Dollhouse Museum, Toy Museum in Basel, Switzerland

The Dollhouse Museum, now called Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel, occupies a building at Barfüsserplatz in central Basel and holds over 6,000 exhibits: teddy bears, dolls, play shops, dollhouses and miniatures arranged in vignettes. Its more than 2,500 old teddy bears form the world's largest collection of its kind. A restaurant and a museum shop are part of the museum.

The museum opened in 1998 as the Puppenhausmuseum, built up and owned by the patron Gigi Oeri, honorary president of FC Basel. It was renamed Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel on 1 March 2012. Its collection of more than 6,000 objects, including over 2,500 old teddy bears, is the largest of its kind in Europe.

Many of the dolls and teddy bears on display were passed down through families before entering the collection, giving each object a personal story. Walking through the rooms, visitors notice how closely toys are tied to the childhood experience of a specific time and place.

The museum sits in central Basel and is easy to reach on foot from the main sights of the old town. Because the collection fills several floors, it is worth leaving enough time to move through it without rushing.

Some of the dollhouses on display date from the 1800s and still contain their original furnishings, including tiny chairs, dishes, and wall decorations. These miniature interiors offer a direct look at how domestic rooms were arranged and decorated in past centuries, which is rarely seen elsewhere.