Ore Mountain Toy Museum, Seiffen, Toy museum in Seiffen, Germany
The Ore Mountain Toy Museum, Seiffen, occupies a building at Hauptstraße 203, with around 5,000 exhibits shown on three storeys. Its displays cover the whole Ore Mountain toy-making area, including the Bohemian part, from Christmas folk art of around 1800 to present-day wood design. A working Mechanical Heimatberg has been part of the exhibition since 2008, and the attic holds changing special shows and smaller cabinet exhibitions.
The collection began with a wooden toy exhibition in 1914 at the Albert Salon, featuring a Noah's Ark with 300 miniature animal figures. This collection expanded over decades and became the foundation of the present-day museum.
The oldest pieces, mainly Christmas folk art, date from around 1800. Noah's arks shown here were key export goods to overseas markets around 1880. Sample sheets, price lists and catalogues document how the toy publishers worked, and the attic hosts changing special shows such as "Der Bergbau in der Volkskunst".
The museum is at Hauptstraße 203, with the open-air museum on the edge of the toy village. The toy museum's roughly 5,000 exhibits are shown on three storeys, so plan your route floor by floor. The open-air section holds 14 pre-1900 Ore Mountain houses, among them the Preißler water-powered turning works of 1760.
The museum houses a giant show pyramid 6.3 meters tall that showcases regional woodworking techniques in a rare display. This large-scale piece was assembled using traditional methods and demonstrates the complexity of such constructions.
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