Das Kleine Museum

About the museum

The collection began in 1975 with an old toy stove that Gerda and Erich Rößler bought from a Freiburg junk dealer for their daughter's dollhouse. This sparked a collecting passion that lasted for decades, and in 1986 the couple set up a small museum in their home in Hagnau. Today it is run by the association Das kleine Museum e. V.; a friends' association has also existed since 2007.

The single exhibition room displays more than 50 dollhouses, toy shops and doll kitchens, mostly from between 1830 and 1920, along with dolls and wooden and tin toys up to the 1950s. The collection is among the largest of its kind in Germany. The collectors place great importance on furnishing the pieces as authentically as possible, so that the toys can be read as miniature reflections of the domestic culture and fashion of their era – from Biedermeier through historicism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco to the postwar period.

Loans to exhibitions at venues such as Bruchsal Palace, in Dresden, Hagen, Ulm and in Austria, as well as publications in calendars, have made the collection known well beyond the region. Because of the museum's modest size, the collector looks after visitors personally.

Highlights

• More than 50 historic dollhouses, toy shops and doll kitchens
• Toys from the Biedermeier era to the 1950s
• Dolls made of wood, papier-mâché and wax
• Personal guided tour by the collector

Permanent exhibitions

• Puppen, Puppenstuben und Spielzeug aus zwei Jahrhunderten – Authentically furnished dollhouses, toy shops and kitchens, plus dolls and tin toys that show domestic culture and fashion in miniature from the Biedermeier era to the 1950s.

Founded

1986

Operated by

Das kleine Museum e. V.

Director

Gerda-Marie Rößler

Admission & discounts

bwegtPlus partner: with a same-day bwtarif ticket or Schüler-Ferien-Ticket (student holiday ticket), €0.50 off admission.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Getting there & parking

By car via the B 31 to the Hagnau West town entrance, turn into Kapellenstraße and then take the second street on the right into Neugartenstraße. The museum is next to the Protestant church.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Plan your visit