• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Time Travel Turtle

A travel blog with stories beyond the brochure

  • HOME
  • ABOUT ME
  • CONTACT ME
  • BY COUNTRY
    • WEST EUROPE
      • Belgium
      • England
      • France
      • Germany
      • Ireland
      • Liechtenstein
      • Luxembourg
      • Netherlands
      • Northern Ireland
      • Scotland
      • Switzerland
      • Wales
    • NORTH EUROPE
      • Estonia
      • Finland
      • Latvia
      • Lithuania
      • Norway
      • Sweden
    • SOUTH EUROPE
      • Cyprus
      • Gibraltar
      • Greece
      • Holy See
      • Italy
      • Malta
      • Portugal
      • San Marino
      • Spain
    • EAST EUROPE
      • Austria
      • Belarus
      • Croatia
      • Czech Republic
      • Hungary
      • Montenegro
      • Poland
      • Serbia
    • NORTH ASIA
      • China
      • Japan
      • Kazakhstan
      • Kyrgyzstan
      • Mongolia
      • North Korea
      • Tajikistan
      • Uzbekistan
    • SOUTH ASIA
      • Cambodia
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Myanmar
      • Malaysia
      • Nepal
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Sri Lanka
      • Thailand
      • Vietnam
    • NORTH AMERICA
      • Antigua & Barbuda
      • Belize
      • Canada
      • Costa Rica
      • Guatemala
      • Mexico
      • USA
    • SOUTH AMERICA
      • Argentina
      • Brazil
      • Chile
      • Paraguay
      • Peru
      • Uruguay
    • AFRICA
      • Egypt
      • Morocco
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
    • OCEANIA
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
    • MIDDLE EAST
      • Jordan
      • Turkey
  • MOST POPULAR
    • The world’s oldest backpacker
    • Orangutans in Borneo
    • The need for speed
    • Trying to get out of the slum
    • The lake swamped with tourism
    • Journey into Dreamland
    • The village where life begins again
    • Is Cambodia safe for travellers?
    • Making the perfect gin and tonic
  • UNESCO

Where the toys live on without us

February 2, 2019 | Michael Turtle | 20 Comments

TOY MUSEUM

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

Looking through the glass, into the cabinets, you can start to get a sense of the joy that once existed.

Sedentary now, orphaned, these toys are merely relics. Like a car without a key, or a torch without a battery, they are not complete without their owners.

It’s the love of a child that brings these objects to life.

A museum is a fitting place for these toys to end up because now they are simply reminders of what once was.

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

That’s not to say that the collection can’t still bring joy… but it’s fleeting and detached.

For many visitors to the Zurich Toy Museum, there’s a connection with particular items – and a connection to a shared history. But it’s a nostalgic reminder, not a reconciliation.

Toys are for boys. Toys are for girls. Warm memories are for adults.

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

The Zurich Toy Museum, like many a box of old playthings, is tucked out of sight – in a non-descript building in one of the more historic parts of the city, up an elevator to the fifth floor.

Once inside, sense of place is lost, though, as you enter the world of the toys.

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

The ultimate toy collection

There are more than a thousand items in the collection – most of them antique. The toys date as far back as the eighteenth century and include trains and dolls, and soldiers.

They’re made of wood, of metal, of paper. Some move on their own, some are moved by children, others were made just to be looked at.

Most are from Europe but there are some from Asia, the United States and even Australia.

Generations of children are traced through the evolution of the toys here. Yet one thing connects them all – imagination.

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

Two women – elderly in comparison to the usual owners of toys yet sprightly enough without relativity – are working at the museum the afternoon I visit.

There is no entry fee, so they’re not here to collect that. They’re here to answer questions and share their knowledge (and love) of the collection.

Some of the items were originally theirs, or from their family, while others have been donated or bought from all across the world.

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

As I look through the glass, into the cabinets, one of the women hovers behind me. She occasionally offers a bit of information about the items I’m looking at.

I feel like she is waiting for questions, so I ask her about the oldest, the best, the favourite – any superlative I can think of.

She beckons me after each query and leads me to different display cases and different eras of toys. Despite the huge number of toys in the collection, she knows where everything is and what each of them represents.

Zurich Toy Museum, Switzerland

The museum is a plaything for the people who work here. It is their dollhouse. And for half an hour, or an hour, or however long is needed, they invite us in to remember what it was like to find inspiration in our imagination.

Reader Interactions

    Comments Cancel reply

  1. Laurence |

    June 22, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    Reply

    That looks like a fun place to work, although having a lot of toys behind glass cabinets does seem like a sad place for them to be. They need to be played with, poor things!

