Museum of Toys and Play in Kielce

A witch on a broomstick sits on the clock tower on Wolności Square in Kielce. Beneath her, in a 19th-century former market hall, is the Museum of Toys and Play – one of Poland's oldest and largest toy museums, where children play and adults rediscover the toys of their own childhood.

The museum's history

In the 1970s Kielce was home to the National Union of Toy Cooperatives, which brought together more than 80% of Polish toy makers. On 1 December 1979 it set up the Museum of Toy Making as a research base for designers. In 1982 it moved into a historic granary on Zamkowa Street, but the building was unsuitable for a museum and the exhibition closed at the end of 1985. From 1988 toys were shown in three rooms of a townhouse on Kościuszki Street, while most of the collection stayed in storage.

The breakthrough came in 2004, when the city gave the museum the historic market hall building at 2 Wolności Square. After renovation, the new home opened on 1 June 2006, Children's Day in Poland, under the name Museum of Toys and Play. That day the witch appeared on the tower for the first time.

What to see

• Permanent exhibitions – "Toy Town", "Zatkało Kakao?" and "Zabawajki" show toys from different eras. The collection includes pre-1945 GNOM building blocks, folk toys from Ostojów, Łączna and Głogoczów, and Barbie dolls.
• World of Models – about 140 models of ships, aircraft, tanks and helicopters, including a remote-controlled model of the Wright brothers' plane, a ship in a bottle and a Titanic. A separate case honours Władysław Herbuś, Polish and world champion in ship micro-modelling.
• Heroes of Polish Animation – dolls and figures of bedtime cartoon characters such as Colargol and Barnaby the Dragon.
• Treasures from the stores – the oldest object is Ernst Plank's magic lantern from 1900; the collection also includes prototypes from Polish cooperatives, such as a Fiat 125p ELO and a Colt P-III toy pistol made in Kielce, as well as a Soviet Interkosmos space-vehicle toy from the 1980s.

Interesting facts

The museum was created not for children but for industry – as a reference collection for toy makers across Poland. That is why it holds so many prototypes and models that never reached the shops.

Tripto tip

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday 9:00–17:00, closed on Mondays; tickets can also be bought online. Allow 1.5–2 hours for the permanent and temporary exhibitions, longer with children. Wolności Square is in central Kielce, a few minutes' walk from the Palace of the Kraków Bishops, so both are easy to combine in one day.