolls were made from clay and over the centuries materials like wood and porcelain were also used.

The dolls were detailed and intricate – all handmade, of course, with the care and love appropriate for their uses.

It was the ability to mass produce toys, though, that really saw Nuremberg’s reputation rise as an international toy-making hub in the late 1800s. And the agent for this explosion in manufacturing was tin.

Tin was an easy and cheap material to use in creating all sorts of designs and the artisans here in the German city were already skilled metal workers. It also helped that the tradesmen here had good connections all over the world.

You might think that it was World War II that put an end to this epicentre of global toy-making but it was actually the invention of plastic and cheap manufacturing in countries like the US, Japan and China that really curbed the big businesses here in Germany.

But, as you can see here in the exhibitions, production did continue on the more artistic and high-quality items.

Exhibitions at the Nuremberg Toy Museum

There are around 85,000 items at the Nuremberg Toy Museum – enough to satisfy the child inside of us all. From the old dolls and hand-carved animals, through to the replicas of domestic life, and the metal cars and train sets.

There are even some modern games and toys that I recognised from my childhood (which, unfortunately, is longer ago than I would like to admit).

Most interestingly, you can trace the shifts in society through the toys that the children played with. It can be as simple as the old toys being horses and carts, while the new toys are planes and spaceships.

The ways the dolls are dressed show an evolution in clothing styles as well. But there’s also the way that women are depicted in domestic roles in the older centuries but not in the most modern creations.

And let’s not even touch the older toys with the semi-naked black children shown riding ‘exotic’ animals.

It’s comforting to see the consistent elements of all the toys, though. No matter the era, no matter the cost, no matter the production style, all of the items on display here give just enough for a child to transpose their own imaginations on top of what they’re playing with.

The creation of the toy is important but even more important is the creation it enables.

Visiting the Toy Museum in Nuremberg

Because it’s right in the middle of the old town, it’s really easy to visit the Nuremberg Toy Museum, which is just a few minutes’ walk from some of the other main sights.

I would recommend combining it with a visit to nearby attractions like St Sebald Church, the Imperial Castle, and the Albrecht Dürer House.

Although the museum is not massive in terms of space, there are so many individual things to see here. So you could spend as long or as little as you like. But I would recommend about an hour to visit the Toy Museum.

If you’re going to be doing a fair bit of sightseeing in the city, I would suggest having a look at the 48-hour Nuremberg Card. It’s not too expensive and offers free entry to about 30 museums (including the Toy Museum) plus public transport.

Another thing you may want to consider is the Hop-on Hop-off Bus in Nuremberg, which is a nice way to get around to the highlights, with guided commentary included.

A few other useful bits of visitor information:

• The museum’s main entrance is at ground level and accessible without steps, and has a pushbutton-activated automatic door opener.
• The ticket counter is designed for inclusive operation.
• A wheelchair-compatible elevator to the exhibition spaces and a disabled-accessible restroom are available on the ground floor.
• The ground-floor exhibition also has a tactile paving system for the blind and sight-impaired, together with a large wheelchair-compatible tabletop exhibit.

Something else to note: From April 1 to the end of October, children and their families can make use of an attractive outdoor play area covering more than 700 square metres.

You can see more information at the official website of the Toy Museum.

Visiting the Nuremberg Toy Museum is easy enough to do independently, but there’s so much other history in the Old Town, you’ll get a lot more out of it with a tour.

There are some really good and affordable guided tours to consider, and these are a few of the top ones I would recommend:

If you are hungry, I’ve got some tips for the best food in Nuremberg’s Old Town.

For the local sausages, somewhere like Bratwursthäusle next to St Sebald’s Church is a good place to try.

For something more filling, the Albrecht Dürer Stube does hearty traditional meals.

And there’s also the Tafelzier bakery nearby for something quick.

Time Travel Turtle was supported by the German National Tourist Board but the opinions, over-written descriptions and bad jokes are his own.