    • Michael Turtle |

      June 22, 2012 at 9:42 pm

      Reply

      That was my thinking too! I wanted to play with them all and make the trains crash. Perhaps it’s because of people like me they have to be behind glass…

  2. Karen @ Trans-Americas Journey |

    June 22, 2012 at 10:49 pm

    Reply

    So lovingly written! Though the staring-straight-ahead dolls still freak me out and I can’t help but imagine that the whole place comes alive at night when the ladies leave like an unfunny version of Night at the Museum. Then again, my toys growing up were horses so what the heck do I know?

    • Michael Turtle |

      July 3, 2012 at 8:10 pm

      Reply

      Why is the idea of the toys coming alive at night so scary? Don’t get me wrong – it is… but it would be so much nicer if it turned into a twilight playground!

  3. Angela |

    June 22, 2012 at 11:10 pm

    Reply

    I’ve visited the dolls’ museum in L’Isle sur Sorgue in France and dolls were so creepy, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had followed me..

    • Michael Turtle |

      July 3, 2012 at 8:11 pm

      Reply

      I would have thought movies like Toy Story would have made the idea of toys coming alive less scary than everyone seems to think it is.

  4. Iain Mallory |

    June 22, 2012 at 11:35 pm

    Reply

    Looks like another cool museum to visit in Switzerland, can’t help thinking it would be torture for most kids, big and small just dying to get hands on those toys and play!

    • Michael Turtle |

      July 3, 2012 at 8:11 pm

      Reply

      I know! It would be even better if there was a little area where you could play with some of them. Perhaps even leave the kids there for a couple of hours while you explored the city! 🙂

  5. Ayngelina |

    June 23, 2012 at 3:41 am

    Reply

    I’d be interested to see if the toys were different because they were European, they all have a fairly traditional look to them.

    • Michael Turtle |

      July 3, 2012 at 8:12 pm

      Reply

      I certainly didn’t see an xbox there, if that’s what you’re thinking 🙂

  6. Bret @ Green Global Travel |

    June 23, 2012 at 6:49 am

    Reply

    Wait, I thought the Island of Misfit Toys was where they went to live on without us? Thanks for ruining my childhood, Michael!!

    On a more serious note, the dolls in that first pic are freakin’ CREEPY!

    • Michael Turtle |

      July 3, 2012 at 8:13 pm

      Reply

      Very creepy! I’m surprised more kids here in Europe didn’t grow up to be freaks, if this was their childhood!! 🙂

  7. Cole @ Four Jandals |

    June 25, 2012 at 12:30 am

    Reply

    Man I wish my parents had kept all my toys. Love finding old lego sets and then hours later I realise I have been reliving my youth. Love it.

    • Michael Turtle |

      July 3, 2012 at 8:21 pm

      Reply

      The great thing about Lego is that it is timeless. I think some of these toys have had their day, though.

  8. Andrew |

    June 25, 2012 at 8:11 am

    Reply

    It is probably because of too many horror movies, but really to me toys like that without kids around to play with them, control them, placate them, it is creepy. Ok, there are some great movies about toys coming to life for good, not evil, but still the eyes of the dolls are odd.
    I like the plane though. Are there more modern toys too? Like a room for Star Wars figures and models?

    • Michael Turtle |

      July 3, 2012 at 8:22 pm

      Reply

      There weren’t really many modern toys. The planes were probably the most recent. Maybe over time they’ll add some Star Wars figures and the like, as examples of the recent generation.

  9. Candice Michelle |

    June 25, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    Reply

    Wow! very nice toys! The kids will be more happy when they see all this amazing toys!

    • Michael Turtle |

      July 3, 2012 at 8:23 pm

      Reply

      It’s like a playground for kids and adults (albeit behind glass…)

  10. Davidedevnix |

    June 19, 2013 at 9:32 am

    Reply

    Museum is so beautiful for the kids to play with toys.It’s just like the playground.

    • Michael Turtle |

      June 23, 2013 at 1:15 am

      Reply

      For little kids and big ones! 🙂

Primary Sidebar

This is the website of travel writer, Michael Turtle. After working in broadcast journalism for a decade in Australia, Michael left Sydney to travel the world indefinitely and write about the places, people and experiences he discovers. This isn't a diary - these are real stories from the world.

Want Occasional Updates?

Sign up to be the first to hear the latest about the adventures of Time Travel Turtle. You'll also get access to special offers and exclusive news.
Thank you! You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter.

Search

  • PRIVACY POLICY