Toymuseum / Thorn Castle PanoptikumThe Museum, which we opened at Christmas time in 2010, hosted the children of the Carpathian Basin. The little Hungarians of the mother country and the successor states were running around among the lots of toys with great joy.
The almost 300 square-meter place has a girl and a boy section as well; the sections display “the most important objects” of our past. (The collection consists of nearly 10.000 pieces and it is the biggest one in our continent.)
Our time travel starts with shabby teddy bears from the first half-decade of the last century, which is followed by flapping butterflies and building blocks; this section is closed by the favourite figures of the 1980s. This part of the exhibition means the near past for the older generation and for people in their thirties and forties it represents the favourite toys of their adventurous childhood. Adults are looking for their tiny fingerprints on the toys and start to tell a short tale enthusiastically in order to prove the common past with the displayed objects.
“After becoming an adult from a child, we can feel like little kids again who were wearing pants buttoning up at the back and like adolescents who were munching on a bar of chocolate. Entering the museum we will be greeted by the kind reminiscences of our childhood. These relics are greeting us like forsaken good friends with a forgiving smile.”
The metal cars, the pecking chicks and the clowns with a roller were all the products of the Sheet Iron Works of Győr and the ELZETT Works. These toys were very popular in the Comecon countries (former socialist countries) and all praise the Hungarian toy industry in the 1960s. In our exhibition we have aimed at completeness by displaying so many different types of toys like: a Russian moon-car, tiny metal cars made from Cuban soft drink cans and African game boards.
On the ceiling we have suspended prams, sledges, tricycles, mini cars with pedals; on the shelves built between the window-panes thousands of Matchboxes, trains from Merklin and the MÁV can be seen. We have placed the doll’s houses, washing and sewing machines and papier-mâché dolls of the girl section also on the shelves between the window-pane. Here we can also see witches and nightmares made by Éva Zorkóczy folk artist. The figures from the following tales and comic epics have been put into a giant vitrine: Ludas Matyi, The Salt and The Hammer of the Village. (They are all figures from Hungarian folk tales and comic epics)
The atmosphere is more pleasant and colourful with the help of the tales and songs of the old Duna TV. The collection is growing continuously. We are afraid and hope it at the same time that we will grow out the place in a few years.