RRI Live!

Listen to Radio Romania International Live

The Toy Museum

The National History Museum in partnership with the Toy Museum Association has prepared a special temporary exhibition displaying games, objects, old childhood photos for the winter holidays

The Toy Museum
The Toy Museum

, 26.12.2020, 14:00

The National History Museum of Romania (MNIR), in partnership with the Toy Museum Association, has prepared for the winter holidays period a special temporary exhibition which displays games, objects, old childhood photos, things that used to bring joy and smiles in the life and soul of each and every child. Around the 1960s, Romania had eight factories that produced wooden or tin objects, childrens books and toys such as the famous Tehno-Metalica Cooperative in Bucharest, the Oradea Plastics Factory and the Aradeanca Factory in Arad. At the exhibition of the National History Museum of Romania visitors can travel back in time admiring thousands of exhibits made in those factories and not only.



Engineer Cristian Dumitru, the president of the Toy Museum Association told us more about the exhibition: “The exhibition is in full swing, it is developing and is being completed right here at the National History Museum. It is open as part of the museums regular program, at least until the end of the year people can definitely see this exhibition. The exhibition is based on my own collection, which I started in the 80s. Practically, in the 80s, all the boys, as far as I remember, used to collect something – from stamps to cars, to trains and planes. My brothers and I used to collect almost everything. Thus, we always had a large number of toys in the house, especially boys toys, a collection that we decided, back in the 80s, not only to keep, although we had grown, we were teenagers, but even to enrich it with other toys, from our friends or from bookstores. Gradually, at the end of the 80s we had a fairly large collection for that epoch. We were able to buy even more toys since the market was freer. We tried to collect toys from Romania, toys that brought happiness to many generations of kids. Nowadays, it is quite easy to buy old toys, there are so many facilities such as the Internet and online shopping, but all the toys in this exhibition are practically collected from fairs, from old house attics, from people who no longer need them, so this exhibition is a 100% mirror of the Romanian childhood of the past one hundred years. We had the first exhibitions organized 12 years ago and we were a little disappointed by the childrens reaction, because they could not resonate with such toys. Instead, we were quite delighted with the reaction of the parents or grandparents who saw their childhood toys. The most interesting thing to watch in an exhibition is the child-grandparent and child-parent interaction. The parent or grandparent describes or even shows the kid those childhood toys, and the kid understands that toys did not appear 10 years ago and that dolls were made even 100-150 years ago in about the same form. Kids thus come to understand that a jumping frog toy could be more than 100 years old.”



We continued to talk to engineer Cristian Dumitru about the much larger collection of the Toy Museum and about how it has been made over the years.



Cristian Dumitru: “As I have told you, the collection includes toys manufactured in Romania or that could be found in stores from Romania in the past 100 years. Probably the oldest toys date from around 1880-1890, at least those we were able to date, to find on the websites of those respective factories. Some are mechanical toys or even a small steam engine that became the engine for other toys in 1880, when it was manufactured. They are, perhaps, the first electric toys made between 1910-1920 or maybe the first remote control cars made in the 1960s and 1970s. There are many epochs and toys have evolved in the last one hundred years from a simple, static horse filled with straw 100 years ago, to the current toys that include many electronic components. Now it seems that the toy is playing with the kid and not viceversa, and it has many more options than the childs imagination. This may be good or bad, we will see what toys the next generations of kids will have, to realize how toys evolved. About 13 years ago, together with some friends, I even set up an association whose main purpose was to set up a toy museum, and based on this association, we started to have activities across the country. We have organized over 100 exhibitions in the last 12 years in collaboration with the big museums of Romania and we have practically analyzed, all these years, the reaction of the public, of both kids and adults, which was a very good reaction. We have enriched our collections with toys collected from all corners of Romania and the project is still going on. We have started making a catalog of Romanian toys based on my own collections. Unfortunately, the catalogue is a bit delayed due to the pandemic. If in 2019 we had more than 20 exhibitions, this year we have done probably half, and we are still looking for our own location where to showcase the wonderful collection. Because the collection is very large, even if more than 3000 toys, objects and games related to Romanian childhood are exhibited here. The collection includes many more objects, which are now packed and which used to be displayed in travelling exhibitions. We have an exhibition devoted to the old school, which includes thousands of objects, school supplies, we have even school benches and uniforms. Another exhibition deals with boxes and sweets, candy boxes from Romania — I’m taking about over 500 objects, boxes of candies from Romania made between 1900-1980. It is a collection of childrens picture books, comics books. The toy collection was enriched every year with a collection of images of the Romanian childhood. They are representative images of the Romanian childhood from 1900, 1920, up until the 1980s.” (tr. L. Simion)

