Description of the attraction
The Museum of Toys and Games is the largest and oldest toy museum in Poland, located in Kielce on Freedom Square. There are several thousand exhibits on the exhibition area of six hundred and thirty-one square meters. Visitors can see many collections, in particular, historical and folk toys, dolls from all over the world, model cars, airplanes, ships, railway models and theatrical puppets.
In the 70s of the 20th century, the National Cooperative Union of Toys existed in Kielce, which united and coordinated the activities of more than 80% of toy manufacturers in Poland. In December 1979, the Toy Museum was opened, providing research and development services for toy manufacturers and designers. At that time, the museum occupied one room in the building of the National Museum. In 1982, the museum received its first building - an old barn, where grain was previously stored. The building, however, did not meet the conditions for storing museum exhibits, so in 1985 the exhibition was closed. Since then, the museum, which has no place of its own, has arranged only temporary exhibitions in various Polish museums and cultural institutions. In 1988, the museum moved to an office building on Kosciuszko Street, where only a tiny part of the collection could be accommodated in three rooms, and most of the interesting exhibits were in storage.
In 2004, the Toy Museum finally found its permanent home. The mayor of the city, Wojciech Lubawski, handed over to the museum a historic building of the 19th century - the building of the former covered markets. The renovation was completed in November 2005, the museum opened its doors to visitors on June 1, 2006.
Everything has been done in the building to make a visit to the museum an unusual adventure for children. Interactive exhibitions have been created, where you can not only study, but also touch all the exhibits. During a visit to the museum, children have the opportunity to play both on a playground, and in summer, also in the courtyard of the museum.
