Right next door to the current City Hall in the heart of Munich’s Aldstadt is the Altes Rathaus (Old City Hall); it is adjacent to a rotund and red-topped 15th-century Gothic tower that today hosts the city’s Toy Museum. With displays on four floors connected by spiral staircase, the collection is far removed from the computer led toys of today. Its story began with the historic toy collection of Ivan Steiger, who was a Czech film-maker with a fascination for teddy bears, mechanical dolls and automata. Today the exhibits have grown to include old toys from across the world, including Russian dolls, antique train sets, Barbie dolls in all guises, mechanical Ferris wheels, hordes of model Cowboys and Indians, and gaily painted wooden rocking horses. Educational toys from an era long gone include tiny sewing sets, cookers and miniscule tea services from the 1960s but most heart-rending of all are the primitive models made of bread by concentration-camp internees during World War II.