Foto: facebook.com/Clara.the.Romanian.school.teacher
World of Culture Saturday, 23 November 2024

Romanian recent award-winning film productions

Clara is a feature-length film directed by Sabin Dorohoi. A fresh production, with a strong impact, focusing on a major and necessary topic, Clara...

Romanian recent award-winning film productions
World of Culture Saturday, 16 November 2024

The New Year that Never Came

The New Year that Never Came, written and directed by Bogdan Mureșanu, was proposed on the list of films that will be considered for nomination at...

The New Year that Never Came
Festivalul Național de Teatru (sursa foto: Festivalul Național de Teatru)
World of Culture Saturday, 09 November 2024

The National Theater Festival

The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival, hosted by theatres and various non-conventional spaces in Bucharest, turned into a true marathon...

The National Theater Festival
Foto: mnir.ro
World of Culture Saturday, 02 November 2024

The Natural Dyes Exhibition at the History Museum

The National History Museum of Romania (NHMR) presents, starting in mid-September, a new exhibition: “Natural dyes. From museum scientific...

The Natural Dyes Exhibition at the History Museum
World of Culture Saturday, 26 October 2024

EXT. CAR. NIGHT, a new film by Andrei Crețulescu

EXT. CAR. NIGHT, the second feature film directed and written by Andrei Crețulescu, stars four emblematic actors of the new wave who play multiple...

EXT. CAR. NIGHT, a new film by Andrei Crețulescu
World of Culture Saturday, 12 October 2024

Ciao, Italy! Animest 19

After having gathered 15 thousand viewers in front of the cinema screens at the previous edition, the International Animation Film Festival –...

Ciao, Italy! Animest 19
World of Culture Saturday, 05 October 2024

Bestiary, a Vanner Collective project

The independent theatre company Vanner Collective is known for its original initiatives in the Romanian cultural space, translating burning social...

Bestiary, a Vanner Collective project
World of Culture Saturday, 28 September 2024

Niko Becker, Gopo Film Festival’s Young Hopeful

28Actor Niko Becker in 2024 scooped the Gopo Award in the Young Hopefuls category as part of the Gopo Film Festival, for Dumitru, his role in the...

Niko Becker, Gopo Film Festival’s Young Hopeful

Partners

Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român
Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate - LSRS Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate - LSRS
Modernism | The Leading Romanian Art Magazine Online Modernism | The Leading Romanian Art Magazine Online
Institului European din România Institului European din România
Institutul Francez din România – Bucureşti Institutul Francez din România – Bucureşti
Muzeul Național de Artă al României Muzeul Național de Artă al României
Le petit Journal Le petit Journal
Radio Prague International Radio Prague International
Muzeul Național de Istorie a României Muzeul Național de Istorie a României
ARCUB ARCUB
Radio Canada International Radio Canada International
Muzeul Național al Satului „Dimitrie Gusti” Muzeul Național al Satului „Dimitrie Gusti”
SWI swissinfo.ch SWI swissinfo.ch
UBB Radio ONLINE UBB Radio ONLINE
Strona główna - English Section - polskieradio.pl Strona główna - English Section - polskieradio.pl
creart - Centrul de Creație Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului Bucuresti creart - Centrul de Creație Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului Bucuresti
italradio italradio
Institutul Confucius Institutul Confucius
BUCPRESS - știri din Cernăuți BUCPRESS - știri din Cernăuți

Affiliates

Euranet Plus Euranet Plus
AIB | the trade association for international broadcasters AIB | the trade association for international broadcasters
Digital Radio Mondiale Digital Radio Mondiale
News and current affairs from Germany and around the world News and current affairs from Germany and around the world
Comunità radiotelevisiva italofona Comunità radiotelevisiva italofona

Providers

RADIOCOM RADIOCOM
Zeno Media - The Everything Audio Company Zeno Media - The Everything Audio Company