Toys

The history of the Toy Museum is closely linked to the life of the collector and applied arts specialist Gabriele Folk (1902–1994). She had collected historical toys already as a child and used to arrange them in boxes as mini-exhibitions. Together with her husband, an expert collector of paper theatres, she compiled the largest private toy collection in Austria. The director of the SMCA (Salzburger Museum Carolino Augusteum), Friederike Prodinger, urged the city and province of Salzburg to purchase the collection. This formed the wide-ranging and valuable pool for Austria’s first toy museum, which opened in May 1978.

Gabriele Folk purchased many objects in the Viennese art and antiquities market, exchanged numerous pieces, and, as a well-known collector, also received generous gifts. The range extends from wooden toys, dolls, doll’s houses, clay and tin figures, building blocks, parlour games, and international toys to everyday objects from the world of children. The paper theatres form one of the foremost collections of toy stages. This centrepiece of the collection has been continuously expanded through major donations, including the Tomschik, Krahe, and Fichtenthal Collections.

At present, new acquisitions are restricted to private bequests and gifts that primarily reflect the culture of toys as experienced in Salzburg. This guarantees that a mirror to society in the world of toys is further represented in the collection and preserved for future generations.

The permanent exhibition on around 2,000 square metres and also the special exhibitions are supplied from the collection. A special and much appreciated highlight is our permanent exhibition, the Wunderkammer (Cabinet of Wonders), which features over 1,000 objects. Since a historically evolved Viennese focus has a place in the Toy Collection, it supplies many items to exhibitions in Viennese museums.